Golden Steps To Salvation

Author(s): Padmasagarsuri
Publisher: Arunoday Foundation

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The teacher said, “Very good, recite.” Yudhisthira said, "Sir, why should I recite it? I have taken the test and passed it." The teacher was surprised by what Yudhisthira said. Since it was like a riddle, he asked him to explain it.
Yudhisthira said, “Dear sir! Dharma requires that we should not get angry. I had a doubt whether I would remain calm even if there was some provocation to get angry. Therefore according to the precept, "Speak the truth”, I spoke the truth saying that I could not remember the lesson, even after receiving beatings and rebukes from you, and so my doubt was cleared because I acted according to the second precept and thus I remembered the lesson. The teacher was greatly pleased by this reply. Yudhisthira became famous as Dharmarāja by thus acting according to what was taught to him.
One day Mohammad, the prophet being tired after a long journey was taking rest in the outskirts of a village and there a dead body was being taken to the cemetery. The prophet stood up to offer his respects to the departed one. His disciples said to him, “Sir, this is the dead body of a Jew!” The prophet said, “Is not a Jew a human being ? By respecting him we are respecting humanity.”
Great men have the responsibility of acting according to dharma or righteousness because others follow them treating them as the exemplars of great virtues.