Long ago, there was a chaste king, who stuck to Dharma, and under his reign, people were prosperous and happy. Every year, in Margashirsha month, he organised a great feast, where he invited all of the kingdom.
As the feast was huge, the food was cooked in an open kitchen, in huge utensils. Unfortunately, when the food was being cooked, an eagle with a half dead Cobra flew by, and drops of its deadly venom fell into a cauldron of Dhal.
Unaware of this, the food was served to all, and this resulted in a great tragedy, killing many, who attended the feast. The King was shocked at the incident and felt terrible about it.
Yama, the God of death was confused as to who should be made responsible and punished for the incident.
The King? No. The King was doing a good deed and stuck to Dharma.
The Eagle? No. The bird was simply carrying its prey.
The Cobra? No. The snake was half dead and had no idea, its venom poisoned the food.
While in that confusion, some Brahmins who have travelled from afar, came to meet the king, and asked a lady selling Vegetables, the route to the royal palace. The lady gave the directions, and said "Don't eat food there, the king's food kills people". The moment she said that Yama gave the sins of the tragedy, and death of numerous people to the lady.
This story from GARUDA PURANA, is a clear lesson that spreading rumours, talking ill of people, and criticising someone wrongly, will implicate very bad karma on them, which might take lifetimes to vanquish that bad karma.
🕉️ SHUBHA RATRI 🕉️
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