Jailer

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

Page 41

wealth, have borne many difficulties and bitter insults and considered important matters as trivial in their time of need, is out to harass you in all possible ways?)
Answer: The jailer is never evil. The jailer makes the prisoner do laborious work and orders him thus - "Break all these rocks”, “Grind all this grain”, “Sweep the entire jail” – Day in and day out the prisoner toils without any argument, like an obedient servant and bears all the strikes calmly. Would this jailer be considered evil? Imagine an unknown person who has no clue about what a court, crime or punishment are or what a jail and jailer are. This person will observe that the jailer is making the prisoner work so hard, although the latter, in his eyes, is gentle, simple hearted and does everything without any argument. Yet, the jailer hits the prisoner with a whip every day, and harasses him all the time.
To a person who has no knowledge about a jail, a jailer, a court, the jailer must seem like a wicked person. He, who has no perception of previous births, crimes, the court of karmasatta, punishments given by that court and all the related souls who act as jailers, may think of all the souls inflicting affliction as evil. However, if he is aware of everything, he will consider the soul inflicting pain as only a jailer and not a wrong doer.
Query: Does this mean that knowledge of Karmasatta becomes detrimental? Can one assume that the person who is ignorant about it will not consider the giver of pain as the jailer and therefore even if he opposes him (jailer), his punishment will not be enhanced? On the other hand, can one presume that the punishment of the person in the