Retold by Amal HEWAVISSENTI

The presence of money can change or derange the mental condition of any person - in short, it can turn honesty into cunning, innocence into immorality, frankness into hypocrisy and kindness into antipathy. Extravagant craving for money often has a corrupt influence on a person's behaviour and his reactions towards the society on the whole. The following twin narratives from Indian literature expose how money promotes double dealing and fraudulent attitudes in a person.

During the regime of Indian emperor Akbar there lived a popular ascetic who was strictly self -disciplined and had avoided pleasures of all luxuries. He was irrefutably a holy man and spent most of his time in hallowed prayers. He often became the center of admiration by the citizens who used to bring food to this ascetic and watch this wonderful man engaged in rigorous religious activities. He had allocated three hours in every evening to counsel the people in their most influential problems and guide them towards the salvation from all possible ills. As time elapsed, the ascetic found himself distracted by a new problem. Everyday, a large number of men and women both rich and poor, visited him during the first half of the day too and disturbed his meditations with noisy talking among them. The ascetic however, showed no mark of the slightest protest against the gathering of people because he was too kind hearted towards them although the crowd's boisterous behaviour proved a barrier for his calm of mind.

One day, a friend of the ascetic came to see him. The friend was an intelligent man quickly he read the gloom on the ascetic's face and asked,

"What is the matter with you? You definitely seem to have been disturbed by some problem. Please tell me."

"My friend, lots of people are coming to see me now. It is a great disturbance for my prayers and meditations. How can I get out of this mess? There are lots of men and women in front of my hut. But I can't tell them to go out" the hapless ascetic replied.The friend paused for a moment and presently hit on a plan to save the ascetic from the over religious and respectful crowd. He smiled and came out with his idea."My friend, this is my plan. From today on, ask the rich people to give you money on no promise of returning it. Lend it to the poor people. Don't give but lend it. You'll probably see your problem solved." concluded his friend.

Everyday the ascetic asked the rich people for money and then lent it to the poor people who came to him nonstop with problems mainly with money. After a week, the ascetic was relieved to see the rich people as well as poor people have stopped coming to his simply because the rich people did not want to give him money and the poor people did not want to return the money. From then on the ascetic was able to say his prayers and engage in religious activities in peace of mind.

There is another tale which illustrates how the magic of money keeps a person under its control. In India, there was once a poor Brahman. Everyday after prayers, he used to invoke the gods to make him wealthy but instead he was being dragged to abject poverty day by day. One day, the unhappy brahmin paid a call to the king said,

"Sir, last night I had a strange dream. I just came to tell you about it. The gods are highly satisfied with your kingly behaviour. They're going to make you the king of kings". Coaxed by the unexpected flattery forecast, the king instantly gave the Brahmin a thousand gold coins because the Brahmin was one of the closest royal counsellors for the king. The Brahmin knelt down to bless the king and cheerfully left the royal court. On the way home, he accidentally dropped one gold coin on the road and back at home he began to count the gold coins, which were one coin less. Deeply troubled by loss of one gold coin, the Brahmin frantically started searching for it.

The following morning, the king who was going for a walk outside the city walls, saw the Brahmin still searching for the lost coin on the road. In surprise the king asked "O Brahmin, what are you looking for here? why didn't you go home?"

"Sir, I lost one coin out of the gold coins you gave me yesterday. I've been searching for it since yesterday" the Brahmin answered. "You're a greedy man. You must be ashamed of yourself for being beneath your dignity" the king shouted in exasperation, trying to snatch the purse of gold coins from the Brahmin.The Brahmin being keenly shrewd, was nonchalant to the king's uptight conduct and said, with his arms folded,

"O King! The lost coin was your gift. A King's gift is not to be thought little of. Unluckily I've dropped your holy coin on the road. All the dirty feet of the men and women will spoil the coin lying unseen on the road. That's exactly why I've been looking for it. I'm a filthy sinner and not fit to live in this world".

The king was so much impressed with the Brahmin's emotional voicing that he returned the purse to Brahmin and offered another thousand gold coins to him.