The discourse came to an end. As always, the master blessed the believers and expressed the wish that all people in the world should live in peace without any troubles. After this the devotees left for their homes and so did the Master.
The disciple was waiting for the Master to return. Coming close to the Master he said, ‘Master, you always want peace for the people in the world. But you are not worried about your disciples. You never bother about them.’
The serene Master asked him to spell out the problem.
The disciple answered, ‘Master, my blanket is torn in many places. I am unable to sleep at night. It is very cold. If you give me a blanket, I will sleep peacefully through the night.’ The master immediately called the store in charge and placed an order for a new blanket for the disciple.
The disciple was very happy to get his new blanket.
The next day, after the prayers, as he entered the cottage, the Master asked his disciple, ‘Did you get the new blanket?’
‘Yes,’ said the disciple.
The Master asked, ‘Did you sleep well in the night?
‘Yes,’ said the disciple.
The Master asked the disciple if he needed anything else. The disciple said he did not need anything.
Then the Master asked him, ‘What did you do with the tattered blanket?’
The disciple said that he was using it as a mattress.
The Master asked, ‘What did you do with the one before that? Did you throw it away?’
‘No Master, I’m using it as a curtain to block the excess light and cool breeze,’ answered the disciple.
‘What did you do with the earlier curtain?’ asked the Master. The disciple told him that the earlier curtain was being used as a rag to remove hot vessels from the fire in the kitchen. Then the Master wanted to know what they were doing with the earlier sooty rags.
The disciple replied,’ Master after tying them at the end of the sticks, we use the rags for sweeping the floors.’
The master was extremely surprised. He wondered how the earlier sweeping rags were being used. Maybe those were being thrown away.
In order to know more he asked the disciple about them.
The disciple humbly replied, ‘These rags have become threadbare. So we are using them along with firewood to heat water. The water that you bathed in was heated by those rags.’



REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE.
Slow down the use of resources by reusing them and recycling them. Nowadays it is this concept of 3 R that is being emphasized by the environmentalists.
This is the main theme of this story.
Are we using resources in a similar manner in our house, school or office? What are the things which we use only once and throw away? Which are the things we use again for some other work?
What are the things from which we can create new items?
Think and list out the items.
Also list those things which are used once and then can be re used.
Do you know there are many people who make recipes from the peels of various vegetables?
The peels of fruits are put in the compost pit or are fed to cows, goats and sheep. The non-vegetarians feed their leftovers and bones to dogs.
How can we reuse things, which are used only once by us?