The goddess Durga was really efficacious, and the child recovered naturally from an illness that even doctors could not cure. Obviously, the goddess had blessed and helped him. His father remembered his promise of making an offering of a hundred rupees. But then he started to think, "Good grief! I have already spent a lot of money buying medicine for the child. Now that the doctor has prescribed lots of tonics for him, I have to spend more. My financial situation is now rather difficult. Perhaps I can just offer fifty rupees to the goddess. I am sure Durga will know my situation; she will understand." He thought the goddess would understand, but still, he didn't act immediately.

Several weeks passed and he came up with another idea: "No matter how, surely the goddess Durga cannot eat fifty rupees worth of food all by herself. Since she is a goddess, how can she consume so much food? Besides, I have read in the scriptures: 'If we make an offering to God with sincerity, the quantity of the offering is unimportant. God will be delighted with even a small offering, provided we are sincere.' God will not demand material offerings; our sincerity will be sufficient. All the scriptures say the same thing. This goddess also definitely knows that. Therefore, I think it will be good enough for me to go to the temple, piously do some very special worship, and then give an offering of five rupees." These thoughts went through his mind, but still he didn't take any action.

Then one day, he heard the temple bell chime. When people worshipped at the temple, they would sound the bell. It reminded him of the offering that he had promised the goddess. He quickly went out, hoping to find a five-rupee item as an offering. He met a friend, who asked where he was going. He told his friend the whole story, and that he was going to buy a five-rupee item as an offering to the goddess. His friend said, "Come on! Don't be so silly! Why would a goddess eat an offering of five rupees? You are so stupid! Let me tell you, it will be fine enough for you to worship her piously in the temple. Just buy a coconut worth about a rupee, and it will be okay! The importance lies in your sincerity, not the quantity, understand?"

This sounded very reasonable, and since the man was a very thrifty person, he went to the coconut stall to buy a coconut for one rupee. The coconut vendor told him, "Fifty paise for a coconut." One rupee was equal to one hundred paise. The man said, "What? How could it so expensive? Sell me one for forty paise, okay?" The vendor said, "If you expect such a low price, you have to go to the wholesale market."

The man then walked a long way to the wholesale market. The coconuts there were really forty paise each. Yet he bargained with the seller at the market: "I have walked such a long way here. If you are still selling a coconut for forty paise, then it is not much cheaper! You'd better give me a bargain at twenty paise each." The seller laughed and said, "If you really want to get one for twenty paise, then you have to go to the plantation. It is cheap only at that place." Hearing that, the man decided to make his purchase at the plantation.

Again, he walked very far before he came to the coconut plantation. The coconut farmer there said, "Okay! I can sell one to you for twenty paise." Again the man bargained, "I have walked so far to come here. You should sell me one for ten paise instead of twenty. Twenty paise a coconut is not much cheaper. Why would I have spent all the effort to come here?" The farmer said, "If you want one for ten paise, you have to climb the tree yourself to get the coconut."

Very stingy by nature, he wanted to save the money and really climbed the tree. He climbed all the way up, but because he was inexperienced, he slipped and almost fell from the tree. He could barely hang on to a branch and yelled for help. At that time, the spirit of the goddess Durga spoke through the coconut farmer, demanding a hundred rupees to save him. (Laughter) To save his own life, the man agreed to pay a hundred rupees. After he was saved and had climbed down the tree, he took the coconut farmer home and paid him a hundred rupees. There was no room for any bargain. At that time, he understood. The next day, he went to the temple and cried. He realized that all this had happened because he had failed to honor his promise of making a one-hundred-rupee offering to the goddess.

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