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PART IV STORIES DURING BHAGAWÄN MAHÄVIR
27 - Shälibhadra
Once upon a time, there lived a poor woman and her son in a small village. One day, there was a festival in the village and all the kids, including the poor boy, were playing together. After playing, all except the poor boy, started to eat kheer (rice pudding) that they had brought with them. The poor boy did not have kheer to eat. He felt bad and ran home to his mother. He asked her if she would make some kheer for him since all other children were eating it. His mother said that she could not make kheer and told him to eat whatever she had cooked. He started crying and insisted on having kheer. His mother could not bear to see him cry. Therefore, she went to a neighbor's house and borrowed some milk, sugar, and rice, and made kheer for her son. She poured the kheer into a dish and left to bring some water from the well. As the boy was about to start eating, he heard the words, "Dharma Läbha" (meaning, may you be blessed with spirituality, usually spoken by Jain sädhus and sädhvis when they arrive at a lay person's house for gochari). He saw a Jain sädhu at the door. Without hesitation, the hungry boy invited the monk in and offered him the kheer. He poured all the kheer from his plate into the monk's container. He was happy that he could offer this to the monk even though nothing was left for him to eat. That night, he had a terrible stomach-ache. His mother tried to cure it but nothing helped and he died later that night. His good intentions and his pious action helped him earn good karmas. In his next life he was born as Shalibhadra in a very rich family. His life was like being in heaven. His parents were Bhadra Shethäni and Gobhadra Sheth. His father had renounced the world to become a monk when Shalibhadra was a young boy. His mother provided him all the comforts and luxury and never let him out of the palace for fear that he might become a monk like his father. It was said that even the heavenly beings were jealous of his lavish lifestyle. When he grew up, he was married to 32 beautiful women. One day, some merchants from Nepal came to town to sell some very exquisite diamond studded
The boy is happily offering all his kheer to the
monk shawls. They went to King Shrenik's court where the King told them that he could not afford to buy such expensive shawls. The merchants returned from the court in utter disappointment because they were hoping to sell some shawls to the King. The merchants also thought that since the king could not afford to buy them, none of his people would have enough wealth to buy their shawls in this city and decided to leave town. When Bhadra Shethäni heard this, she sent a messenger and requested the merchants to visit her. The merchants were reluctant to go because they felt that if the King could not buy a shawl, how could any of the residents buy such expensive shawls? When they reached the house, Bhadra Shethäni asked, "How many shawls do you have?" They said they had sixteen shawls. She said, "Only sixteen? I need thirty-two shawls because I have thirty-two daughters-in-law." The merchants thought she was joking believing that she would not even buy one. She said, "Please take out those shawls." They took out the sixteen shawls. The merchants were surprised that, without a second thought, she bought all sixteen shawls. They were further astounded to see her tearing such precious shawls into two pieces in front of them and giving a piece to each of her daughters-in-law to wipe their feet. The merchants were stunned but left with joy. The daughters-in-law used the pieces once and threw them away.
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JAIN STORY BOOK
