Being Meany, again. In Varanasi

Went to visit this temple. One young boy, could be around 15, greeted me and asked me to start with a small chamber on the right.

There were 2 items of importance in the chamber. He told me but I forgot the minute he finished explaining. Then asked me to repeat after him. Something like “om”, “shiva”, etc etc.

Neither being religious nor spiritual, I found it a bit too long & got bored. I interrupted and told him that I was done. Then he told me that his grandfather was looking after the temple before. Now it was him and his older brother. He asked if I could donate some cash for the temple. I put INR100 in the donation box. He said INR500 would be good. I said I don’t have 500 rupee.

His older brother who just came into the chamber asked how much I had. I said only 160. He said that was very little. I asked them if I was supposed to donate or pay a fixed price for something.

He said donation. I said donations have no fixed price. You only fix a price if you sell something. Otherwise it’s called cheating. Holy men like you in a holy place like this do not cheat, do you? I’m sure you don’t like to be called a cheat, or this holy temple be called cheat temple. No response. There…..