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To this, the merchant replied, "I do not understand. what you say. But it appears to me that you are taking shelter behind a jugglery of words like one brahmin"
"What brahmin, pray?" said the monk
The marchant started,
"In a certain village in Magadha, there lived a poor brahmin Once, there broke out a terrible famine in that - country and the brahmin was set to thinking how to survive through the critical time He brought a piece of wood from the forest, carved a Durga image out of it and started wandering from village to village He would sing in praise of the goddess This had great impact on the village folk. It was a sheer chance that a rich merchant, who was childless, got a son by propitiating the image, and at once its dignity and prestige in the public gaze shot up With it the brah.. min's luck took a favourable turn Henceforth, every day, he got ample offerings in cash and kind and soon he was able to change the wooden image into a golden one The wooden image was dumped in the garbage bin The same has been the case with you, oh monk. So long as you were ailing and the monsoon months were before you, you behaved well with me But now that your interest in me has waned, you have deceived me to an extent which may cost even my life"
To this, the monk said,
“Merchant ! you are still under a very trong impression, and are not trying to understand the reality I reiterate thatI have not touched your treasure A monk always . behaves like Jinadatta and never stoops to a low level"
“Who was this Jinadatta, sır ?"
*Jinadatta was a sravaka, the son of a merchant named. Jinadasa, who was well-versed in the Jaina tenets As an. inspired soul ever since his buth, Jinadatta never took inter
