Chapter VII: Evils of Wealth and Miserliness
The saint Shibli reported that a hunter caught a bird which said : What will you do with me? He saM : I shall eat your meat.
The bird said : Will you be satisfied if you eat my meat ? I am teaching you three words which will be better for you than my meat. I can tell one word while I am in your hand. I will tell you the second word if you let me off. I will tell you the third word when I shall be sitting in the valley. He said : Tell me the first word. The bird said : Don't repent what goes out of your hand.
Then the hunter released the bird which took shelter to a tree and said : Don't believe an .mpossible thing. The bird then sat on the valley and said : Woe co you. If you would have killed me, you would have found two jewels in my belly, each weighing 20 tolas.
The man became much grieved and said : Tell me your third word. The bird said : How can I tell you the third word? Have I not told you that you should not grieve for what goes out of your hand and you should not believe an imposible thing ? My blood, meat and wings are not more than 20 tolas. How can I have two jewels of 20 tolas each in my belly ? Then the bird flew away. The story is narrated in order to convince a man how he becomes blind when he has got greed and believes impossible things. The sage Abdul Wahed said : I was passing once by a Christain monk.
I asked him : Wherfrom do your provision come ? He said : He who created crushing wheel in me brings wheat therein for crushing. Then he hinted at his teeth.
MEDICINE FOR GREED: The medicine of greed has been prepared by three ingredients - patience, knowledge and action.
During the use of this medicine, the ingredients come through the following five prescriptions. (1) The first prescription for removing greed is to adopt middle path to earn provision and to 'cut short the expenditure. He who wishes to get the honour of contentment should shut up all the doors of expenses as far as possible and spend what is absolutely necessary for him. If the expense is too much, it is impossible for him to earn the quality of contentment. If he remains single, he should remain content with a coarse cloth, with whatever food he gets and with little curry If he has got family, each should take the like proportion of things. The middle coarse is the root of getting contetment for
184 The Book of Destructive evils Vol-III