Controlling Greed

The story-- "The Honest Merchant"

“We should always control our greed. Greed leads to sin and sin leads to death.”

 

Once, there lived a merchant who used to sell utensils. The man was very happy and contented with what he had. One day, a poor man came to his shop running breathlessly.

The merchant asked him, “What’s wrong? Why do you look so anxious?”

The poor man replied, “I was digging the ground, when suddenly, I found this bowl from inside the earth. Could you please tell me whether it is made of brass or copper?”

The merchant took it from him, tested it for several times and came to know that the bowl was made of neither brass nor copper, but of pure gold. He wondered, “Wow! Pure gold indeed! It can change anybody’s fortune, for sure.

However, he controlled his greed and thought, “No, I’ll give it back to him. I should never feel greedy at all.”

Thereafter, he told everything to the poor man. That man was so happy that he burst into tears. He thanked the merchant and blessed him with all his heart.

A few words to remember

Greed causes our sin. Again, sin causes our death. Therefore, we all must be free from greed always. If we be greedy, we will run after material things only. Then we may hamper our relationships too. To grow up as a good human being, we need to get rid of greed. If we indulge it in, it will cause our downfall. So, we need to control our greed always. Since we are human beings made of flesh and blood, it might be difficult for us to get rid of it completely. Still, we can control the same always.