Passage 18

In English

There is a small story for this. One rich businessman was conducting his business. He had four wives. The first one was continuously ill and suffering from some disease or other. The second wife was given to worldly pleasures. The third wife was always pursuing a spiritual path and was wanting to meet learned persons and learn about religious aspects. The fourth wife was very healthy but was not given to worldly pleasures and had no desires of any kind. She had only one thought and that was to become one with the Divine. The businessman went to a foreign land and wrote to the four wives just before coming back, asked them what they wanted to be brought. The first wife replied that she wanted a special kind of medicine for her illness. The second wife asked for special gifts like , jewels, etc. The third wife asked for religious books of the foreign land. She also asked him to search for information given by learned scholars concerning the aspect of . The fourth wife had nothing to ask except the safe return of her husband. As soon as he gave all the things which he had brought with him from the foreign land to the respective wives, he himself went to the house of the fourth wife. The other wives grew jealous and asked him why he was spending all the time with the fourth wife especially after being absent from the house for such a long time. He replied that he had given each wife what she had asked for and as the fourth wife asked for him, he had gone to her house.