Jailer

Author(s): Abhayshekharsuri, Sujata P Kapadia
Publisher: Harshadray Private Limited

Page 19

be but I will not allow you to earn money at any cost, because I want to punish you with poverty". Someone finds success easily and others do not achieve it even after striving hard and putting in a lot of effort. Why reward one and punish the other? Who is nature's own and who is alien to it? The answer is simple. People who have done good deeds are rewarded by nature and the wrong-doers are punished by it.
A man stole, plundered and even committed murder. The police arrested him and took him to court. The judge sentenced the criminal to ten years of rigorous imprisonment and ten lashes with a whip everyday. The jailer made the prisoner labour from morning to night. In the evening, he brought out his whip and told the prisoner to get ready for his punishment. If at that time the prisoner had asked the jailer, "What have I done to you that you are ready to even hit me? I will not be beaten, instead I will hit you back with the whip." Would it increase his punishment or lessen it?
"It will increase it".
Is the prisoner wrong in saying so? What has he done to the jailer? The prisoner can say, "Let the person, whose home I robbed, beat me. Why should you hit me? I have not committed a theft in your house". Why should the prisoner take the jailer's beating? At the same time, if he does not take the beating, why does his sentence increase? "A jailer only carries out the sentence as per the court's order".
"That is correct. The prisoner should understand that the jailer beats him not of his own accord but because of
5