Late yesterday evening, two burly men from the tax department arrived at the Monastery. They were in plain clothes and seemed in complete awe of the Monastery’s building areas.
On reaching the main hall where the monks were sitting, the man with the black and white moustache gently said, “Good evening Monks. We are looking for one Wishful Monk.”
Wishful Monk instantly stood up, bowed to Sensei and then at the men.
Sensei lovingly smiled at the Tax Men and said, “Welcome to the Monastery. Would you like some refreshments before you speak to Wishful Monk?”
The Tax Men had never been greeted with such kindness before. Both accepted some tea. Then the second man (without a moustache) looked at Wishful Monk and said, “We have a few questions to ask you.”
Wishful Monk bowed and said, “Please ask me here, in front of my master and monk brothers. They are Me.”
The salt and peppered moustache man said, “We just reviewed your last filed tax return. It mentions you have one Billion dollars in assets. But there is no cash in your bank. So, where is the money?”
Sensei laughed out loudly and that surprised and unnerved the Tax Men.
Wishful Monk did not smile much. He bowed once again and said, “This year, just before I filed my tax return, I had celebrated by birthday. That day, I was flooded with wishes from people all over the world. I was inundated with genuine and heartfelt blessings from people. While filing my tax return, I read the box mentioning assets and it struck me that my heart had received a billion dollar deposits of wishes. That is what I meant.”
The Tax Men were dumbfounded. They had never encountered such a tax declaration before. The man without a moustache smiled and asked, “But if you have received a Billion dollars, then you will have to pay tax on it, won’t you?”
Wishful Monk laughed and said, “That is why I mentioned the amount in the first place. To attract you to the Monastery. Now that you have come, I will pay you my tax – in my wishes and make you fabulously rich!”
The men began to laugh and relaxed completely. They enjoyed another bowl of tea.
A few minutes later, Sensei clapped thrice and said, “Nothing in the world can be more valuable than wishes from the heart. When you receive such wishes, you become the richest person on earth, and when you give such wishes away, you become even richer. Wishes are the only currencies in the world that multiply both by receiving and by giving.”
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