As the story goes, there was once a man in India who was leaving his village for good. As he left the village gates he saw a wandering mendicant. These are monks that have given up any fixed residence and wander the world at large under heaven’s providence.
The man ran up to the monk and said:
“I can’t believe it! I just saw you in a dream last night. In it, the Lord Vishnu said tomorrow morning, around 11, you’ll meet this wandering monk!”
“Ah, interesting,” said the monk, “what else did he say?”
“He said if the man gives you a precious stone you will be the richest man in the whole world! Do you have such a stone?!”
“Hmmm, let me see” said the monk as he rummaged around in his robes. “Ah, you mean something like this? Is that what you are thinking?”
He pulled out a diamond the size of a golf ball.
The man holds the diamond in his hand, amazed and asks:
“Could… could I have this?”
“Of course,” said the monk. “I found it in the forest, you’re welcome to it”
The man thanks him profusely and walks away, he has to sit down under a tree he is so giddy and filled with joy. Everything in his life has now changed. Anything he wants is within reach. And he sits dreaming of all the things he can now do. Sits there under that tree until it begins to get dark. As the sun sets, he gets up and heads back around the village and finds the monk sitting under a tree. He hands the diamond back to the monk.
“Could you do me a favor?” the man asks.
“What is that?” replies the monk.
“Could you give me the riches that make it possible for you to give this thing away so easily?”
from Rediscovering Life by Anthony De Mello