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I am the Soul The brilliant Sumati, follower of the Jineshwar, who placed unwavering faith at the feet of the Veetaraag, was a devoted pursuer of the samyaktva bhava. Her mind was engaged in the purity of the atma. She had total faith in the words of the Prabhu. Along with faith there was a harmony of practice. Such was this Shravika whose husband was away when her two grown up sons, like two gems of the eyes, suddenly died. Sumati was dumbstruck for a moment. It appeared as if the face of her entire life had been distorted. But the profoundly faithful lady who had prayed at the feet of the Veetaraag, stabilised within a few moments.
She kept the bodies of her sons in a room and covered them with white linen, and waited at the door for her husband. After considerable time her husband arrived. He found the lady unusually sad. He wondered what had happened, why his wife was so sad? He asked -
“Sumati! What happened? Why are you sad?” “Nothing, O Dev! I had a fight with our neighbour.”
“What! Sumati, you are saying this! I have never heard you even raise your voice. How can you every fight?”
“O Nath! Some time back, I had borrowed a pair of gemstudded bangles from our neighbour for a particular occasion. I liked them very much and retained them. Today the neighbour had come for them, but I did not want to return them. That was why we fought.”
“Oh! Madwoman! Is there a fight in this? If somebody comes asking for their stuff, you have to return it, don't you? How long can you retain others' stuff? Go return it!"
“No! I don't like to return them, I want to retain the bangles. I like them a lot! What if I don't return?”
“What's wrong with you today? How come you are talking this way like never before?”
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