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THE WAY OF LIFE
the city, he met the mendicant who was returning from the temple. The king at once dismounted from his horse; saluted the bachelor and said, "Oh you great man! I feel blessed by meeting you. You may ask for anything you desire".
The mendicant was immensely pleased. He thought for a while, "What shall I ask for? Shall I ask for some three or four thousand gold coins? No! That won't be enough. That will be over within a year. Shall I ask him to make me king of the city? When the king himself has permitted me to ask for anything, why should not I ask for his whole kingdom ?" He said to the king, "Oh king! since you have permitted me to ask for any boon I tell you, I desire your kingdom".
The king said, "You have asked for an excellent boon. I have been desiring to be liberated from my attachment for my kingdom. I will go to the temple and then I will return to my palace. There, I will give you the whole of my kingdom, as a gift. Please wait here until I come back".
The king spoke naturally. He did not entertain any dislike for the mendicant. He went to the temple and the mendicant stood waiting for the king. He thought, "Ah! How naturally and easily, the king has agreed to give me his kingdom! Though he sits on the throne and is surrounded by wealth and splendour, he is at heart detached and I? What am I? I call myself a man of renunciation and what a great craving have I for royal splendour? I am inwardly a man of attachment, attached to sensual pleasures. The king is really a man of renunciation. Oh! I curse myself". The mendicant went away from that city. The king searched for him but could not find him.
The feeling of renunciation naturally arises in some jivatmas on account of their acquired merit or the punya that they have acquired in their earlier lives. Such jivas need not be exhorted to renounce worldly life. Those who are not men of renunciation acquire the feeling of renunciation when they hear discourses that inspire the feeling of renunciation in the listeners. One can attain the feeling of renunciation even by developing devotion for the Paramatma.
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