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Religion in everyday life
Finally, the sons agreed to his condition. They said, “Alright, we will go to a bigger city and earn there." So saying, each one took his share and left.
With his sons gone, the old Seth started sculpting a bullock using his gold, silver and precious stones. He put all his wealth into this venture. He then aspired to make another bull using more wealth. "Of what use is a solitary bullock?" he thought. Since he had no wealth left, he would go to the jungle much before daybreak each day, collect wood and sell it to acquire the wealth to waste in his venture. Such was his need to possess that it left him devoid of any wisdom or peace. What a strange phenomenon possessiveness can be!
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When King Śreņika heard about Mamman Seth, he was perplexed and approached Lord Mahāvīra. In response, Mahāvīra narrated an account of Mamman Seth's previous life.
"Mamman Seth was very poor in his previous life. Once during a grand meal in the community, laḍḍūs were distributed to the poor. He did not eat his laḍdū, but kept it away. He thought that he would eat it when he felt hungry. After a while, he sat at the bank of a lake on the outskirts of the village and was about to eat his laddu when he saw a monk pass by. He thought, 'What an auspiscious opportunity to offer alms to a pious person! Let me give āhāradāna (the charity of food).'
With this noble intention, he invited the monk and pleaded with him to partake of the laḍḍū. Finally, the monk relented and sat down to eat with him. The laḍdū was delicious. It was so tasty that his charitable impulse was replaced with instant regret. He started thinking - 'Oh! Why did this monk have to come just as I was about to eat? As a monk, his devotees must surely feed him tasty ladḍūs every day. Where do I ever get anything as delicious? What a misfortune! I have never had any such visitor earlier. Then why today? And why did I become so impulsive? Oh, why did I waste my laḍdu?'
Thus, he began to regret his decision. His karmic baggage increased with pāpānubandhī punya. The consequences of this are
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