The Crime of stealing

[Guest guest]

Dear friends and devotees,

 

Bhakti is eternal.

 

The Story of Two brothers

 

Once upon a time, there were two brothers Shankha and Likhita, who were Munis

and used to live in their Aashramams on the banks of the river Baahudaa. One

day, the younger brother, Likhita, went to the Shankha’s aashramam and on not

finding his brother, sat under a mango tree. He started eating one of its

mangoes, without taking the permission of the owner of the tree (Shankha).

 

Shankha returned to his aashramam and found Likhita eating the mangoes. Shankha

then told Likhita that, one must never take the things which do not belong to

them. He said “You should have eaten it only after taking my permission”. He

further told Likhita to go to the King, Sudyumna, tell him the mistake he did

and take the appropriate punishment, according to the Danda-neeti-shaastram.

 

Likhita adheres to the word of his brother and immediately goes to Sudyumna..

The King warmly welcomes the Muni and upon being asked the reason for coming,

Likhita tells what had happened and begs the King for punishment.

 

The King who knows all the Dharma shastras, replied that “O great Muni! You

leave all the pleasures of normal humans and do Tapas for the welfare of

everyone. How can I give you punishment?” Likhita replies saying that a King

must never deviate for his duty and hence, must punish him. The King accepts and

orders that Likhita’s hands must be cut-off (following Danda-neeti).

 

Likhita then returned to Shankha after experiencing the punishment. Shankha was

very happy to see his brother and said “O Putra! You did a good thing. Because

of you, our entire vamsham will be saved. Dip in the Baahudaa Nadi and do Deva,

Muni, Pitru Tarpanam and come. Surapaanam, Guru Bharya Vyamoham, Vipra-hatya,

Vipra-Dhana-apaharanam and doing friendship with these four kinds of people are

the Pancha-mahaa-paatakas (5 main sins). You became punyatma because you

experienced Dandanam (punishment) from Raja. Go.”

 

Likhita immediately goes and takes a dip in the Baahuda River and to his

surprise sees that he gets back his hands. Knowing that his hands came back due

to the power of Shankha, he asked his brother that if he has so much power why

did he ask him to go to the King for punishment, instead he himself could have

given it. The elder brother said that every one must do his own duty. Our duty

is to do Tapas for the benefit of the society and the King’s duty is to punish

the bad. Hence, he said, he had no right to punish his younger brother.

 

This story was told by Vyasa Bhagavan to Dharmaraja when he was worried that all

relatives, friends etc. are killed in the Great War. Vyasa Bhagavan says Dushtas

must be punished. Duty of the King is to do that. So there is nothing wrong in

Yudhishthira doing the Kurukshetra War, to kill the bad.

 

Morals in the story:

 

Respecting elders, though sometimes their words may seem harsh, is a very

important aspect of Indian culture. The younger brother always respected his

elder brother and adhered to his words. Also, the elder brother always wanted

the good of his brother. Thus did not pamper him by neglecting the mistake he

did, considering it small.

Everyone in the story performed their duties. The sages did tapas, the King did

Dharma-paalanam and younger brother listened to the elder one. The elder brother

always thought about the good of the younger one.

One has to experience the results of his own karma, some or the other time.

Knowing this, the elder brother asked his younger brother to undergo the

punishment given by the king, rather than postponing it to hell.

Stealing, knowingly or unknowingly results in big sin. For stealing one mango,

that too being a sage, the punishment was as severe as cutting off hands.

 

If stealing one person’s belonging is such a crime, imagine how much magnitude

of crime is committed by stealing public/government money/property (bribes).

Similarly, destroying public property must never be done. Since, it will effect

many individuals not only one.

 

With love and regards,

 

Sastry