In a small village near a town, there lived some cowherds. Each one amongst them kept a cow. They were very poor and earned their livelihood by selling milk in the nearby town.
One of the milkmen amongst them was very greedy. He was not satisfied with his simple living. He desired to be richer and live luxuriously like the milk vendors of the town.
He thought if he had one more cow, he could have earned twice the money he was getting from the milk obtained from his one cow. The thought of earning more money troubled him day and night.
One who keeps on desiring more and more things for comfort than is necessary for simple living, seeks dishonest means for acquiring these things. The milkman thought that he could increase his earnings twofold if he doubled the quantity of his milk by adulterating it with an equal quantity of water.
He could not do so in his village. In the village everyone knew him as an honest person. Cheating by adulteration of milk openly would have spoiled his reputation. It was also not possible to add water to his milk in the town where he sold the milk. In the town, there was a possibility of being caught in this dishonest act by someone known to his customers.
Therefore, he thought he could add water to milk only on his way to the town.
While going to the town to deliver milk, the milkman had to cross a river. Everyday on his way to the town, he rested for a while in the shade of a tree on the bank of the river.
The milkman thought that the lonely place on the bank of the river was the right place for mixing water in the milk. When no one was around him he could secretly take water from the river and add it to his can of water. He did not know that God was present everywhere watching every thought and action of everyone in the world.
However secretly one carries out any dishonesty, it does not remain hidden from God. HE watches each and every action of man day and night, and gives reward and punishment for the good and bad deeds.
We consider our gain or loss as our good or bad luck. However, there is nothing like good or bad luck in life. Each of our actions has a reaction. What we call good luck is God’s way of giving reward for goodness. On the other hand, bad luck means punishment given by God for something bad done earlier. The punishment is to tell the person not to repeat the mistake.
God decided to teach the milkman this lesson.
At the end of month, the milkman went to the town to collect his dues from his customers.
On his way back home, it began to rain heavily. He became worried about carrying his money safely. The paper currency was likely to get drenched and soiled on his long journey back to home.
He requested his customers to pay him in coins, for the milk sold to them. He was worried, if he carried paper currency in his cloth bag, it was likely to get spoiled by rainwater.
Keeping the coins in a cloth bag, he began his journey back home.
As was his routine, on reaching the bank of the river on his way, he lay down beneath a tree to take rest. He kept the bag of money beside him and fell asleep.
A monkey on top of a tree beside the river saw the milkman and his bag. The monkey was very hungry. In search of something to eat, it came down and taking the bag of money swiftly climbed up the tree.
When the milkman woke up, he found his bag missing. He looked around and saw the monkey sitting on top of the tree with his entire earnings of the month in the bag.
He became worried about his money. He thought somehow he had to get his bag back from the monkey.He tempted the monkey by showing it a loaf of bread, but the monkey refused to throw the bag or climb down.
The milkman thought he had to use some other way to get his money.
Knowing that monkeys have a tendency to imitate the actions of man, the milkman thought of a clever way.
The milkman had an additional bag in which he carried his personal things. He emptied this bag and filled it with pebbles from the bank of the river.
Then in full view of the monkey, he climbed up a nearby tree. From atop the tree, he began to take out pebbles one by one out of the bag, and threw them down on the ground beneath the tree.
The milkman knew that imitating him, the monkey would also take out the coins from the bag and would throw them down. Then he could easily pick up his money on the ground.
As he had expected, the monkey imitated his action. The monkey too took out the coins from the bag one by one and began to throw these down.
However, the monkey did not throw all the coins of the bag beneath the tree. One by one he took out the coins and he threw one coin on the ground and the other in the river alternatively.
The milkman began to cry upon his loss. Keeping his bread away he sadly began to collect the coins thrown down by the monkey.
In the meantime, the monkey climbed down and took away the bread kept by the milkman.
After collecting all the coins, the milkman sat down to calculate his loss.
He found that the monkey had thrown half of his earnings into the river.
This way, he had got only half of his total earnings. The other half gained dishonestly by mixing water in the milk that had gone into the river. He got back only what was due from his honest earning.
The milkman took a vow to be honest in future. It is impossible to know God’s ways of working. He had simultaneously given punishment to the milkman for his dishonesty, provided food to a hungry monkey and saved the customers of the milkman in the town from adulterated milk.
Moral
There is nothing like good or bad luck in life. God keeps a watch on all our actions. Sooner or later we get in return exactly what is due to us for our good and bad deeds.
Source : Pragya Tales Part 1
