KNOWLEDGE

Once upon a time, lived an erudite but impecunious Brahman, in the town of Maharaja Bhoj. One day, been perturbed by his impoverishment, he decided to rob the palace. At night when everyone was soundly sleeping, he covertly entered the palace. He saw precious gems, jewellery, gold and priceless pots been scattered everywhere around, but whenever he thought of picking up any object his religious knowledge always restrained him from doing so. Finally, with a determined mind, he extended his hand to pick up the gold. Only then, he recollected a line from the Holy Scripture which said, "One who steals the gold goes to hell". Likewise, whenever he thought about stealing anything, his memory recollected the lines from the scriptures which considered theft a sin and he stopped. He spent the whole night in the palace, but he could not steal anything.

At daybreak when the servants began waking up, the Brahman hid under the king's bed from the fear of being caught. When the king woke up, his queens and ladies in waiting respectfully greeted the king. Decorated elephants and horses were also standing outside the palace. Seeing this, the king's heart filled with joy, and he recited the three lines of a sloka. Then he suddenly stopped because he forgot the last line. The Brahman could not stop himself and completed the fourth line. The king startled, and asked the Brahmin to come out from under the bed. When the king asked the Brahmin that in spite of spending the whole night in the palace why he did not steal. The Brahmin said, "King, my religious knowledge guided me and stopped me from committing theft." Been happy with his honesty, the king gave him ample money and ended his poverty forever.

Moral: Knowledge helps us to sense the difference between appropriate, inappropriate and just, unjust. Using this knowledge at the time of various ethical dilemmas we can acquire the right path.