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bed to raise it high and decided to steal away one of them. But the problem was how and from under, which leg he should take out a brick without waking the king. The night passed in this condition of indecision. As soon as the day dawned, the king woke up and started composing a Sanskrit sloka sitting in his bed. He succeeded in composing only three steps of the following sloka:
Chaitohra yuvtya suhrdinokala, sadbandhva pranryagrbhgirshch Grjanti dantinivhastrtnasturndga
The king repeated the three steps time and again, but could not compose the fourth step. The meaning of the three steps is:
"I am the master of several beautiful and charming young damsels as my wives. I have many true friends and brothers. Many sweet-speaking submissive servants attend on me. Many elephants trumpet at my door and many fast racing horses are there in my stable."
On hearing the three steps of the sloka, the learned Brahman thief, who had got into the palace with the main intention of stealing, could not control himself. Then and there he instantly composed the fourth step as under and recited it to the king:
Samilitay nyaniarn hi kinchidasti
I.e., As soon as a man breathes his last, none of these horses, elephants, wives, friends, servants and attendants will accompany him to the other world.
The king was taken aback on hearing such a fine step which completed his sloka. He looked at the learned thief with surprise and asked him, "O learned scholar! Who are you? How and why have you come into my bedroom?" The Brahman related the whole tale of his wretched campaign. Being pleased, the king rewarded him handsomely and bade him farewell.
To sum up, these physical possessions belong to us so long as we breathe and survive. No sooner do we give up our ghost, than all this vast wealth is left here in this world. All our affluence and grandeur i.e., wealth and property except our immortal soul are not our own and are perishable. Therefore, the immortal soul alone is our real self. We should make incessant efforts only for its uplift forever.
Ahideva and Mahideva were two brothers. They both went abroad on a business errand. They amassed enormous wealth and bought a precious diamond with the money. The diamond proved so inauspicious in its effect that a vicious feeling to kill his partner took possession of the mind of its holder. But the two brothers had great mutual love. So any, how they put reins to their evil feeling and did not kill each other. Soon after they returned home and handed over the diamond to their mother. Instantly, on getting the diamond an evil thought flashed into her mind, "Why not kill both my sons by giving them poison in food, so that the diamond may remain in my possession for ever?"
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