Akram Youth How did this happen? | October 2015 | Akram Youth | Page 4

Cause & Effect

Shalibhadra

O

nce there lived a poor woman and
her son in a small village. One day
there was a festival in the village
and all the kids, including the poor boy,
were playing together. It was a custom
that people in the village celebrate that
particular day by preparing and eating
Kheer (cooked rice with milk and sugar).
All the boys, except the poor boy, enjoyed
their homemade delicacy ‘Kheer’ that
they had brought with them. The poor boy
felt the desire to eat but he did not have it.
He felt sad and ran home to his mother. He
told her that he wanted to eat Kheer and
wanted her to cook it for him. His mother
said that she would not be able to make it
because they were poor and lacked the
basic ingredients required for it. The boy
started crying and kept on demanding
Kheer adamantly. The mother felt paind
as she could not bear to see him cry. With a
04 | October 2015

heavy heart she went to a neighbor’s
house and borrowed some milk, sugar,
and rice and prepared Kheer for her son.
She served him Kheer in a bowl and left
the house to bring some water from the
well.
As the boy was about to start
eating, he heard the words, “Dharma
Labha” (meaning, ‘may you be blessed with
punya-karma’. This phrase is usually spoken by Jain
Sadhus and Sädhvis when they move around door
to door to collect food from the residents living
nearby. They call it ‘Gochari’). He saw a Jain

Sadhu at the door. Without any
hesitation, the hungry boy invited the
monk in the house and offered him the
Kheer. He poured all the Kheer into the
monk’s empty bowl.
In his next life he was born as
‘Shalibhadra’ and his parents were