A gentleman who lived with his wife and two sons got initiated by a monk of a high order. The elder son was given to evil ways while the younger was spiritually inclined and liked to spend his days in studying sacred scriptures. One day a learned man came to that village and it was arranged that he should give a religious discourse. All the people of the village went to hear the discourse. The elder brother, however, did not attend, though he was asked by his younger brother, to avail himself of the opportunity to hear a good religious discourse. When the father returned after hearing the discourse, he found that his younger son had not returned. The elder son, however, came back and handed over a lump of gold to his father, saying that he had picked it up on his way while returning home. The father and his elder son went with the servants in search of the younger son. They found him lying unconscious under a banyan tree. He was brought home and when he regained consciousness said that while coming back from the religious discourse, his foot had struck violently against the stump of a tree and he had fallen down unconscious.
The father found it strange that the son who never thought of God even once in a day had found a lump of gold whereas the boy who was deeply devoted to God had met with an accident while returning home. Next day when his Guru came he told him all that had happened and then spoke about the doubt that had entered into his mind. He said that it seemed to him useless to say his prayers and worship God if he was going to be awarded in this fashion. The Guru sat silent for a while engaged in deep concentration and then said that the past Karma of the elder son was so good that he could have become a king but that his evil conduct in the present life had reduced the good luck to his finding a lump of gold on the previous day; while the younger boy had been fated to die at the time the accident had taken place, but through the grace of God he had survived after meeting with a trifling accident.
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