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Discretion at Depth
well-being of the soul. If we waste it in availing worldly pleasure, no one is going to prevent us. But it is in our interest to think of tomorrow, to think of where we would be destined to go. Whatever we possess is temporary and we have to leave it. Even our body is temporary and is going to be burnt to ashes. As such, those who do not think of the life after death, are going to repent later. We should therefore make use of this life in the interest of the soul.
As we think of young age during the childhood, of adulthood during the young age, of old age during the adulthood, so do we need to think of death during the old age. A foresighted person invariably thinks of the life after death. We have been imbibed with discretion and we should judiciously exercise it. About the right use of discretion, there is an interesting story in our scriptures.
In Räjgruhi there was a merchant named Dhanyadev. He had a vast business that he used to conduct with the help of his four sons; his wife Bhadrä taking care of the manifold household aspects. He had trained his sons in different divisions of his business and they were carrying out their activities efficiently.
When Bhadrä died, Dhanya thought to allocate her work among his daughters-in-law. For that purpose, he wanted to know about their inclinations. As such, he once called them one after another and gave to each of them five grains of paddy. He told them to take the best care thereof and give them back when he asked for. Then he proceeded on a long pilgrimage.
The eldest daughter-in-law knew that there was a large stock of paddy in the storage. As such, she did not feel concerned about the five grains. She thought that the old man must be crazy to ask her for taking care of the five grains and threw them away. She was sure that she could give the old man five grains from the storage when he called for the same.
The second eldest also did not have much significance for the five grains, but she had some regard for the old man. As such, she took out the rice from the paddies and swallowed them as Prasad
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