In ancient times, there was a mighty and just king named Dharmapala. He was very proud of his justice. He had made a rule in his kingdom that any person could come directly to the king with his complaint. The king believed that there was no more just and wise ruler than him in the entire Aryavarta. One day in the evening, when the sun was about to set and the royal court proceedings were about to end, an old woman wrapped in tattered clothes arrived in the court. Tiredness and hunger were clearly visible on his face.
The king asked him to sit respectfully and asked his problem. The old lady said in a low voice, “Maharaj, I am very hungry. I just want two handfuls of grains, but that grain should be from the earnings of your ‘Punya’ and not taken from the subjects as tax.” Hearing this, the king smiled and said with confidence, “Mother, I have spent my entire life in the service of the people. Have performed many yagyas, donated to the poor and done justice. Is all this not virtuous?” The old lady took out a small scale from her bag. She placed a dry leaf in a pan and said, “Maharaja, if the weight of any one of your selfless deeds exceeds that of this dry leaf, then I will consider that the grain has come from your true virtue.”
The king found this challenge very easy. He placed the certificate of his biggest donation in the pan, but the card remained intact. Then he pledged to donate a hundred cows, but did not even move. The king was surprised. He placed his sword, his crown and even the prestige of his dynasty on the scale, but the dry leaf remained firm. Now the king’s pride started breaking. Ultimately he gave up and fell at the feet of the old woman.
Tears started flowing from his eyes. He said, “Mother, perhaps there must have been ego somewhere in whatever I did. Forgive me, I do not have any virtue that is completely selfless.” As soon as one of the king’s tears fell on the scale, suddenly the dry leaf flew into the air and the scale bowed under the weight of the king’s repentance. Then the old lady transformed into divine light and said, “King, as long as there was ego of ‘I’ in your deeds, they had no weight, but when you accepted your mistake and became humble, then that one tear of yours became more valuable than all the donations.”
