Knowledge Is Light
Once upon a time, there lived two brothers. One day they become the disciples of an ‘Acharya’. One of them became a scholar of repute while the other remained dull.
The scholar monk had many disciples. He spent the whole day teaching his student and solving their problem; He had no time even to rest at night. On the other hand, the dull monk slept a lot and spent his time leisurely as nobody went to him.
One day, the scholar monk thought, “How lucky my brother is. He sleeps soundly while I cannot even manage to take a small nap. Then why should I study so much?” these thoughts pressed on his mind again and again and they bounded him by the Karma of knowledge.
He was born in heaven in his next birth and in the subsequent birth he was born as a human being and again became a disciple of an ‘Acharya’. The ‘Acharya’ taught him three chapters of ‘Uttaradhyayana’. The monk could not learn the third chapter because of the ‘Gyaanaavarniya Karma’.
In order to free himself of the ‘Gyaanaavarniya Karma’ he started fasting and continued it for a long time. The fasting not only helped him to free himself from the Karma but also awakened his inner power and knowledge, which helped him in learning other scriptures.
Mere reading and preaching leads to pride. It is realization that a monk should aim to achieve.