Way of Life Part 2

Author(s): Bhadraguptasuri
Publisher: Vishvakalyan Prakashan Trust Mehsana

Page 77

DISCOURSE 29
65
a mess in building houses. They build a house wherever they get a site. If a cemetry is converted into sites, even there, people build houses. People who live in such houses cannot be happy. The site also has its mysterious influence and its influence manifests itself in a definite manner. A person who lives in a place may be absolutely poor and he may have to beg for food. He might be a victim of all sorts of misfortunes but if the same person goes to another town or city, he becomes affluent and prosperous. Good fortune shines out like the moon dispelling the darkness of poverty in his life. Land has its effect and certain punyakarmas and sins are such that they produce their effect through the medium of the Kshetra or place. Some sins and merits are such that they produce their effect through the medium of time. They produce their effect when the proper time arrives for the merits and sins to ripen.
Never earn money by illicit or immoral methods. Please tell me why you earn money. You earn money to attain happiness. Is it not so ? But what is the use of earning money if you cannot attain happiness even after having earned that money ?
AN INCIDENT OF THE PRESENT DAY
There was an idealistic young man. His mother brought him up very well, instilling into him noble ideas. He became a graduate. He secured a job in the government. He secured a good position. If he adopted dishonest methods, he could have earned some fifty or hundred rupees every day, but he happened to be an idealist. He never took bribes. He was contented with the salary, he was getting from the government. But his wife did not like his idealism. She wanted to have a bungalow. She wanted to have excellent furniture; expensive clothes; beautiful ornaments and an expensive car. A lot of money would be necessary to secure all these luxuries. So she encouraged her husband to take bribes. For a couple of years, he ignored his wife's entreaties and encouragements but when his wife's insistence became stronger and stronger, day by day; when his wife began to quarrel with him, he helplessly yielded to her