Read the previous part here…
Dejected, I slowly walked back home, and reached early in the morning. As I was entering what was left of my fortress, I overheard my servants talking to each other….
They were saying “There is no use of being around Hiranyaka now; he is incapable of providing us food. Not only that, staying close to him means that we attract the attention of the cats, which is detrimental to our well-being. So why waste our time being around him? It is better to find someplace else to stay now.”
I walked on, and slowly entered my destroyed fortress. Not one mouse from my tribe was seen. These are the same mice who used to gather all around me when I used to come back home earlier – they used to enquire about my well-being and serve me. Where are they now, when I am poor? मृतो दरिद्रः पुरुषो – A poor man without money is considered dead.
Within a day, most of my (former) followers joined Bhayanaka (the fearful one), my rival, and from his fortress opposite mine, started to even make fun of me as I walked around my destroyed home. I had no house, no followers, no wealth and no food. I couldn’t sleep. As I lay on my bed, I thought to myself “Why don’t I go back to that ashram, wait for those wicked people to sleep, and slowly steal my treasure and bring it back? If I am able to do that, I will regain my lost respect. It is said…
दौर्गत्यं देहिनां दुःखम् अपमान-करं परम् ।
येन स्वैर् अपि मन्यन्ते जीवन्तो ऽपि मृता इव ॥ १०२ ॥
daurgatyaṃ dehināṃ duḥkham apamāna-karaṃ param |
yena svair api manyante jīvanto ‘pi mṛtā iva || 102 ||
Being poor is the biggest curse, and fills your life with sorrow. It is because of this poverty that our own relatives and friends think of you as dead (they do not care about you at all).
लज्जन्ते बान्धवास् तेन सम्बन्धं गोपयन्ति च ।
मित्राण्य् अमित्रतां यान्ति यस्य न स्युः कपर्दकाः ॥ १०४ ॥
lajjante bāndhavās tena sambandhaṃ gopayanti ca |
mitrāṇy amitratāṃ yānti yasya na syuḥ kapardakāḥ || 104 ||
When a man is poor, his own relatives feel embarrassed in his presence – they even hide the fact that they are related to him. His friends stop acting as friends.
अधनो दातु-कामो ऽपि सम्प्राप्तो धनिनां गृहम् ।
मन्यते याचको ऽयं धिग् दारिद्र्यं खलु देहिनाम् ॥ १०८ ॥
adhano dātu-kāmo ‘pi samprāpto dhanināṃ gṛham |
manyate yācako ‘yaṃ dhig dāridryaṃ khalu dehinām || 108 ||
A poor man who goes to a rich man’s house to give something, is still treated as a person who has come to ask. Such is the state of poverty!
When I knew that the state of being poor is so miserable, I should have fought hard to keep my wealth. Now I have no other option, but to try to regain my lost wealth, and in turn, my lost respect.
And so I went back to the ashram, found them asleep, and tore the bag that contained my treasure. I was just getting ready to drag it back to my fortress, when TaamraChooda woke up, saw me and started to beat me with the stick. Beaten this way, I had to retreat…in fact, I barely escaped with my life…for it is said…
प्राप्तव्यम् अर्थं लभते मनुष्यो देवो ऽपि तं लङ्घयितुं न शक्तः ।
तस्मान् न शोचामि न विस्मयो मे यद् अस्मदीयं न हि तत् परेषाम् ॥ १११ ॥
prāptavyam arthaṃ labhate manuṣyo devo ‘pi taṃ laṅghayituṃ na śaktaḥ |
tasmān na śocāmi na vismayo me yad asmadīyaṃ na hi tat pareṣām || 111 ||
One surely attains what is destined for him.Even God cannot change his destiny. And that is why I do not worry when I don’t get something, nor feel surprised when I get something unexpectedly. I will surely get what is destined to be mine, and what isn’t mine, I will surely not get it.
“And how is that?” asked Mantharaka and LaghuPatanaka.
Hiranyaka replied…
वणिक्पुत्रकथा
The story of the merchant’s son
Once, in a city not so far away from here, lived a merchant named Sagaradatta. His son Bhagyadatta (destiny) once bought a book by paying one hundred rupees. This was all that was written in the book…
प्राप्तव्यम् अर्थं लभते मनुष्यो देवो ऽपि तं लङ्घयितुं न शक्तः ।
तस्मान् न शोचामि न विस्मयो मे यद् अस्मदीयं न हि तत् परेषाम् ॥ १११ ॥
prāptavyam arthaṃ labhate manuṣyo devo ‘pi taṃ laṅghayituṃ na śaktaḥ |
tasmān na śocāmi na vismayo me yad asmadīyaṃ na hi tat pareṣām || 111 ||
One surely gets what is destined for him.Even God cannot change his destiny. And that is why I do not worry when I don’t get something, nor feel surprised when I get something unexpectedly. I will surely get what is destined to be mine, and what isn’t mine, I will surely not get it.
The merchant saw the book and asked his son “How much did you say that you paid for this book?”
“One hundred rupees”, replied Bhagyadatta.
“You fool!”, fumed Sagaradatta. “You wasted one hundred rupees on a book that contains only one verse?? With this stupid brain, how are you going to make a living? I don’t want you living in this house anymore…get out!”
Bhagyadatta was saddened hearing his father speak this way, and with tears in his eyes, he left home, and set out to another city nearby.
Walking throughout the way, he reached the neighbouring city in a couple of days. As he walked into the city through the main gate, a passerby saw him and said “Hello stranger, where have you come from? What is your name?
Bhagyadatta replied “प्राप्तव्यमर्थं लभते मनुष्यः” (A man surely gets what is destined for him).
The passerby didn’t quite understand what he meant, and so he walked away.
After a while, a second person questioned him, and Bhagyadatta had the same response. In fact, whenever anyone asked him anything, he replied in the same manner. And so, everyone in the city started to call him “प्राप्तव्यमर्थं”
One day…
to be continued…
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