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## English Translation:
**264**
The point of the pin fell to the ground. Then, the Muni Dharmaghosh, with his mind fixed on liberation, profound like the ocean, unshakable like Mount Meru, all-embracing like the earth, detached from passions like a conch shell, dedicated to the destruction of karma like the great Subhata, and engaged in the method of accepting alms as instructed by the Lord, thought, "Food tainted by the vomit of sin is not fit for me." Therefore, without accepting alms, he left the house. The minister Varatraka, riding on a maddened elephant, saw the Muni leaving and thought, "Why did the Muni not accept alms from my house?" As the minister pondered, many flies came to the point of ghee mixed with sugar. A lizard came to eat them. A hawk came to kill the lizard. A cat ran to devour the hawk, and a fierce dog ran to kill it. Another dog, a resident of that place, ran to kill the dog. The two dogs began to fight. Their owners, their minds troubled by the defeat of their respective dogs, engaged in a battle. The minister Varatraka witnessed this entire scene and thought in his mind, "Even a mere drop of ghee, falling to the ground, has caused strife. Therefore, the Muni, fearing violence, did not accept alms upon seeing the drop of ghee on the ground. Oh! The Lord's Dharma is very strong. Who, other than the Omniscient, can preach such a faultless Dharma?" Pondering thus, he became detached from the world. Just as a lion emerges from a mountain cave, so too did the minister Varatraka, emerging from his palace, approach the sage Dharmaghosh and accepted the vow of renunciation. That great soul, remaining detached from the body, observed the vows of restraint and studied the scriptures with a mind filled with devotion. For a long time, he followed the path of restraint, then ascended to the क्षपक श्रेणी (Kshapaka श्रेणी), and upon the complete destruction of his harmful karmas, he attained the wealth of pure knowledge and, in due course, attained Siddhi-Gati (liberation).
**50. The Greed for Material Possessions: The Fish Analogy**
A fisherman went to the lake to catch fish. Approaching the lake, he cast a net with a piece of meat attached to it into the middle of the lake. In that lake, there lived an old fish, wise and experienced. Smelling the scent of the meat attached to the hook, he went to eat it and carefully consumed all the meat around it. Then, he pushed the hook away with his tail. The fisherman thought, "The fish is caught in the net," so he pulled the hook towards him. He saw the hook without the fish and the meat. The fisherman again attached meat to the hook and cast it into the lake. Again, the fish ate the meat and pushed the hook away with its tail and escaped. Thus, he ate the meat three times, but the fisherman could not catch him.
Seeing the fisherman worried after the meat was finished, the fish said, "Why are you thinking like this? Listen to my story, which will make you feel ashamed. I have been caught in the mouth of a बलाका (Balaka) three times and escaped from it. Once, I was caught by a बलाका, and it put me in its mouth.