The Foolish Sage

The moral of this story: Be careful about who we trust. Don’t do foolish mistake by trusting someone who only wanted to take advantage.

Once upon a time, there was a wise sage named Deva Sharma who lived in a temple on the outskirts of a town. He was well-known and respected by the people in the town, who would often come to visit him and offer him gifts of food, money, and clothing to seek his blessings. Deva Sharma would sell the gifts he didn’t need and became quite rich from the proceeds.

However, Deva Sharma had one flaw: he trusted no one. He kept all of his money in a bag that he carried with him at all times, never letting it out of his sight for even a moment.

One day, a swindler came across Deva Sharma and saw how protective he was of his bag. The swindler knew that the bag must contain something valuable, so he decided to try and steal it. But he couldn’t figure out how to do it without getting caught.

Then the swindler had an idea. He would pretend to be a disciple of Deva Sharma and gain his trust. Once he had won the sage’s confidence, he would wait for an opportunity to steal the bag and run away.

So the swindler approached Deva Sharma with great reverence and said, “Om Namah Shivaya! I bow before Lord Shiva, the God of Destruction.” He fell at the sage’s feet and said, “O Guruji, please guide me on the right path of life. I am fed up with life and want to find peace.”

Deva Sharma kindly replied, “My son, I will surely guide you. You are blessed to have come to me at such a young age to seek peace.”

The swindler seized this opportunity and touched the sage’s feet for blessings. “O Guruji, please accept me as your disciple. I will do whatever you ask of me.”

Deva Sharma agreed to take the swindler as his disciple on one condition: that he would not be allowed to enter the temple at night. The sage explained that he needed to spend his nights alone in meditation, so the swindler would have to sleep in a hut at the gate of the temple.

The swindler agreed and became Deva Sharma’s disciple. He was very obedient and did everything that was asked of him. He massaged the sage’s hands and feet, washed his feet, helped him with his rituals, and cleaned the temple. But even though Deva Sharma was pleased with his new disciple, he still didn’t trust him enough to let him near his bag of money.

As time passed, the swindler grew more and more frustrated. He couldn’t figure out how to get his hands on the bag without getting caught. He even thought about killing Deva Sharma or poisoning him.

Then one day, a young boy came to visit Deva Sharma. He was the son of one of the sage’s followers and had come to invite him to a ceremony at their house. Deva Sharma accepted the invitation and set off for town with the swindler.

On their way, they came across a river where Deva Sharma needed to relieve himself. He folded up his robe with the bag of money inside it and asked his disciple to look after it while he was gone.

This was the opportunity that the swindler had been waiting for. As soon as Deva Sharma disappeared behind some bushes, he grabbed the bag of money and ran away as fast as he could.

When Deva Sharma returned, he found that his disciple was gone and so was his bag of money. He realized what had happened and started shouting for help, but it was too late. The swindler had already escaped with all of his money.

The moral of this story “The Foolish Sage” is that we should be careful about who we trust. Even though Deva Sharma was wise in many ways, he made a foolish mistake by trusting someone who only wanted to take advantage of him.