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DISCOURSE 31
99
Karma gets destroyed only by nyaya or uprightness, and the second point is that the Labhantharaya Karma, of necessity, that is surely (firaha: ) gets destroyed by uprightness.
If you want to destroy your Labhantharaya Karma and if you want to attain the means of materialistic pleasures that you desire, you must conform to legal and ethical values. You have to discard your illicit and immoral ways and you must keep off the temptations of illicit and immoral methods of earning money. If, in this life you cannot attain the wealth that you desire by carrying out your occupation or business with uprightness and integrity, you must realise that you are under the influence of the Labhantharaya Karma; but if you do not swerve from the path of integrity and uprightness and if you carry on your existence contented with what you get, your Labhantharaya Karma will be surely destroyed and after its destruction you will attain wealth.
Does this truth appeal to you? Will you make a determination not to act immorally and illegally in any situation? You can make this determination only if you discard your desire for sensual pleasures because it is that desire that impels you to take recourse to immoral and illicit methods of earning money. "I will manage to live with what I get by legal and moral methods. But I will never take recourse to illicit and immoral methods”. This kind of determination can be made only by a person who discards his desire for sensual pleasures.
That beggar went to beg for alms in the garden outside the city where people had gathered for a picnic. He had been starying for three days. He had not eaten a single morsel of food for three days. Even there, the people who had gathered for a picnic did not give him anything. The beggar became wild with rage. He was full of bitter contempt for the people of the city. "All these people are enjoying a dainty meal spending lavishly; they keep eating throughout the day. I have been starving for three days. They have not given me a morsel of food. I will take up a stone from this hill and break their heads. I will kill everyone of them.” He thought so.
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