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[61]
sorrow be as immeasurable as their love when, after I am born and grow old enough to conduct my own so-called earthly life, I may choose to renounce it! renounce a world of pathetic re-lationships; its multi-painted play of
illusions; yet, I shall spare my parents the agony of separation from me.
I hereby swear I shall not renounce the world during their lifetime.
(the Mother bursts into hysterical laughter. Siddharth, Nandi Vardhan and Sudarshana join in the laughter)
(there is now a brief mingling of the sound of cymbal, temple bells, gong, flute and tanpuras vibrating in the darkness on the stage; then, deep stillness suddenly shot through with the groans of the Mother in travail: deep stillness for a while, and, then, a sudden cry of the babe who is born.
The light comes back to the stage, revealing a cradle being rocked by the Mother surrounded by neighbours who bring all sorts of gifts to celebrate the occasion of extreme joy in the home which has, without its knowing, received the future Master, the future LORD MAHAVIR)
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