Once upon a time there lived a rich and generous man in Bukhara. He reached a very high level in the spiritual hierarchy, for which he was awarded the title of Elder of the World. Every day people flocked to his house in crowds, and he generously presented them with gold. For each category of people - widows, sick people, etc. - he appointed certain days of reception, on which they received from him the favors due to them. But the Elder of the World limited his generosity to one condition: whoever uttered a word in his house received nothing. Not all people could remain silent.
One day, when it was the turn of the lawyers, and they came to him for gifts, one of them, no longer able to restrain the feelings that overwhelmed him, began to praise his benefactor in every possible way. The Elder of the World did not give him anything. But the lawyer decided to get his way. The next day the cripples came for mercy. Pretending to be crippled, he appeared with them. The elder recognized him and again did not give anything. Then the lawyer changed his appearance again and came with others, covering his face with his hands. But this time too, the Elder of the World recognized him and drove him away. Again and again the lawyer made his attempts, he even disguised himself as a woman, but the generous man invariably recognized him and sent him away empty-handed. Finally, the man went to the undertaker and asked that he be wrapped in a shroud and placed in the coffin as if he were a dead man.
“When the Elder of the World passes by,” said the lawyer, “he will probably think that there is a corpse in front of him and donate it to the funeral.” We will split the money equally with you.
The undertaker did everything as he asked, and the Elder of the World lowered the gold coin onto the shroud with his own hand. The lawyer immediately grabbed it, fearing that the undertaker might get it, and exclaimed, turning to the Elder:
“You denied me your generosity; see how I got it?!
The generous man answered him like this:
“You won’t be able to get anything from me until you die.”
This is the meaning of the mysterious saying “die before you die.” Gifts come to a person only after “death” and not before. But even this “death” itself cannot come without outside help.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru