An endeavour that contained a small quantity of sin But gives great riches – is not desirable to be done; An endeavour that gives no riches but does contain Purity and piousness is always the one to be done.
Some simple doubts always confuse the thinking mind. The above poem dealt with one of such confusing doubts that linger in the common man’s mind.
There is a negligible quantity of sin in a deed but in the end, it gives many great material benefits, riches to the individual. Whether it is good to be done or not? is the question that torments the mind. Elders say that such deeds should never be performed, however great might be the benefits those come from it.
On the hand, there is a deed that contains much piousness and virtue; but by performing the same there would not accrue any material benefits. However, elders say, such deeds are always preferable for performance since they contain the piousness that helps the performer in the long run.
When the Lotus-born Brahmadev came into existence, he was the only one he could see in the places where ever the sight of his eight eyes reached. In the whole universe there was nothing but only water and in the midst of water he was the only one with his four faces facing towards the four directions. He kept on looking amazed in all the four directions for finding something that could become his accomplice. But, He could find nothing. Spending time lonely thus, he got perturbed for the purposelessness of his existence and with concern and uneasiness he thought about the all-powerful Supreme-being, the Almighty who is considered the single embodiment of the three main characteristics –satva, rajas and tamas – and when the Almighty appeared before him, Brahma asked the Supreme-being to reveal the actual reason for his coming into existence. The Almighty replied to Brahma that he was none other than the embodiment of the characteristic of ‘rajas’ and so his job was to start creating the many different worlds in the universe and populate them, so that the universe would start functioning with different living and non-living things created by the Brahmadev.
Having his work clearly emphasized by the Supreme-being, Brahmadev first created from his thinking mind four sons – Sanaka, Sananda, Sanatkumara, Sanassujata and asked them to immediately bring into existence their own progeny.
However, all the four sons of Brahmadev got disheartened by their father’s wish towards them and confronted him with the question that how could he suggest them to follow the worldly ways of having family and progeny, leaving the desirable path of practicing brahmacharya for life, attain the final salvation and enter the realm of the Almighty at the end. They denied to do as their father Brahmadev wished and said that they would instead gain salvation by following the dejection path after invoking the pious feeling of detachment from within themselves. In the words of ‘dantulūri bāpakavi‘, in his poetic work ‘mūrthitrayōpākhyānamu‘ the reply of the four sons of Brahmadev was as under:
క. సారవిదూరంబగు సం సారము మే మొల్ల మాత్మసంజనిత మహా వైరాగ్యముచే ముక్తి ద్వారముఁ జేరెద మటంచు వారలు పలుకన్. (ద్వితీయాశ్వాసము, 63)
We do not wish to be part of the world that is devoid of meaning worthwhile; we consciously grow instead and nurture the feeling of detachment that is good to find the gate of salvation at God’s abode, they said.
His sons’ reply angered Brahmadev to such an extent that great waves of fire emanated from his four faces and surrounded them with such ferocity that all the four were terrified, became enlightened and submitted themselves to Brahmadev’s order. He then despatched them with great force to the ends of the four directions and made them the protectors and reigning deities of the four directions, holding the pellet-drum Damaruka in one hand and the Trident in the other.
Even a miniscule sum of riches earned Righteously give loads of returns good; Great riches obtained by sinful method Turn out useless, O king, say the learned!
‘It is not how much one has earned than how one earned that counts in the long run’ – say the elders. The above poem taken from the Santi parvam of the Andhra Mahabharatam also emphasizes the above fact and said that the riches accumulated by following rightful methods give good results. One should understand that good deeds done with the riches accumulated by following wrongful methods would not give the desired peace of mind.
Two kinds are those that give much pain To each and everyone of all the living kind; That relates to body whole is the first one The other one relates to the unseen mind.
In this world, consisting of so many varieties of living beings, including man, pain comes from two different sources. The first of the two is the body as a whole that suffers when afflicted with a disease or inflicted with injury. The second one is purely related to the pain suffered silently in mind unable to reveal anything to anybody due to various reasons.
TELUGU LITERATURE 
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