Gāmaṇijātaka
“Their heart’s desire.”—This story was told by the Master while at Jetavana about a Brother who gave up persevering. In this Jataka both the Introductory Story and the Story of the Past will be given in the Eleventh Book in connexion with the Samvara-jataka; the incidents are the same both for that Jataka and for this, but the stanzas are different.
Translated by Bhikkhu Sujato · Pāli: Mahāsaṅgīti Tipiṭaka · Public domain (CC0) via SuttaCentral
1.1PTS 1.136“Api ataramānānaṁ,Even though they do not hurry,11.2phalāsāva samijjhati;one who hopes for the fruit succeeds.1.3Vipakkabrahmacariyosmi,I am one whose spiritual life has ripened:21.4evaṁ jānāhi gāmaṇī”ti.know this, chief.3
2.1Gāmaṇijātakaṁ aṭṭhamaṁ.
The story tells how the youngest prince won the kingdom through gradual acts of humble service.
In the story, the prince’s success is due to worldly virtue, so the commentary explains brahmacariya here as meaning “best conduct”, leading which results in the highest station. This is unlikely, since it invariably refers to a dedicated “spiritual practice”.
In the story, gāmaṇi is the name of the prince, but the verse gives no sign that it has anything other then its usual sense of “chief, village head”. Moreover, here the speaker is addressing the chief, which according to the commentary means he is addressing himself. I think the verse has been ill-fitted to a story of similar moral.
