8 - Whose Treasure?

According to Hindoo Time scale, HIndoos have four Yug - Sat Yug, Tretaa Yug, Dwaapar Yug and Kali Yug. Presently we are living in Kali Yug. The last king of Tretaa Yug was Pareekshit - the son of Abhimanyu, the grandson of Arjun. He was crowned by Yudhishthir when all Paandav and Draupadee left this world for Heaven. During the last 10 years of his ruling, Yudhishthir noticed that a change was coming in the behavior of his people. People had started listening to their lower self. So he guessed that Kali Yug was on the horizon.

One day two men came to his court with a grievance. They could not settle themselves that is why they came to their king. One man said - "I bought a plot from this man. After I had bought it, I discovered that there was a treasure buried there. Since I purchased only land from him, this treasure is not mine. I want to return it to him because he is its owner." Yudhishthir got very pleased to hear such an honest attitude.

Then the second man said - "Yes, This is true, that the treasure was mine, but when I sold him the land, he became the owner of the land and including everything in and on it, so I would like him to keep this treasure." The buyer said - "Please, Take your treasure back. I do not want to carry the sin of taking other's money, which is not mine, on my head." The seller was adamant not to accept the treasure as he pleaded that since he had already sold the land, there was nothing now which was his.

Yudhishthir was very happy to hear the arguments of both parties. Both men said - "We cannot agree on what to do as we both want to give this treasure to each other, that is why we have come to you. We have been arguing over this for days and have not reached on any conclusion." Yudhishthir thought, "These people are behaving so nobly and ethically, it seems that the Kali Yug has not yet come, let us wait and watch." So Yudhishthir asked them to come and see him an a week time. They both went away.

A week later they both came to Yudhishthir. By that something had drastically changed. This time they presented their differently. Now they both wanted to keep the treasure for themselves. The seller said - "I decided that the treasure belonged to me, I sold him the land, not the treasure." The buyer said - "The treasure belongs to me. Since I bought the land, everything in and on it is mine."

Yudhishthir saw that the signs of Kali Yug had started appearing in his kingdom, so he settled the case by arranging the marriage of the son of one of them to the daughter of the other to keep the treasure in the family. But he knew that the times of spirituality and ethical living came to an end.

[From Mahaabhaarat : Whether we are living in this age or that age, but we have a choice to as how one wishes to spend his life - on greed and temptation or on spiritual values (truth, selfless service, love for everybody etc).]