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Kids Korner
PUNYA, PAAP & PROGRESS
Karma = the effects of a person's actions
Punya = good karma
Paap bad karma
KIDS' KORNER
Compiled by Pooja Jain and Rakee Haria
Punyanubandhu punya = punya which we accumulate now will bring us comforts and leads to a life where we will accumulate punya again
Papanubandhu punya = punya which we accumulate now, also will bring us comforts, but leads to a life where we will accumulate paap instead of punya
Story One
A long time ago, a poor widow had a young son. She had to work hard to maintain herself and her son. Once there was a day of great festival and neighbouring families prepared a tasteful pudding of milk and rice called kheer in order to celebrate.
Seeing other children enjoy their kheer, the boy went to his mother and asked her to make kheer for him too. He did not realize that his mother did not have enough money to buy the required milk, rice, and sugar. The mother tried to explain the situation but the boy started crying for kheer.
The mother could not tolerate his crying, so she said, "Don't cry, my boy, I will cook kheer for you." She went to the neighbours and borrowed the ingredients to make the dish. She served him the kheer and toldhim to wait until it cooled. She then left to get water from the well.
While the kheer was cooling, a monk came to the boy's home to ask for alms. The boy felt very happy
Story Two
There lived a man who one day offered ladoos (a dessert food) to a monk who came to his house for alms. Later, he sat down to eat the left over ladoos and realized how sweet those ladoos were. He felt sorry for giving away such ladoos.
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and invited monk to come in. He served all his kheer to the monk. After the monk left, he ate whatever kheer was stuck to the plate and the pot. He remained happy with his offering to the monk.
As a result of this action, in his next life, he was known as Shalibhadra born into a very wealthy family with all luxuries. During this life, he attained self-realisation and renounced, becoming a monk of Lord Mahavira.
Picture: Shalibhadra offering kheer to a monk at the 'Tyagveer Shalibhadra' production by students of South London in May 2007.
He left to track down the monk to ask him to return those ladoos. By the time he found the monk the ladoos had already been eaten. The man kept regretting offering the ladoos to the monk.
As a result of giving alms to the monk, the man was reborn as a rich man, but because he had regrets about his offerings he became a miser in this life. He could not use his wealth and lived unhappily.
Which type of karma is being bound in each story?
In story one, the boy binds punyanubandhu punya In story two, the man binds papanubandhu punya
These stories remind us of a very important fact: anytime we offer something not only should we offer it happily, but we should never have regrets about offering it.
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