Mother of Sin

A priest /preacher lived in a small town. 
Quite a few people used to come to his place to listen to his sermon - discourse every day.
Occasionally, an old lady came and sat at the door steps. She was not allowed to sit inside with others because she was considered to be from a so-called low class. 
On one such occasion, the priest was giving a discourse on ‘Paap’ meaning Sin. He said “Paap say bacho. Paap ka phal hai narak” (beware of sin. The outcome of sin is suffering - like hell.” Etc.
The old lady sitting at the door steps stood up and asked:
“O' the revered one. Who is the mother of sin?”
The priest was stunned. He became speechless as he could not think of any answer. 
He said “A low-class woman has no right to ask questions. In fact, you have no right to even sit here. You must leave immediately.”
Some followers of the priest also shouted at her and made her leave the place.

Later that day, the old woman saw the priest in the street and approached him. With folded hands, she asked for forgiveness for disturbing his Satsang. She further said she had a gold necklace with diamonds - which she would like to offer him as an apology if he would kindly visit to bless her home. The priest was astonished at the offer and puzzled as well. According to his belief, and what he said earlier during his discourse, he could not associate in anyway with a person belonging to a low-class. But at the same time, the prospect of getting a gold necklace with diamonds was extremely appealing.  He thought for a moment and said “Well. According to Scriptures, all human beings are children of one Almighty God and have the same soul. Therefore, I see no harm in visiting your house”.
The woman was very happy and requested him to come next day.
The following day, the priest arrived at her home as promised. 
The old lady had prepared some food for him and served it in the dishes that were made of silver. 
Again, the priest had some reservations about eating food prepared by her. Seeing his hesitation, she said I had promised myself to give all the dishes to the person who eats in them. 
The priest looked at the shinning silver dishes and sat down to eat. 
While he was eating, the lady brought some milk - in a bowl made of gold and placed near him. The priest could not believe his luck. All these silver dishes and bowl made of gold will be his as soon as he finishes his meal. But suddenly a dog came running and slurped some milk from the bowl*. The lady quickly shooed him away and with folded hands said: “O’ the great one. My heart was really set on giving this gold bowl to you. I sincerely apologize for this incidence but I certainly wanted you to have it.”

The priest did not want to lose those silver dishes and gold bowl either so he thought ‘I can perform some religious rituals later on to purify myself but I may never get such opportunity again.’ 
Thinking this, he said to her - ‘sab me ek hi Aatma to paripurn hai’ – 
"Holy Scriptures say that there is same soul residing  – not just in humans - but in all beings".
Saying this he picked up the gold bowl to drink from it. 
Before the bowl reached to his lips, the old lady grabbed his hand and said:
“Stop right there. 
Do you remember the question I asked you during your Satsang? You did not have the answer.
I invited you here just to give the right answer for that question. 
That day you did not even want me near your place because I belong to a so-called low-class. 
Then you agreed to come to my home - thinking that you will get a gold necklace with diamonds.  
When you came, you said it was against your beliefs to eat food prepared by a person like me. 
But now you are ready to drink from a bowl that a dog has slurped from – just so, that you can take all these gold and silver dishes to your home?
So here is the answer.
Who is the mother of sin?
Greed.
Greed is the mother of sin. 
It’s the greed that made you do all those things that you did not want to do. 
And mind you. All these silver and gold dishes – the necklace and diamonds are just as fake as your sermons and discourses are fake. 
First, get rid of your own greed - then preach others to stay away from it. 
Remember: Greed is the cause of all evil. 

                                        ‘Rajan Sachdeva’

Note:
This is an old Indian story that I heard a long time ago

*Perhaps she had already trained the dog earlier to do this.