Beyond Doubt

Author(s): Padmasagarsuri
Publisher: Arunoday Foundation

Page 40

walls around it. He began to shout for help. At that time a monk who was passing that way, heard his cry. On hearing the woe of the Seth he began to advice the person in distress, "Friend, whatever punishment God has given you, bear it with patience, for you shall be cleansed of all your sins and thereby you shall be liberated from the cycle of birth and death. Do not make any effort to come out of the well". Thus the monk advised him and went his way. After sometime a politician came that way and he too began to give a lecture to the poor man. He said "You have fallen in this well because there is no wall around. It is not only your problem but it is a national problem. In India there are thousands of villages and there are many wells which have no walls. I shall introduce a bill in the forthcoming session of the parliament, demanding all the wells in India to have walls built on all the four sides and from then after we shall not have such accidents. Please do not worry". The Seth replied, "The need of the hour is not your bill before the parliament but your help is of utmost importance. Otherwise I shall lose my life". "The leader then said to the Seth that it will be very nice if the Seth loses his life. for the bill will then be treated as urgent and shall be passed immediately by the parliament.
After the leader left the place, a god fearing and religious householder came that way. He heard the cry and took the rope which he was carrying with him, lowered it in the well so as to reach the Seth and asked the Seth to catch hold of it and come out of the well. He said “It is written in our holy scriptures that if you rescue a person who has fallen into the well;you earn a lot of 'Punya' enabling you to reach the heaven after death. Since many years I have been carrying this rope to earn some punya but did not get an opportunity to do so. Now that I have got a chance, my patience and hard work shall now bear fruit".
The Seth thanked the kind householder and caught hold of the rope and came out of the well. As soon as he pulled him out, the fanatic house holder immediately pushed, him into the well and