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164
THE WAY OF LIFE
He never
those who had committed offences against him. experienced the feelings of sorrow, despair or despondency.
PETHAD SHAH'S NAME IS STAINED
Once, the Chief Minister was caught in a calamity, though he was not guilty of any offence or misconduct. He had in his possession, a garment worth one and a quarter lakh rupees. It had been given to him by the King of Malwa. The Mahamantri used to wear it only at the time of worshipping the Paramatma. The garment acquired such miraculous efficacy that if it was put over a person suffering from fever, the fever would immediately abate and be cured. The wife of the Mahamantri knew, very well that the garment had that power. It had acquired such a miraculous power on account of the vow of celibacy that he was practising.
It is natural that there should be friendship and intimacy between the royal family and the family of the Chief Minister. The King of Malwa had two wives by name, Lilavathi and Kadamba. The King was extremely enamoured of Lilavathi. On account of this reason, Kadamba was jealous of Lilavathi. In fact, she was burning with jealousy. How strange human nature is! Lilavathi did not have any feeling of hostility towards Kadamba. But Kadamba was full of hatred for Lilavathi. Kadamba thought, "I am not so happy as Lilavathi. Why does she get more happiness than I?" Yes. If Lilavathi also was getting only so much happiness as Kadamba, the latter would not have been jealous of the former. On account of the same reason, even in the happy life of that noble woman, Sita, there appeared the flames that destroyed her happiness. Shri Ramachandraji loved Sitaji greatly but the other wives of Rama would not tolerate this. According to the Jain Ramayan those three wives of Rama conspired against Sitaji and that noble lady fell a victim to that conspiracy. A false accusation was made against her and Shri Ram sent away Sita to the forest. We may think that Sita suffered thus because of the decres of Destiny but did those three queens attain any happiness by Sita's departure from the palace? No. That is only an illusion of human beings that they will be happy if they cause sorrow to others. The
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