________________
363
young man was glad to accept it. One of these days a terrible famine broke out. In the house of the official some gruel was being cooked and the lady of the house asked this boy to tell his master that he should come in quickly before it became cold and tasteless. The boy saw that the master was busy with a group of people and he announced loudly that the food was ready and he should not be late. The official thought that it was all in bad taste, particularly at the time of the famine and reprimanded the boy for this. He advised him to whisper such messages softly in the ear of the person concerned, and he dismissed him from his service.
The boy once saw a house caught up in flames. He rushed to the master of the house and in his ears he whispered that his house was on fire. The man was quite angry and snapped back at the boy, "You fool. Don't waste time like this. Make every effort to put out the fire. If you don't have any water at hand, use milk. Your first duty is to do something to put it out."
On another occasion, when he saw incense burning in a house, he wanted to put it out immediately. He threw cowdung cakes at it.
Whenever your words or actions are ill-suited to the occasion. you commit what is called discrepancy.
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org