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98. "NEITHER AM I HERS,
NOR IS SHE MINE"
A young merchant decided to become a recluse and left his wife and kept on assuring himself that neither was he hers nor was she his. When the first enthusiasm wore out, he was wondering whether this could be true at all. She was indeed his and he was obviously hers. He remembered how deeply attached she was to him and could not find any justification for deserting her. Then as a mendicant that he has now become, he went to the village where she lived.
He reached a watering place where his former wife came. She had in the meantime become a Srāvikā and was equally bent on renunciation. At the watering place she recognised her husband but he could not. He asked her whether that young lady, who was his wife, was still alive. He very much wished to meet her, recant and start his life with her again.
His wife understood the hesitation in his mind and saw clearly that if he changed his mind at this moment and gave up his present mode of life, they would both suffer a continuous torture of going through the never ending birth and death cycle. She therefore told the man that the woman was alive but was married to some body else.
The young merchant felt convinced that what the great teachers had taught was entirely true; that no body belonged to any body. He made up his mind to go away from the village; he overcame his temptation. His wife saw his resolve and conveyed to him the essence of the true faith that life was transitory and that pleasures were momentary. . He felt convinced.
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