Once, a sadhu was sitting underneath a tree with some of his followers, engaging in Krishna katha and performing bhajan and kirtana. As they sang and spoke of the Lord, the king of the country passed by in a grand procession with his ministers and many people.
The king noticed the sadhu and asked his minister, “Who is he? What is he doing?”
The minister replied, “Maharaj, he is a mahamurkha, a great fool. He has no intelligence and only creates disturbances.”
The king moved on, but that night he pondered deeply. “If there is a fool in my kingdom, I should reward him.”
The next morning, the king called his minister and handed him a gold coin, saying, “This is the reward for the greatest fool in my kingdom.”
The minister set out, asking various people, “Are you a fool?”
People laughed and none were willing to admit it. After searching all day without success, the minister grew tired and morose. Finally, he approached the sadhu, who was chanting peacefully under the tree.
The sadhu asked why the minister looked so troubled. The minister explained his task and his fear of the king’s punishment for failing.
The sadhu smiled and said, “Why should the king punish you? All right, I am the greatest fool. Give me the coin.”
The minister handed him the coin, and the sadhu immediately threw it into the garbage. The minister thought, “This sadhu must indeed be the greatest fool to throw away a gold coin,” and he reported the incident to the king.
Years passed, and the king lay on his deathbed, lamenting. The sadhu came to see him and said, “You are going to die, but you have accumulated so much wealth. Why are you so morose? Will all this wealth go with you? Will you take these opulences with you?”
The king replied, “No.”
The sadhu then said, “Then you have not earned the real wealth that will follow you—the wealth of bhakti, of true spiritual merit, prema dhana (love for Krishna). Material wealth is subject to destruction. One who has not earned real wealth is the greatest fool. You are the greatest fool of this kingdom, and so you deserve this gold coin as a reward!”
Moral of the Story:
Like the king, we are all fools if we focus solely on accumulating material wealth and opulence, which we cannot take with us when we die. The true wealth we should strive for is spiritual wealth, which follows us beyond this life. Prema dhana, or love for Krishna, is the real treasure.
In our material existence, we often worry about maintaining our family, protecting our wealth, and securing our future. We forget that we have to die one day and cannot escape death. While we plan and invest for a future that may never come, we neglect the eternal truth that only our spiritual merits will follow us after death.
In Srimad Bhagavatam 3.30.3, it is stated:
yad adhruvasya dehasya / saanubandhasya durmatih dhruvaani manyate mohaad / grha-kshetra-vasuni ca
“The misguided materialist does not know that his very body is impermanent and that the attractions of home, land, and wealth, which are in relationship to that body, are also temporary. Out of ignorance only, he thinks that everything is permanent.”
Srila Prabhupada explains that the materialist, who sees devotees as wasting time chanting Hare Krishna, is actually the one in the darkest region of craziness. This is because he mistakenly believes in the permanence of his body and its related possessions. This materialistic view is the illusion of maya.
By recognizing the temporary nature of material wealth and striving for spiritual wealth, we can find true happiness and peace. As Srila Prabhupada advises, engage material possessions in the service of the Lord to please Him and secure a place in His eternal abode.
Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare
Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.
PS: I humbly request all devotees to forward and share these moral and instructive stories so that everyone can benefit from hearing about Krishna and His dear devotees.
