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## 192
## The Scattering of the Eager Rejection
Like crows with their cawing, they sang a song of sorrow, and then, crossing the river of fear, they decided to go. ||24|| Hearing that sweet song, the young women of the city, like bees attracted to honey, surrounded the two elephants. ||25|| People, wanting to know who they were, pulled at their ears and shouted, "Hey, those are the elephants!" ||26|| The city dwellers, angry, beat them with sticks and stones, and they, like dogs driven from their homes, hung their heads and fled. ||27|| They were attacked by the soldiers, and stumbling at every step, they somehow managed to escape into a deep garden. ||28|| Thinking, "This is a curse, a stain of evil birth. Our skills and beauty, like milk to a snake, have only brought harm. ||29|| We have received kindness with our virtues, but only harm in return. This is what happens when peace is disturbed," a Vetala arose. ||30|| "Our beauty and skills, woven into our bodies, are now a source of misery. Like straw, they should be abandoned." ||31|| Having decided this, they, determined to give up their lives, turned south, as if to meet death face to face. ||32|| They traveled far and saw a mountain where, perched on top, they could see the elephants like monkeys. ||33|| Driven by their desire to see the great sage, they climbed the mountain, and there, on that peak, they saw a mountain of virtues. ||34|| Seeing the sage, standing on the mountaintop like a cloud in the rainy season, their suffering vanished, and they were filled with joy. ||35|| Overwhelmed with happiness, tears of joy streamed down their faces, and they fell at the sage's lotus feet like cows. ||36|| The sage, finishing his meditation, asked, "Who are you, and why have you come here?" They told him their story in detail. ||37|| He said, "Your bodies are indeed decaying, but your evil karma, earned over countless lifetimes, is not. ||38|| If you wish to abandon these bodies, you will receive the fruits of your actions. And that is the ultimate penance, the cause of liberation, heaven, and all else." ||39|| Their minds cleansed by the nectar of his words, they took refuge in the sage's presence, embracing the path of the ascetic. ||40|| Gradually, they became students of the scriptures, for what is there that a determined mind cannot achieve? ||41|| With rigorous penances, starting from the 68th and beyond, they burned away their past karma. ||42|| Wandering from village to village, city to city, they eventually reached Hastinapur. ||43|| There, in the outskirts of the city, they practiced their austere penances. Even in a land of pleasure, those with peaceful minds can find a place for austerity. ||44|| Another sage, known for his fasts, appeared in the city. He entered the city, seeking alms, his body adorned with the marks of an ascetic. ||45|| He wandered through the city, seeking water, and was seen by the minister, Namuchi. ||46|| "This is the elephant's child. He will spread my story," thought the minister, for the wicked are always suspicious. ||47|| "As long as he doesn't reveal my secret to anyone, I will let him live," he thought, and sent him away. ||48||