The enclosed incident of Swami Vivekananda has been taken from the book: Swami Vivekananda – The Friend of All by Swami Lokeswarananda.
Once when Swamiji was travelling by train, a poor hawker selling boiled gram boarded his compartment. As soon as Swamiji saw him, he started speaking with the brahmacàri accompanying him about eating gram.
‘You see’, Swamiji said, ‘gram makes you strong’.
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And then pointing at the vendor, he said to the brahmacàri, ‘How about having some?’ The brahmacàri knew Swamiji’s nature well.
He readily understood that what Swamiji wanted was to help the poor man and not to eat his gram. So the brahmacàri bought gram worth one paise but paid the man four annas.
Swamiji was very sharp-eyed. He asked the brahmacàri how much he had paid. ‘Four annas’, replied the brahmacàri. Then Swamiji said to him affectionately, ‘My child, that is too little! He has a wife and children at home. Give him a rupee.’ The brahmacàri followed Swamiji’s instruction. Swamiji, however, did not eat the gram.
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