62. The Roadside "Saint"

"I wonder what sins I had committed in my previous birth. Life has been a torment for me" lamented Punyakoti.

"Your name means 'one who performed a million good deeds.' If you talk like this, what could people like me say?" said his friend Paa.Viswanathan. He had the nickname 'Paavi' coined from his initials, which in Tamil meant 'a sinner!'

"What is there in a name? There is a joke about a man who went to a doctor complaining about chronic cough. The doctor asked for his name to write out a prescription for him. When he said that his name was 'Arogyaraj,' the doctor could not control his laughter, because 'Arogyaraj' means 'king of health' said Victor and added. "Take my own case. My name is Victor but I keep losing money in the card game every day!"

"Are these beliefs about previous births and the consequences of our actions in the previous births haunting us in the present birth true? Should I suffer during the current birth the punishment for my sins committed in my previous birth?" asked Punyakoti.

"Not just in this birth. The punishment can be carried forward to our future births as well" said Viswanathan.

"Why is it so?" queried Victor.

"It is because the sins committed by us are so many that we won't be able to withstand the punishment for all of them in one birth. So, God distributes the punishment over several births!" clarified Viswanathan.

"What will happen to the sins that we commit during this birth?" asked Punyakoti.

"They get added up to sins accumulated by us in our previous births. Thus, even as the sins committed by us in the previous births are getting squared off by the punishment we have been suffering in this birth, the package gets bigger and bigger with the accumulation of more and more sins!" explained Viswanathan

"In that case, will our package of sins never get exhausted? Do we have to undergo more and more births and continue to suffer?" asked Punyakoti, feeling desperate.

"There is a way out!" said a voice.

All the three men looked around for locating the source of the voice. They found a man wearing a soiled dhoti lying down on the ground, with his head placed on the base of the trunk of a tree.

The three were trying to judge whether the man was a beggar, a saint, a vagabond, a mystic or a traveler resting under the tree.

'If your children are persons of character and are free from any blemish, no suffering will touch you during any of your seven births" the man continued.

"How do you say this, sir?" asked Victor.

"I am not saying this. Thiruvalluvar says so."

The man then turned his head, closed his eyes and resumed his sleep.

Thirukkural
Section 1
The Path of Virtue

Chapter 7
The Boon of Having Children

Verse 62 (In Tamil)

ezhu piRappum thIyavai thINda pazhi piRangA
paNbudai makkatpeRin.

Meaning:

Those who beget children who won't be tainted by any sin will be untouched by any harm during their seven births.

(This is the English version of the Tamil story 'maraththadi sAmiyAr' by the same author)

Verse 63
Verse 61