The Woman's Share

A king was feeding his devotees in the courtyard of his palace. The king's cook was cooking the meal in the open courtyard. At that very moment, an eagle flew over the king's palace, carrying a live snake in its talons. In self-defense, the snake, trapped in its talons, spat poison from its hood to fend off the eagle.

A few drops of poison from the snake's mouth fell into the food the cook was preparing for the devotees. No one knew about this. As a result, those who had come to eat the food died immediately after eating the poisoned food.

When the king learned of the deaths of all the deceased, he was deeply saddened by the unintentional killing. It became difficult for the magistrate, Yamaraj, to decide who would bear the consequences of this sinful act.

(1) The king, who was unaware that the food had been poisoned.

(2) The cook, unaware that the food had become poisonous while cooking.

(3) The eagle that flew over the king carrying a poisonous snake.

(4) The snake that released the poison in self-defense.

For a long time, the matter remained pending before Yamaraja without a decision. Then, some time later, some people came to the kingdom to meet the king and asked a woman for directions to the palace.

The woman showed them the way to the palace, but along with that, she also told them, "Look, brothers, be careful, that king kills people like you by poisoning their food." As soon as the woman said these words, Yamaraj decided that the sins of the deaths of those dead people would be attributed to this woman, and she would have to suffer the consequences.

Yamaraj's messengers asked, "Why is this so, Lord?" The woman had no role in the murders. Yamaraj replied, "Look, brother, when a person commits a sin, he experiences great pleasure. But neither the king, nor the cook, nor the snake, nor the eagle, derived any pleasure from killing those dead people. But by narrating the incident with a malicious intent, that woman certainly derived pleasure.

Therefore, the consequences of the king's unintentional sin will now be attributed to this woman. Just because of this incident."  To this day, whenever someone speaks ill of another's sins (evil), a share of that person's sins is also added to the account of the evildoer. We often wonder, "We haven't committed any such sins in our lives, yet why have we suffered so much?"

This suffering comes not from anywhere else, but from the sinful deeds of people who speak ill of us, which get transferred to our account as soon as we do evil.

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