Golden Steps To Salvation

Author(s): Padmasagarsuri
Publisher: Arunoday Foundation

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तिनके ।
यह संसार महासागर है, हम मानव है इधर उधर से बह कर आये, कौन यहाँ पर किनके ? ॥
Yah samsara mahāsagar hai Ham manav hai tinake Idar Udar se bah kar aye Kaun yaha par kinke?
"Life is a boundless ocean and human beings are like blades of grass. We have come floating from various directions. Here, nobody belongs to any one else."
He said, "In this cemetery thousands of children are buried. No one has come out of his grave in response to his mother's call. You are also going to be buried here some day. Therefore, discarding your attachment to your son, return home." This message reduced her attachment and she returned home.
Once, an old woman, brought the dead body of her only son to the Buddha. She wept and humbly requested the Buddha to give life to the boy again. She said, "You are the very ocean of compassion. You are benevolent. Kindly bestow a little of your kindness upon me and free me from this sorrow."
The Buddha to comfort her, said, "I will give life to your son by means of a mantra (a magical hymn). Do not worry. Bring some mustard seed from any house in which no one has died." The old woman became cheerful and set out to bring mustard seeds. From morning to evening, she went from house to house, but she found that in every house, some one had died, at some time. She could not get the mustard for the magical ritual. Being completely tired, she came back to the Buddha and he consoled her: "Every creature that is born must die. Death is inevitable for living beings. In every house, some one or the other has died, but people do not keep weeping over the dead. The flower-seller plucks the