Laxmi Upreti
In a certain country, there lived a rich man by the name Narendra. Since he was quite healthy, he was very proud. All his friends were from well-to-do families. He always looked down upon the poor. The illusion that wealth is all had made him cruel of heart, and quite ruthless.
One day, when he had been in an outing with his friend, Narendra happened to like a girl. He boasted of his wealth, and proposed the girl’s parents to give the girl in marriage to him. On finding such a wealthy suitor, the parents gave the girl to Narendra, without waiting to ask the girl’s opinion.
The family of Narendra and the girl ran smoothly in the beginning. But Narendra remained proud as ever. Since the wife remained indoor all day, drowned in all sorts of luxuries, she did not learn the ways of the outside world. She had no idea how heartless and inhuman her husband was.
Time passed on its own accord. The couple got a son, and a daughter. They also had other caretakers for the children. The servants were never tired to praising the kindness of their mistress.
One day, a servant who worked at someone else’s home nearby, came and pleaded with his mistress, “Your ladyship! Do allow me to work at yours.”
As she did not know her husband’s nature very well, she said, “I will ask your master and decide.”
She had hardly asked him if they could hire one more servant, Narendra burst out at her, and started beating. She cried out. The children, terrified at the sight, joined her cry. Even more enraged, Narendra started shouting in a high-pitched voice, “I have enough wealth. I can bring any number of wives. Did you understand that? It’s wealth that we don’t get; once one has it, he can buy anything. Did you understand? Don’t direct me too much. What do you think of me?” Then he charged her more slaps.
It was too much for the wife. She embraced her children and started crying out even louder.
After some time, Narendra walked out. Taking this opportunity, the servants gathered in the room and started consoling their mistress. They told her about other bad things Narendar was up to.
Coming to know all these things, the wife started hating her husband. She remembered how happy she was at her parents’, though quite poor they were. Her father always took her mother’s opinion before doing any new thing. What if her friends had picked poor husbands; they were quite happy in life. She was even more pained remembering that her husband had never taken her with him anywhere out of home. Day by day, she started growing thinner.
She started passing her days in worry, thinking of so many things. Ultimately one day, she decided to go to her parents’ home and never to return. As she walked out, her children joined her.
Without wife and children, Narendra’s anger and worry multiplied. Since he believed that money could make them return, he called some servants, gave a lot of money and said, “Go, and bring them back.”
The servants returned empty handed after a few days.
“Where’s your mistress?” roared Narendra. They told him that she denied coming. The information deeply pained him.
Narendra was left broken. He did not feel like doing anything, going anywhere, or boasting of anything. Eaten up by pain, he started lying in bed, growing paler day by day. A single incident broke his illusion that money could buy everything.
Narendra stopped getting attention from his servants too. Fire of repentance started killing him. Feeling the need to change his behavior, he started loving and honoring everyone. Seeing him change, the servants started going near him, and taking better care. Yet, his home, that was heaven-like with wife and children, did not look any better than a graveyard.
Narendra did all he could to make his wife and children return. But his wife turned down all his requests. His wealth proved to be of no worth, after all. He realized that by wealth, he could not, in any way, fulfill his desire for happiness and peace. It occurred to him that only peace at heart could give rise to happiness.
So, he no longer had the pride of wealth. He realized, wealth was a mere need. It was a temporary possession that came today and receded tomorrow. He learnt the lesson that greatness of the heart is far more important than the pile of wealth.