In plain words
Try to understand the ways of the world
We must try to understand the ways of the world. A farmer had two sons. The father went on teaching his elder son his own duties and work, carefully and in detail. The son too worked alongside his father in such tasks as treating the village people with due respect and settling their problems fairly. In the course of time, the father gave up his body. The father's responsibility fell on the elder son. Time went by. But the younger son, through bad company, kept wasting his time and roaming about as a spendthrift. Word of his state reached his elder brother's ears through the villagers. He thought he would get a bad name for not looking after his fatherless younger brother as he should. Saying, ‘I will look after the villagers; you take charge of the fields,’ he put some of the load on him. But instead of going to work in the fields, he went on loafing about with his friends. Meanwhile his friends kept giving him bad advice: ‘You are the one doing the work in the fields. Your brother, though, lives at his ease like a zamindar, handing out justice and right. Is this not unjust? So quarrel with your brother and live apart,’ they told him. This tale-bearing changed his heart. Plucking up courage, he turned to his brother: ‘I will stay at home. You look after the work in the fields,’ he said. ‘My dear boy! You have no experience, and this is the business of the villagers. You must conduct yourself with great tact. So stay with me for some days and get used to it; once you have experience, it is as you wish,’ he replied. To this the younger brother: ‘No, I will stay with you. I will not go to work in the fields,’ he answered. From then on he stayed with his brother and watched everything, how he dealt with the villagers. In that village a farmer's mother died. The elder brother was consoling that farmer: ‘I have come to know that your mother has died. Do not be afraid; all the villagers will stand by you.