The Foolish Sage And The Jackal

There was a widely known saint, who lived in a faraway monastery. His name was Devdatta. People would offer him gifts, food, clothes and money to seek his blessings. He accumulated lots of wealth by selling gifts that he did not need for himself. He never trusted anybody. So, he put all his money in a bag which he carried with him wherever he went.

One day, an experienced cheat, noticed that Devdatta carry his bag with him always, and the cheat became sure that it certainly contained something valuable. So, the cheat began planning to steal the bag from the saint. The cheat decided to charm him with sweet words to accept him as disciple.

As planned, the cheat fell on the saint's feet and said, "O Guruji, Please guide me to the right path of life. I am fed-up with life, and want to seek peace."

Pleased with his sweet words, the saint said “My son, I will surely help you. You are blessed because you have come to me to seek peace at this young age".

The cheat said, “O Guruji, please accept me as your disciple. I will do whatever you ask me to do." Hearing this, saint accepted him as his disciple and said to the cheat “being a holy man I spend the night alone, as I have to meditate also. So, you will sleep in a hut at the gate of the monastery."

But the cheat found that the saint never separated the money-bag from himself. So, he thought “How can I snatch the bag from him?” The cheat did everything to prove himself an obedient disciple, but could not gain enough confidence for the saint to part with his bag when he was around.  As days passed by, the cheat started getting frustrated and thought of killing saint with a knife or feed him with poison to get the bag. After a moment he saw a young boy visit the saint. That boy was the son of one of the saint's followers. The visitor invited Devdatta to come to his village and perform the sacred thread ceremony.

The saint accepted the invitation and set out for the village taking the cheat with him. On the way, they came across a river, where the saint thought of relieving himself. He folded the bagful of money in his shawl. Saint asked his disciple to look after it until he return. The moment the saint went out of his sight, the cheat collected the bag and ran away.

With great trust in his disciple, Devdatta decided to spend time by joining a crowd watching goats fighting. As blood was running down their heads, a jackal came there to feast on the blood the two goats were shedding. Devdatta thought that the jackal would surely die, caught between the two warring goats. His surmise came true and the jackal died, gored by the two goats. Brooding over the demise of the jackal, Devdatta returned.

Devdatta panicked when he did not find the disciple around, but found his shawl lying on the ground. Shocked and anxious, he looked inside to find his bag of money but bag was missing. At once he realized what had happened, and began to shout, "Oh, You have robbed me." The saint return empty-handed to his monastery next morning.

Moral: Do not be taken in by the sweet words of anybody.