Way of Life Part 2

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

Page 86

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THE WAY OF LIFE
at least, be honest in your dealings with your customers. Do not be dishonest in your dealings. If you are unfair and unjust towards people, they too will be unfair and unjust towards you. If you loot others, sometime or the other, you too will be looted.
WHAT YOU DO TO OTHERS, YOU WILL BE DONE BY DO WHAT YOU WOULD BE DONE BY
In a certain town, a Seth had a food grain and grocery shop. The Seth was dealing in food grain, spices, jaggery and other groceries. A certain illiterate and ignorant woman used to buy her necessaries from this shop. One day, she bought one kg. of jaggery from the shop. Having bought jaggery she went home. Some guests came to the house of the Seth and there was no ghee in the house. The Seth's wife sent her son to bring ghee, from the same woman. The woman had cows in her house and pure ghee was available in her house. The Seth's son bought of her one kg. of ghee. The woman did not have the weighing stones with her. She had a balance. She weighed one kg. of ghee placing the same jaggery in one pan of the balance.
The boy returned home with the ghee. The Seth also was at home. He weighed the ghee with his balance and found that it was short by fifty grams. The Seth said to his son, "Go and bring that woman here". Accordingly the boy went and brought the woman to the Seth's shop. The Seth said angrily to her, "How dishonest you are? Can you deceive me? You have taken money for one kg. but you have given fifty grams less, why ?"
The woman said, "Sethji, I do not have weights with me. I have only a balance. I weighed the ghee using the jaggery which I bought of you. The ghee I gave you was equal to the jaggery you gave me, in its weight". On hearing this, the guests who were sitting in this house looked at each other and laughed. The Seth's face became pale. Actually, it was the Seth who was dishonest. He had taken money for one kg. of jaggery and had given fifty grams less. There is a competition in cheating and exploiting one another. Do you know the proverbial statement, "Mathsyagalagal Nyay" which means the fish eat one another? One fish eats another fish and later that fish is eaten by a third