Journey Into Jainism

Author(s): Smitpragyashreeji, Vishrutvibhashreeji
Publisher: B Jain Publishers Pvt Ltd

Page 80

The Value of Humbleness
Once upon a time there was a Guru who had two pupils. Both of them were intelligent and hard working, but one of them was polite, very humble and obedient while the other was rude. Once, on the way to a village, they saw the imprints of a hand and a foot on the soil. The impolite pupil at once spoke: “This is the footprint of an elephant." After thinking deeply the polite pupil said, "This is the footprint of a female elephant and she is blind in one eye. A queen was riding it and she was pregnant." They argued until they reached the village. There the festivities were in progress. The pupils asked someone the cause of the merriments going on there. The villager answered that the king had just gotten a son. Then the polite pupil inquired about the information he had inferred from the prints, and he was pleased to find that his assumptions were all correct.
A few minitues later, both the pupils were sitting on the bank of a river. An old woman came there to fetch water. Considering the pupils to be astrologers she asked them, “My son has been living in a foreign country for twelve years. Please, tell me when he will return." After uttering these painful words, the woman burst into tears and began to tremble with sobs. The pitcher she was carrying on her head fell down. The impolite pupil said to the old woman, "Your son has died and he will not return home.” When she heard so, she was deeply grieved. But at the next moment the polite pupil said to her