Dangers of Being Indebted – Story!
When a shopkeeper opened his shop, a woman came and said:
“Sir, here is your 10 rupees.”
The shopkeeper looked at the poor woman with questioning eyes, as if asking:
“When did I give you 10 rupees?”
The woman replied:
“Yesterday evening I bought some items. I gave you ₹100, bought items worth ₹70, and you gave me ₹40 back instead of ₹30.”
The shopkeeper touched the 10 rupees to his forehead, put it in the cash box, and asked her:
“Tell me one thing, sister. You haggled a lot when you bought the items, even for ₹5. And now you’ve come to return ₹10?”
The woman said, “Haggling is my right. But once the price is agreed upon, paying less is a sin.”
The shopkeeper said:
“But you didn’t pay less. You paid the full amount. This ₹10 came to you by my mistake. If you had kept it, it wouldn’t have made any difference to me.”
The woman said:
“It might not matter to you, but it would affect my conscience. I know I kept your money knowingly. That’s why I came to return it last night, but your shop was closed.”
The shopkeeper asked in surprise:
“Where do you live?”
She replied, “Sector 8.”
The shopkeeper’s mouth dropped open. “You came 7 kilometers to return ₹10, and this is your second visit?”
The woman calmly said, “Yes, this is my second visit. If you want peace of mind, you have to do things like this. My husband is no longer in this world, but he taught me one thing: ‘Never take even a single penny that belongs to someone else.’ Because a person may remain silent, but the one above can demand an account at any time. The punishment for that accounting might fall upon my children.”
Saying this, the woman left.
The shopkeeper immediately took ₹300 from the cash box, got on his scooter, and told his assistant:
“Look after the shop. I will be back soon.”
He went to another shop in the market and gave ₹300 to a shopkeeper named Prakash. “Here, take your ₹300. Yesterday, when you came to buy goods, I overcharged you.”
Prakash smiled and said:
“If you had overcharged me, you could have returned it when I came back to buy things again. Why did you come so early in the morning?”
The shopkeeper replied:
“What if I die before you return? You wouldn’t even know that I owed you ₹300. That’s why I had to return it. Who knows when the one above will demand an account? The punishment might fall upon my children.”
The shopkeeper left, but Prakash was deeply troubled.
Ten years ago, he had borrowed ₹3 lakhs from a friend. But the very next day, the friend died.
The friend’s family didn’t know about the money. So no one asked for it back. Driven by greed, Prakash never took the initiative to return it.
Today, that friend’s family is living in poverty. His widow worked as a maid to raise her children. Yet Prakash held onto their money.
The shopkeeper’s words—”Who knows when the one above will demand an account? The punishment might fall upon my children”—haunted Prakash.
After two or three days of mental turmoil, his conscience awakened. He withdrew ₹13 lakhs from the bank and went to his friend’s house.
The widow was sitting at home with her children.
Prakash fell at her feet. For a woman who struggled for every rupee, ₹13 lakhs was a huge sum. Tears welled up in her eyes. She blessed Prakash for his honesty.
She was the same woman who had gone twice to return the ₹10 to the shopkeeper.
MORAL:
Never cheat anyone even a rupee just because they don’t know it or they believe you! It will make you indebted to them and will continue to generations! Return them immediately without delay and delete that sin from your karma account.
(Glories of Gayatri Mantra with a Story! READ HERE!)