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kāyotsarga posture. One day he heard a man reciting a half of a verse:
"We two have been two slaves, two deer, two swans,
two cāndālas, two gods thereupon...." Having heard this, the ascetic who in fact was Citra said: "This is the sixth birth of us who are now separated from each other."
The man who sang the first part of the verse quickly wrote down the second part as it came from Citra's mouth on a leaf and went to the king's palace with great happiness and hope. When the king heard the latter half of the verse, he felt an excess of feeling and fell into a swoon. The attendants of the king began to strike the man on account of whose words they said the king fell into such a state. The poor man said that it was not his words but those of an ascetic who lived in the Manorama forest. Then the king regained his consciousness and was acquainted with the sage's presence in a nearby forest. His soul was drawn by devotion and love to him and the king quickly departed with his retinue to meet his brother Citra. Citra who was now an ascetic was delighted to meet the king and he began a religious discourse in which he showed the worthlessness of existence, described the causes of bondage by karman, and particularly praised the religious discipline which paved the way to final emancipation and sang of the excellence of beatitude. Every one amongst the audience felt greatly moved but Brahmadatta's mind felt no way improved. It was not in the least raised to a holy stage. Instead he made a proposal to the revered saint that he would feel happy if he could accept half of the kingship from his old brother and friend because kingship and similar good fortune were the right rewards for asceticism. Therefore, after a spell of enjoyment they could both practise asceticism. The ascetic's answer was:
"That this state of being a man is hard to obtain; life is continually ebbing away; fortune is unstable; unsteady is this knowledge of religious truth; bitter in their fruits are sensual enjoyments, those who cling to them surely go to hell; but hard to obtain is the seed of final
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| SR No. | 006762 |
| Book Title | Treasury of Jain Tales |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | V M Kulkarni |
| Publisher | Shardaben Chimanbhai Educational Research Centre |
| Publication Year | 1994 |
| Total Pages | 468 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 17 MB |