A Story of Family Betrayal and the Karmic Weight of Greed
If the first pada of Ashwini shows how quickly impulse can turn into consequence, the second pada reveals something more intimate: how karma deepens when greed enters the space of family. This pada falls in the Taurus Navamsha, ruled by Venus — bringing desires for comfort, wealth, food, pleasure, and stability. When these desires turn excessive, they distort judgment.
In this pada, the Ashwini fire meets Venusian appetite. The result is a karmic story rooted not in cruelty, but in a moment where temptation overpowered conscience.
The Story, as Bholenath Spoke It
Near the sacred river Saryu, four kos east of Ayodhya, lived a man named Shvet Sharma. Born of mixed caste — his mother is of one varna, his father of another — he carried an inner conflict about identity and belonging. His wife was beautiful, virtuous, and steady in her duties.
One day, his maternal uncle came to stay with him, bringing his young son and carrying immense wealth — gold worth crores. For a month, the uncle stayed with Shvet Sharma’s family, living comfortably, eating a variety of food, including meat, and enjoying the hospitality given with sincerity.
Hospitality is sacred in Vedic culture (Atithi Devo Bhava meaning Guest is God). A relative coming home is an honour; a maternal uncle is almost like a second father. But the gold the uncle carried created a slow, corrosive desire in Shvet Sharma’s mind.
After a month, under the influence of greed, he killed his uncle and cousin, hid their bodies in the earth, and took all the gold. It is difficult to know what pushes someone to such an act.
Bholenath narrates it simply — without drama — as though to say: this too is human nature at its darkest edge.
Shvet and his wife lived for many years, spending the wealth every day. Eventually, the wife died in a desolate, waterless forest — a reflection of the dryness inside her life. Later, Shvet himself died.
They both were taken to a hell of thick mud, suffocating and heavy. For one age, they endured the weight of their actions. After completing this karmic suffering, Shvet passed through the body of a donkey, then a chameleon, and finally returned as a human — wealthy again, but carrying deep sorrow.
Bholenath reveals the karmic link:
- He had killed his uncle and cousin
- He had taken their wealth
- He had cut off a branch of his own family
- Therefore his own lineage was cut off — he remained childless
His wife also suffered illness, infertility, and sorrow, because she shared in the enjoyment of stolen wealth. This is the law of Ashwini: What you take from others, life takes from you — swiftly, precisely, without cruelty, without anger — simply as an echo.
Human Meaning of the Story
This story is not a condemnation of Shvet Sharma. It is an exploration of how greed works.
- Family-based greed is the heaviest kind: When you betray a stranger, the karmic weight is one thing. When you betray someone who trusts you — a relative, a friend, a member of your own lineage — the karmic field becomes denser. This is because: lineage is shared; bonds are deeper; expectations are higher; betrayal breaks more than wealth — it breaks continuity
- The earth burial mirrors the mind: Shvet hid the bodies in the ground. In hell, Bholenath places him in mud. Symbolism is subtle: What he hid; What he covered; What he pushed into darkness; became the environment he had to face.
- Greed is not always violent — sometimes quiet and gradual: Shvet did not kill because he hated his uncle. He was killed because a thought became a whisper, a whisper became hunger, and hunger became action. This is how most human mistakes unfold — not sudden, but accumulated.
- Infertility as karmic reflection: By ending someone’s lineage, life reflects the pattern back: his own lineage finds no continuation. Not as punishment — but as energetic symmetry.
Modern Interpretation
In today’s world, betrayal rarely looks like killing an uncle. But the karmic essence remains the same. Modern equivalents include:
- Breaking trust within family over money: Disputes over inheritance; taking advantage of elders; manipulating parents for property; cheating siblings in financial matters; exploiting a relative’s vulnerability. These actions create the same karmic vibration.
- Wealth that brings no joy: Shvet enjoyed wealth — but the enjoyment was hollow. In modern life, some people: have money but no peace; have comfort but no emotional stability; have success but no fulfillment; carry unexplained sorrow around relationships. This story explains why karma sometimes creates such patterns.
- Infertility as emotional karma: Not biological, but energetic: inability to start a long-term venture; inability to build a stable family; feeling blocked in creating anything lasting. This is the modern “lineage blockage.”
The Essence of Bholenath’s Remedy
The remedy Bholenath gives is elaborate:
- Listening to Harivansh Puran
- Giving gold
- Offering cows with ornaments
- Feeding Brahmins
But beneath these actions lies a single principle: Restoration of dharma where you once broke it.
- Giving life where you once caused loss.
- Offering nourishment where you once took it away.
This is not a ritual formula — It is a rebalancing of human energy.
Modern Equivalent of the Remedy
A modern, non-ritual, human approach includes:
- Healing family relationships: Where possible, returning trust, apologies, fairness.
- Charity toward children and elders: Because the original act harmed a child and an elder, helping children and supporting elders restores the karmic field.
- Ethical earning: Moving forward with integrity, no shortcuts, no manipulation.
- Emotional honesty: Not hiding wrongdoing, not burying guilt, not covering mistakes — the opposite of burying bodies.
- Supporting someone’s growth: Since Shvet blocked someone’s future, you create someone else’s.
This is how karma flows back into balance.
Closing Reflection for Pada 2
Bholenath’s second Ashwini story is not about cruelty. It is about temptation — how a single weak moment can affect many lives. The lesson here is quiet and profound:
Where love and trust exist, greed must not enter. What is taken from family echoes through generations.
And just as greed can grow slowly, so can healing — through conscious, gentle, honest choices.
Quiet Reflections 