Puniya Shravak was an ideal example of perfect worship and samayik (introspection).  He was a devout follower (shravak) whose religious sentiment was praised by Lord Mahavir himself. 
Puniya had readily accepted poverty and given away the wealth he had inherited. He would spin cotton by himself and lived a contented life with an income of only two aanas (a currency of that time).

Puniya had immense devotion for the Lord. Similarly he had intense love for the other shravaks (who worshiped the enlightened One), and he and his wife would invite one shravak to their place each day and feed him heartily.
In order to suffice, each one of them had to fast every alternate day.  Puniya had vowed to perform one samayik (introspective meditation) every day.
One day while doing samayik, Puniya Shravak’s chit(mind) became unsteady.  This led to inner restlessness within him. Why was this happening? He said to his wife, “Today I have not been able to focus properly during samayik. I don’t understand the reason for this!”

This conversation with Puniya kept his wife thinking. After sometime she remembered something and said, “While returning home from the village I collected some cow-dung cakes that were on the road. Apart from this I haven’t brought anything else home.” Self awakened Puniya Shravak said, “Oh no! The cow-dung cakes lying on the road do not belong to us. The things that don’t belong to anyone belong to the kingdom. It is not rightfully ours. Go and replace the cow-dung cakes  where you found them.”

Puniya’s self awareness was such that even a little mistake would create turmoil within his inner being.

Once king Shrenik had asked Lord Mahavir, what life form he will get in the next life. At that time lord Mahavir had answered, “You will get nark gati (life in hell).” Lord Mahavir did not have the slightest hesitation to reveal the truth even to his best devotee. When king Shrenik asked the Lord if there was any way out, Lord Mahavir replied, “You can be saved from life in hell only if you can obtain the merit karma of Puniya Shravak’s one samayik .

King Shrenik became very happy upon getting the solution to be saved from hell. To buy anything from anyone was such a trivial matter for the king! And that too from a pauper like Puniya!!! The king went to Puniya Shravak to buy the samayik from him.
After hearing his request, Puniya said to the king, “Only the Lord can tell the value of my samayik. How can I know? Therefore I beg you to go and ask Him.”

Shrenik went back to Lord Mahavir. He explained everything to Him with humility and asked, “Lord please tell me what price should I pay for the samayik of Puniya so that I can overcome nark gati?”

The Lord answered with a smile, “It’s impossible to put price on Puniya’s samayik. Oh king! Your entire kingdom will be given away in only its commission. The cost of one whole samayik is much more than that.”

The king listened in awe, “What? His samayik is so great that my entire kingdom would go as just a commission?”

The king was disheartened, but along with it he bowed down, from within, to the true Puniya Shravak’s devotional sentiments:

‘Blessed is Puniya who has been praised by Lord Mahavir himself’.