The First Sin

One day Sri Krishna and Arjuna were walking for a long time and then decided to sit and take rest under a big tree in the forest. After some time they heard some villagers shouting 'Thief ! Thief!'. 

A young boy came running towards them. Arjuna was able to catch hold of him. 

Arjuna asked those villagers about the matter. The villagers replied and said that the boy had stolen some fruits from the nearby orchard and was running away with them. 

Sri Krishna then asked the boy his reason for stealing. The boy said that he was poor and had nothing to eat! 

Sri Krishna then told the villagers that let the boy have the fruit but he will make up for his mistake by working in the orchard for a month. 

The boy was surprised. He asked Sri Krishna that for a couple of fruits He was punishing him for a month-long punishment! 

 To this Lord Krishna said that instead of one month, they would now work for six months to make up for the mistake committed by him! 

After everyone left, Arjuna asked Sri Krishna the reason behind punishing the boy so severely!

Sri Krishna then narrated a story to Arjuna.

There was once a brahmin who was very poor and had no money to support his family. However, he got to know that there lived a King in the neighbourhood kingdom who was very kind and helped the needy with money. The brahmin then decided to go to the King and ask for some help.

The King was not only kind but also quite smart. To make sure that no one cheats him and he actually helps only the needy, he had planned a test on each of his four entrances to the palace.

 The Brahmin reached the kingdom and was told by the guards that he will have to pass the king's test on each door and only then will he be able to meet the King. The brahmin had nothing to lose, so he eventually agreed! 

Upon reaching the first door, the Brahmin found a beautiful courtesan. She told him that to pass through that door, he will have to engage with her in sexual intercourse. The Brahmin knew this was a sin to cheat his family and have intercourse with any woman outside marriage. He rejected the first door and went to the second door.

At the second door, he had to eat meat to enter through door. This was again a sin and the Brahmin, realising that it would be a sin decided to move onto the next door wherein he had to drink Madeira in order to pass through the third door. This was again a sin and he left this door and decided to head towards the last door for trying.

At the fourth door, he had to gamble for the entrance through that door. This was again a sin according to his beliefs.

The Brahmin was utterly confused. He realised that he had to commit sins at any of the doors to be able to get to the King for help. So he was in two minds, first being to leave helplessly, the other being to commit a sin for his own personal greater good. Thinking about his helpless condition, he chose the second option and decided to enter through the fourth door by engaging himself into a game of gamble. He chose to gamble as he felt that it was a smaller sin as compared to the ones at the other doors.

At the game, he put his 1 coin in and started gambling. To his suprise, he earned 2 coins at the end of first round and decided to play again. 

 Like this he kept winning and had 1000 coins by the end of the day. By this time, he had forgotten that he wanted to go to meet the King. He was now a wealthy man with 1000 coins and he decided to head back to his family.

On his way he was very hungry and thirsty and all the shops were closed by evening. So he now decided that since he had already committed one sin, there's no problem in committing another. He said to himself that after all he was the one who cleared others of their sins, so he would also eventually clear himself of his own sins! 

So he went to the second and third doors to eat meat and drink. At these doors he lost half of the wealth he earned in gambling. Now he was drunk and decided to go to the first door and engage in a sexual intercourse with the beautiful courtesan. Here, he lost all his wealth and had to leave at night and find some shelter outside the palace doors since he could not sleep at the courtesan's place.

The next morning he came back and told the guards that he accepted all the challenges/tests at the four doors and was now qualified to meet the king. But now, all the challenges/tests were changed for the day and he could not get through to the King.

Once again he was a poor man who could not support his family but now he was no longer the same pure Brahmin who could attain moksha, but a man with sins on his head to make upto in his karmic cycle.

Lord Krishna here told Arjuna that it is the first and the smallest of the sins we commit that is the most dangerous and highest sin of our lives, for it encourages us to keep committing them and takes us away from the reality of life. It entraps us in the MAYA of this world (desire) and eventually doesn't let us break our karmic cycle to attain moksha.