A widow with two sons was pious. A relative of hers came forward to take her and her younger son into her household. Her piety did not save her husband's life but secured her this asylum. The elder son remained with the husband's family that was less than poor. Of course, she could not even wish for her relative to offer to support the elder son too.
Both the boys were dull. The elder failed in the 8th standard a second time. The school refused to allow the boy to continue there. The destined path was clear. The boy must earn his livelihood from then onwards. The lady's prayer was in the form of vrata, sloka, fasting on Mondays and on every auspicious day. The days rolled on slowly. The austerity of the lady increased in intensity. The elder boy joined another school without missing a year and passed the next two classes in the first year, but failed in SSLC.
An unheard of help came unsolicited. Herculean efforts were made to see him through SSLC successfully. She was introduced to a benevolent angel, the daughter of the chairman of a automobile producing company. On hearing the unfortunate boy's ardent efforts and the various helps he had attracted, this angel secured this poor specimen of a boy a good job in the premier company over which her father presided. The boy himself used to be sorry for his mother's frequent fastings. Her other son too settled well. She alone knew the rewards her austerities had brought her.
Whether the austerities are practised by yogis on a bed of nails or by ladies at home, they are powerful and yield the results aimed at. Mother says austerities mortify the flesh to stir the deeply buried soul. They are meant for the child-soul. Mature souls seek spiritual prosperity, which is not a mere release of the soul, but an evolution of the Spirit, a flowering of the Soul. For the householder the difference between austerity and prosperity is that one solves problems while the other attracts higher opportunities. In an atmosphere where opportunities sail in, problems find no soil to strike roots.