Rich man, Poor man & Krishna Part 2 (Supported by St. Catherine of Siena)

There is an apocryphal story of how once Krishna & Arjuna were travelling & at nightfall came across a rich man's house & asked for shelter. The rich man refused rudely & Krishna left saying "May your wealth increase. "Then they came to a poor man's hut & asked for shelter. The poor man gladly welcomed them & fed them with milk & said he had only this hut & a cow. As they were leaving in the morning Krishna told him "May your hut burn down & your cow die of natural causes."

Arjuna, shell-shocked, asked him the reason. Krishna said the rich man thinks happiness will come out of wealth, so I blessed him with more so that after innumerable births he will know that happiness does not come out of wealth. The poor man is very near liberation with only his hut & cow standing in his way. If they are removed, he will instantly attain liberation, which is the true goal of human life.

St. Catherine of Siena (1347 - 1380), one of only four female Saints & Doctors of the Church, dictated while she was in spiritual ecstasy, a book called "The Dialogue of Divine Providence", a dialogue between soul & God. In it she quotes God as saying "I give more to the sinner than the righteous man, because the righteous man is able to endure privation & I take from him the goods of the world that he may the more abundantly enjoy the goods of heaven. Even for worldly people, I give them time & do not quickly punish their sins."