Sadhvi Vishrut Vibha
As You Sow So Shall You Reap
Once, Lord Mahavira was in Rajgriha. Shrenik the emperor, went to a garden named ‘Gunashilaka’ to pay homage to Lord Mahavira. Chelana, the other queens, his son Abhayakumar and some of the reputed citizens accompanied him. The cruelest butcher of the city, Kalsaukarik also reached there. All of a sudden an old leper, with pus exuding from his body, joined the assembly. He went straight up to Lord Mahavira and rubbed the pus on Lord Mahavira’s body.
At that very moment, Lord Mahavira sneezed and the old leper told Lord Mahavira to die soon. When Shrenik sneezed, the old leper blessed him with a long life. When Abhayakumar sneezed, the old man commented that he may live or die but when Kalsaukarik, the butcher, sneezed the old man proclaimed that he should neither live nor die.
This rude behavior, of the old leper created great chaos in the assembly and Shrenik ordered his security guards to imprison him. But as soon as the soldiers rose to catch him, he disappeared. Watching all this, a question arose in Shrenik’s mind and he requested Lord Mahavira to explain, who the strange leper was. He also wanted to know what his comments meant. Thus Lord Mahavira replied, “This strange old leper was an ordinary man. In reality, he was an angle. The pus flowing out from his body had an aroma of sandalwood. Whatever he spoke was not wrong, it had a deep meaning which was revealing the truth.”
When Shrenik requested Lord Mahavira to unveil the secret, Lord Mahavira said, “The old man asked me to die soon and by saying so he meant that when I leave my body I shall attain salvation”. Shrenik asked the meaning of the words used by the angel in his context too. To this Lord Mahavira replied, “If you die, you will take birth in hell where you will have to suffer a lot. So, it is better for you to remain in this life for long”. Now Abhayakumar was eager to know the meaning of the words said for him. Lord Mahavira explained, “In your next life, you will be born in heaven so it makes no difference whether you live here or go there.” Next Lord Mahavira satisfied Kalsaukarik’s query. He said, “Kalsaukarik you have been too cruel to be throughout your life. Neither will you get peace in this life nor will you get peace after this life, as you will go to hell. Both your lives are miserable. Therefore, you neither deserve life nor death”.
Thus we can conclude by saying that we should never harm anybody in the end we will have to repent for those wrong deeds. Someway or the other, we have too pay for our good and evil deeds. It has truly been said that “As you sow, so shall you reap”.
