Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 11 views

    The Bane of Wo-Rldliness

    Uploaded by

    mukade
    The barber accepted an offer of seven jars of gold from a mysterious voice. When he found the jars filled with gold except the last, which was half full, he became greedy to fill the last jar. He spent all his money and earnings trying to fill it but could not. Advised by the king, he returned the gold to the voice, realizing the jars only brought desire without satisfaction.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    The Bane of Wo-Rldliness

    Uploaded by

    mukade
    11 views3 pages
    The barber accepted an offer of seven jars of gold from a mysterious voice. When he found the jars filled with gold except the last, which was half full, he became greedy to fill the last jar. He spent all his money and earnings trying to fill it but could not. Advised by the king, he returned the gold to the voice, realizing the jars only brought desire without satisfaction.

    Original Title

    26291273

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    The barber accepted an offer of seven jars of gold from a mysterious voice. When he found the jars filled with gold except the last, which was half full, he became greedy to fill the last jar. He spent all his money and earnings trying to fill it but could not. Advised by the king, he returned the gold to the voice, realizing the jars only brought desire without satisfaction.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    11 views3 pages

    The Bane of Wo-Rldliness

    Uploaded by

    mukade
    The barber accepted an offer of seven jars of gold from a mysterious voice. When he found the jars filled with gold except the last, which was half full, he became greedy to fill the last jar. He spent all his money and earnings trying to fill it but could not. Advised by the king, he returned the gold to the voice, realizing the jars only brought desire without satisfaction.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 3

    The Bane of Wo-rldliness 339

    person through the net, they too were thrown into a tranc9.
    Ahandoning , all their work, they roamed about like maniacs
    simply chanting the sacred name of Hari. Their relatives
    could not cure the malady by' .. any means, and finding no
    other remedy, they· cam� at last to Sri Gauranga and told
    him about their sorrow. Sri Gauranga then said to them,
    "Get s.nne .rice from a priest's house and put it into their
    mouth, and you will s� them cured." They did accord­
    in�ly, and the •fishermen lost their blissful ecstasy. (Such
    is the contaminating influence of worldliness, and impurity
    ,on spiritual growth.)
    1063. The steward of a certain rich man was left in
    ,charge of his master's property. When asked by someone
    as to whose property it was, he used to say : "Sir, this is
    all my property ; these houses and these gardens are all
    mine. 1-!e would speak in this strain and go about with
    an air .hf vanity. One day he happened to catch fish in a
    pond of his master's garden-house in contravention of his
    strict prohibition. As ill-luck would have it, the master
    came upon the scene just then, and saw what ltis dishonest
    steward was doing. Finding out the faithlessness of ?-tis
    servaRt,. the master at once drove him awhy from his estate,
    disgraced and dishqnoured, and confiscated a� his past
    earnings. The poor fellow could not take with him even
    his rickety box of utensils which was his s<i!le p;ivate
    property. Such 1s the punishment that .overtakes false.,
    �ride.
    1064. A barber, who was passing under a haunted tree,
    heard a voice sa� 'i Will you accept seven ;flrs ;,1111 of
    gol.d?" The barber 'Jookect' aroulid, but could see no one.
    340 Sayings of Sri Ram&krishna

    Tihe offer of seven jars of gold, however, roused his


    •
    cupidity, and he cried aloud, "Yes, I shall accept the se11en
    jars. At once came the reply. "Go home, I have
    carried the jars to your house."" The barber ran home in
    hot haste to verify the truth of this strange announcement.
    And when he entered the house, he saw the jars before
    him. He opened them and found them all" ful� of gold,
    except the last one which was mly half-full. A strong
    desire now arose in the mind of the barbef to the seveqth
    jar also ; for without it his happiness was incomplete. He
    therefore converted all his ornaments into gold coi�s and
    put them into the jar ; but the f\\YSterious vessel was as
    before, unfilled. This .exasperated the barber. Starving
    himself and his family, he saved some amount more and
    tried to fill the jar ; but the jar remained as before. So
    one day he humbly requested the king to incre<Jse his pay,
    as his income was not sufficient to maintain himselt. Now
    the barber was a favourite of the king, and as soon as the
    request was made the king doubled his pay. All this pay
    he saved atad put into the jar, but the greedy jar showed no
    siins of filling. At last he began to live by begging from
    door to door, and his professional income and the iflcome
    from beg�ing all went into the ins,tiable cavity of the
    ·mysterious jar. Months passed, and the condition of the
    '
    miserable 11nd miserly barber grew worse every day. Seeing
    ,his sad plight,. the king asked him one day, " HaUoa I
    When your pay was half pf what you now get, yQ.U
    were happy, cheerful and contended ; but with double that
    pai .J s•e you morose, care-worn Ca11d dejected. What
    � is the matter with you? tHave�you g<?t ' the seven jars ·.? ··
    The Bane of Worldliness 341
    The barber was taken aback by this question and replie�•
    •
    " ¥our Majesty, who has informed ycu of this? " The
    king said, " Don't you know that these are tht signs of
    the person to whom th� Yak'r.ha consigns the seven jars.
    He offered me also the same jars, but I asked him whether
    this money might be spent or was merely to be hoarded.
    No soo11�r liad I asked this question than the Yaksha ran
    away without any rep!,,. Don't you know that no one
    ca,n spend that money? It only brings with it the desire
    of hoarding. Go at once and return the money." The
    barbet was brought to his senses by this advice, and he
    went to the haunted t�e and said. " Take back your gold,
    0 Yaksha." The Yaksha replied, "All right." When
    the barber returned home, he found that the seven jars had
    vanished as mysteriously as they were brought in, and with
    it also ha.d vanished his life-long savings. Such is the
    1
    state 0£ some men in the Kingdom of Heaven. Those
    who do not understand the difference between what is
    real expenditure and what is real income, lose all they
    have.
    1065. Once in the month of June a kid was playi,,g
    near it9' mother. With a merry frisk it told her that it
    intended to make a, good feast of Ras-flowers (a species
    of flowers budding abundantly during the festival of Rasa­
    lila in November). "Well, my darling," replieal the :lam.
    "it •is not such an easy thing as you seem•to think. You,,
    will have to pass through 111any a danger before you can
    hope to feast on Ras-flowers. The· ensuing months of
    Septembe; and O,M0�er are not very auspicim� to�flU ?
    FOf
    0

    someone may t ke you to bt! sacrificed to the Goddess


    ij

    You might also like