Nothing Is Yours – All You Have Is A False Ego

There was a king named Bhoj. There was a poor Brahmin in his kingdom. He needed

Poor Brahmin needed money for daughter's marriage

money for his daughter's marriage and was very worried. One day, he was compelled to think that he should steal from the king’s palace. 

The Brahmin sneaked in as a woman

The palace was heavily guarded.  After waiting for several days, he finally succeeded in entering the palace disguised as a woman. 

At night when he was just about to steal a gold item, he remembered the Sidhant that stealing gold results in hell. He kept the gold item back in its place. Now he tried to steal another item, but again he remembered the same Sidhant. This way he could not steal the whole night. 

Now there was another problem. How would he escape?  The sun had risen and the kings

Brahmin hid under king's bed

servants were walking everywhere in the palace. So he hid under the king’s bed. From there, he saw royal arrangements being made to wake up the king. Elephants and horses were neighing, the scholars were reciting Vedic hymns, the ladies were singing and musical instruments were being played. 

The king woke up and recited a verse in his own glory. 

The verse meant - Beautiful girls are singing to wake me. The servants are glorifying me. How fortunate am I! In other kingdoms, kings are executed by their own jealous brothers but in my kingdom everyone likes me. 

When the king recited these lines, the Brahmin who was hiding beneath the bed could not resist himself from concluding the verse in Sanskrit.

The Brahmin's line meant - O king! All this is good, but when you close your eyes (that is when you die), none of these things will be there for you, nor will they go with you. 

The king was shocked to hear that. He called his guards to search. 

The Brahmin giving Gyan to King Bhoj

The Brahmin when caught, said to the king - I know that you will hang me now. So let me tell you the truth. I wanted to steal for my daughter's marriage. But my Tatva Gyan did not let me do it. 

But when you spoke of your glories to yourself, I could not resist thinking as to why you are so proud for owning material wealth? After our death, the only thing that goes with us is our karm. 

God gave us this human body only to practice devotion. You however seem so devoted to your possessions. At the time of death, God will not only take away your body but will also punish you for collecting so much wealth. 

King Bhoj realized his mistake. He did not punish the Brahmin, instead sent him home with respect and expensive gifts.

Moral of the story

Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj referred to this story in his lectures to teach us two things -

• If you have Tatva Gyan, it will help you not to sin.
• Everything you have, will be taken away at the time of death. Hence, the feeling of ownership of the material wealth is a false ego.