655. The King of Cards

When Selvarangam was watching a video on his mobile phone, the frequently appearing advertisement made its appearance again.

Play Rummy and earn money!

'What If I try playing Rummy on this website just once?'

The moment this thought arose in Selvarangam's mind, his mind went into the past.

Selvarangam learned to play cards, when he was studying in the college. After becoming adept in playing the game, he watched some students play cards in the hostel for stakes. Seeing the winners earn money, Selvarangam would often think that he could also earn money, by playing for stakes. But, since at that time, he didn't have money, he didn't venture into it.

After taking up a job, Selvarangam began to play cards for stakes with his friends, during the holidays. Most of the time, he won and went home with more money than he had with him, when he entered the game. 

One day, Umapathy, one of his friends, lost his entire salary in the card game. 

Unable to bear the loss, Umapathy began to cry. 

"I have lost my entire salary. How am I going to feed my family for the next one month? I have to pay house rent, electricity charges and other expenses too. I also have loan instalments to pay."

Selvarangam was moved by Umapathy's lament. 

A thought occurred to him. 

He handed over the entire sum earned by him in the card game that day to Umapathy and told him, in a commanding tone, "Hereafter you shouldn't play cards. I also won't."

Umapathy looked at Selvarangam in disbelief, while his other friends protested his action calling it crazy. 

From that day, Selvarangam had stopped playing cards. Even if someone invited him to a card game not involving stakes, he would decline the call.

'Earning money by playing cards is snatching money from other people. Just because it is done with the consent of the other person, will it become a justifiable act? Why did I indulge in this activity, without thinking about its moral aspects?' reflected Selvarangam. For a long time, he regretted his practice of playing cards for stakes.

But, seeing the Rummy advertisement now, a thought occurred to Selvarangam. 

'What if I play this game now? After all, I am going to play online. I am not going to play against any person.'

But another thought countering this hit him immediately.

'What kind of a thinking is this? The money I may win by playing the game online is going to come from someone. Have I not been reading news stories about people losing large sums of money in online Rummy and some of them ending their lives, heartbroken by the huge loss suffered by them. I committed this wrong in the past. Then I reformed myself and resolved not to commit this wrong again. What has happened to that resolve?'

Selvarangam cursed himself for harbouring the thought of committing the wrong again and made even a stronger resolve that he would never give room to such thoughts in future.

Thirukkural
Section 2

Materialism

Chapter 66
Purity in Action

Verse 655 (in Tamil):
eRRenRu iranguva seyyaRka seyvAnEl
mRRanna seyyAmai nanRu.

Meaning:  

Never do acts that would lead you to grieve saying, "What is this I have done?" But, if you do, do not ever repeat them.

(This is the English version of the Tamil story 'sIttukkattu rAjA' by the same author.) 

Verse 656 (Soon)
Verse 654