As a child, Guru Nanak was always going off somewhere and meditating. His father, Kalu Mehta, thought he was too spaced out, so he decided to teach him some business skills so he could learn how to make money. He gave Nanak some money and told him to go with his friend, Bala, to the market. “Buy some good quality food and pay as little money as you can for it. Then find someone who wants that food and sell it to them for more money. You’ll have more money then when you started, that’s called profit. I want you to go out there and make a profit from the money I have given you” he said and sent Nanak off.
Bala and Nanak went to the market and bought some beautiful fresh mangoes. They were walking around the town and they were supposed to be looking for someone to sell them to, but Nanak was more interested in meditating. He started walking off towards some trees because he liked to be around trees. When he got there, some holy men were already there meditating. He asked them, “Where have you come from?” They told him, “We don’t have any particular home. We go everywhere and we think about God. We trust that God will provide for us wherever we go.” Nanak was always happy to meet men of God like these men who did nothing but meditate and think about God.
Nanak found out, while talking to them, that they hadn’t eaten in several days. When he asked them, they said, “We never ask for anything, we just trust that God will provide for us.” Well when Nanak heard this, he really wanted to serve them. He considered it a great honor to give these men the beautiful mangos he had just bought. So he gave them to the holy men and talked with them for a while. He felt really blessed and happy to have met them.
When came back home his father, Kalu Mehta, got angry. “I gave you money to make more money and you just gave it away! I’m trying to teach you something useful and you just wasted my money! Why can’t you learn?!” Then he punished Nanak for not listening. His daughter, Nanaki tried to stop him because she understood her brother (Nanak) better than their father.
But it was actually Nanak himself who understood better than anyone. Nanak knew that whatever we can give to people in need we should. Whatever we can do to serve holy people, no matter what it costs, is well worth it. He said “This is the real profit - serving others.”