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The flame of avarice
this world, wealth is limited and desires unlimited. Until we endeavour to rid ourselves of the venom of greed, we cannot find peace. Lord Mahāvīra said:
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If there were innumerable mountains of gold and silver as vast as Mount Kailāśa, they would not satisfy an avaricious man; for avarice is boundless like the sky.3
Take the case of a greedy man who propitiates a deity by worship. The deity is pleased and grants him a generous boon. He asks for wealth. So God creates for him heaps of gold and silver on earth. High and vast as the Himalayas and the Sumeru, not just one or two, but innumerable mountains of wealth. He could keep counting them till the end of his life, but not reach their end.
After creating so much wealth, if God were to ask him whether he was satisfied, do you know what the greedy man would reply? He would say, "I will be at peace if you can create one more mountain of gold in yet another corner." One who nurtures greed is never satisfied by these heaps of gold and silver. Any amount of wealth is but miniscule for him. His desires will increase further, because desires are infinite. So, how can a pit of infinite desires be filled by limited wealth?
A saint during one of his wanderings met a man who was very greedy. He later put his disciple to test by saying, "Today I have seen a lake with neither a bank nor a shore. Tell me how that is possible."
Immediately the devout disciple replied, "Master! What you have seen is possible. It is certainly not impossible."
Testing him further, the Master asked, "How can this not be an impossibility? If there is a lake, there must be a shore. How can there be a lake without a shore?"
The disciple answered, "Master! All lakes have shores, but the lake of desire is such that it has no shore, no beginning. It is limitless." suvannaruppassa u pavvaya bhave, siyā hu keläsasamā asaṁkhaya. narassa luddhassa na tehi kimci, iccha hu āgāsasamā aṇamtiyā Uttaradhyayana Sūtra 9.48
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