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of Indra to test. They proposed to go to Sanatkumăra under the pretext of being physicians and see for themselves whether he deserved the praise of Indra. When they came to Sanatkumărathey offered to cure him of his malady but Sanatkumāra, now a holy man remained silent. But when they persisted, he asked them whether their treatment was directed against the disease of the body alone or the disease of karman. When the physicians confessed to their ability to cure the body alone, Sanatkumāra took his own spittle on his finger and rubbed it and made it as bright as gold and showed it to them and said that he could do away with physical diseases but if they could help him to do away with the disease of the samsāra. They told him of the real purpose of their visit, made a low obeisance to him and went back to heaven.
Sanatkumāra in the course of his wanderings as a sramana reached the peak of mount Sammeta and there on a rock he died after confessing himself and fasting for a month. He was born again in the Sanatkumarakalpa with a hope that after this cycle was over he would attain the final emancipation in the land of Mahavideha.
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