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Par. 3: Stories
243
She was very happy in her mind. With reverence, devotion and worship, she presented herself to prepare food for them. The monk stopped her and said, "The food prepared for us is inconceivable."
Due to poverty, she could not obtain oil anywhere during the begging time. Finally, she borrowed two palikas of oil from a merchant named Shivadev, on the basis of double interest per day. The brother monk was not aware of this incident, so he accepted it as pure. That day, she was busy listening to the discourse from the brother monk, so she could not bring water etc. and pay the interest of two palikas of oil. The next day, the brother was going on a pilgrimage, so she could not fulfill the interest of the oil in his absence. On the third day, her debt became two karshas. Due to excessive debt, she was unable to repay it. She worked hard all day for food, but could not repay the debt. The debt became infinite due to the double increase. Then the merchant said with consent, "Either you give me my oil or accept my servitude." Unable to give the oil, she accepted the merchant's servitude.
After a few years, a monk named Sammat reached the same village while on pilgrimage. He did not see his sister at home. When his sister arrived, he asked her the reason for leaving home. The sister told her the whole story of the past and told her about her servitude to Shivadev the merchant and started crying due to sorrow. The monk said, "Don't cry, I will soon free you from servitude." Thinking of a way to free his sister from servitude, he first went to the house of Shivadev the merchant. His wife Shiva was about to wash her hands with water to give alms. The monk prevented her from washing her hands and said, "Washing hands does not make alms acceptable to us." The merchant sitting nearby said, "What is wrong with that?" Then the monk explained in detail about the six-fold transgression caused by washing hands. Hearing the monk's words, he respectfully asked, "O Bhagavan! Where is your abode? I will come to you and listen to the Dharma." The monk said, "My abode has not been fixed yet." Then the merchant gave the monk a place to stay in a corner of his house.
The merchant listened to the Dharma from the monk every day. The merchant accepted right faith and minor vows. One day, the monk described the vows taken by Vasudeva and other ancestors. The monk said that Vasudeva Krishna had accepted this vow that if any of his sons would take renunciation, he would not be an obstacle. Hearing this, Shivadev also took the vow, "If any member of my family takes initiation, I will not stop him." After some time, Shivadev's eldest son and the monk's sister Sammati became ready for initiation. The merchant allowed them to take initiation and they accepted renunciation.
1. Ga. 144 / 1-3 Vr. P. 98, 99, Pimprati P. 41.