There lived a man in a city. He was very greedy. He had heard that serving saints and sages would bring him immense wealth. Thinking this, he began serving them. One day, a miraculous saint visited his home.
Pleased with his service, he gave him four lamps and said, "Light one of these lamps and head east. Where this lamp goes out, dig the ground there. You will find a lot of wealth there. If you need money again, light another lamp and head west. Where this lamp goes out, dig the ground there. You will find all the wealth you desire. If you are still not satisfied, light a third lamp and head south. Similarly, when the lamp goes out, dig the ground there and you will find infinite wealth. Then you will be left with only one lamp and only one direction. You must neither light this lamp nor take it north."
With this, the saint departed. The greedy man immediately lit the first lamp and headed east. Far into the forest, the lamp went out. The man dug at the spot and found a pot full of money. He was overjoyed. He thought, "I'll leave this pot here for now; I'll take it back some other time. First, I should quickly see the riches to the west." With this thought in mind, he lit another lamp the next day and headed west. Reaching a desolate place, the lamp went out. When the man dug there, he found a pot full of gold coins. He left the pot there, thinking he should first look south. He became restless to obtain as much wealth as possible.
The next day, he set off south. The lamp went out in a field. When he dug there, he found two chests full of diamonds and pearls. The man was now very happy.
Then he began to think, if there was so much wealth in these three directions, there must be even more wealth in the fourth. Then the thought occurred to him that the saint had urged him to go in that direction. The next moment, his mind said, "Maybe the saint wants to keep the wealth in the north for himself. I should seize it as soon as possible." His desire to acquire as much wealth as possible prevented him from giving the saint's words a second thought.
The next day, he lit a fourth lamp and hurried north. Far ahead, near a palace, the lamp went out. The palace door was closed. He pushed the door open, and it opened. He was overjoyed. He thought to himself, "This palace is for him. Now he will bring the wealth from all three directions here and keep it there, and live a luxurious life."
The man went into each room of the palace. Some rooms were filled with diamonds and pearls. Others were filled with precious gold jewelry. Similarly, other rooms were filled with immense wealth. The man became dazzled and praised his luck. He went a little further and heard the sound of a mill in one of the rooms. Entering the room, he saw an old man working the mill. The greedy man asked the old man how he got there. The old man said, "Just run this mill for a while, and I'll take a breath and tell you."
The greedy man started working the mill. When the old man stepped away from the mill, he laughed loudly. The greedy man looked at him in surprise. He was about to stop the mill when the old man warned him, "No, no, don't stop working." Then the old man said, "This palace is yours now. But it will stand as long as you keep working. If the mill stops working, the palace will collapse and you will die under it." After a pause, the old man continued, "Like you, I too was greedy and disobeyed the sages, and my entire youth was spent working this mill."
The greedy man began to cry after hearing the old man's words. He then asked, "How will I ever be free from this mill?"
The old man said, "Unless someone like you and I, blinded by greed, comes here, you won't be able to escape this mill." Then the greedy man asked the old man one last question, "What will you do now?"
The old man said, "I will tell everyone loudly that greed is a terrible thing."
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