________________
Mokshmala - Lesson-25. To reduce posessions
he would lose all fame of being a truth speaker.
Inspite of his love for truth-speaking, to save the life of his teacher's wife,
King Vasu very reluctantly said to Parvat's mother that he would tell a lie and side with Parvat's meaning of the said word. Hearing these words of King Vasu she came home. Next morning Narad, Parvat and his mother came to King Vasu for decision. King Vasu deliberately pleading ignorance, asked Parvat what was the bone of contention, to this Parvat said, 'O King of Kings Vasu ! Tell us the meaning of Aja.' King Vasu asked Narad as to what did Aja mean according to him. Narad replies 'O King ! Why do you not remember that Aja meant three years old Vrihi?' Hearing this, King Vasu said, 'Aja meant a goat and not vrihi.' The moment these words came out of the mouth of King Vasu, he was hurled out from his throne and he died on the spot.
The main lesson for us from the above story is that we should always speak the truth and particularly a king not only should speak the truth but also should favour justice.
Of the five great vows advised by Bhagawan Mahavir the first is non-violence in thought, word and deed and as fences around this vow, the rest four are given; the first of these fences is the great vow of truth speaking. It is necessary to know many sections of truth from religious scriptures.
LESSON-25. TO REDUCE POSSESSIONS
A living being having no limit to its possessions, is not happy. Whatever such a greedy person acquires, he desires to get more than it and in his burning desire to get more and more, he is unable to enjoy fully what he already has acquired, and sometimes he loses what he has already got. By such greed, his mind remains always unsatisfied and it becomes unstable and he indulges in sinful activities to satisfy his greed. In case, by accident he loses his life in the craze for getting more possessions, then it becomes the cause of his downfall. Monks can absolutely abandon all possessions, even householders can fix up a limit of their possessions, according to their necessities. By fixing a limit, one does not try to keep with him more than what he requires within his limits; and this way, he develops a sense of satisfaction in what he has already acquired and becomes free from a mad desire to get more and more. Thus he passes his time happily. It is a strange nature of wealth that when one has it, his desire to get more grows and thus his greed increases day by day. Rarely, a man even possessed of religious knowledge and firmly believing in leading a religious life, can free himself from the fetters of greed, and his inclinations get stuck up in this greed. But such greed is never bringing happiness to a man nor is it beneficial to his soul. Those who did not put a limit to greed, have been found to have suffered harm immensely.
EXAMPLE OF SUBHUM CHAKRAVARTI One who conquers the land of six continents and compels all the people of the conquered land to follow his commands, is known as a king of kings - a chakravarti king whose word is law to all lands where his conquering wheel goes. In the series of such King of Kings in a long stretch of time in the past, there was a Chakravarti King named Subhum who was not satisfied with his possessions of six continents and so he decided to conquer other six continents as part of series of Dhataki continents. He said, all the Chakravarti conquered six continents but he should do something more than that. By being the Lord of twelve continents his fame would
42
