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Journey into Jainism
not?”. The child replied, "It is made for me; I have no need to ask my mother. Please accept my kheer in your bowl.” As the monk raised his bowl, Sangam poured all the kheer in it. He thought he was very lucky, because the great monk would help him achieve emancipation.
The muni returned to his place and Sangam's mother came back to the house. She saw her child licking an empty dish. She felt sadness in her heart as she thought how unfortunate she was! He had eaten so much kheer and was still hungry. She thought she must be really starving the poor boy.
Sangam did not say anything to his mother about giving all the kheer to the monk. After a short while, he felt an acute pain in his stomach. He tried to call out his mother but could not speak a single word. He began to roll on the ground like a fish out of water and soon breathed his last. It was a bolt from the blue for his mother.
He was reborn as Shaalibhadra in the Gobhadra family, the richest family in town, so rich that even the king could not compete with them. He grew up and was married to thirty-two beautiful girls. He never came out of his palace but stayed inside enjoying the company of his thrity-two wives.
One day few jewel rug dealers came to Rajgriha to sell their sixteen rugs. Each rug cost 1.25 lakhs of golden coins. They did not find a single person to purchase them, so they went to the king. The king and queen were very keen to buy them, but when the merchants revealed the price, the royal couple was shocked and refused to buy. The merchants were disappointed. They thought that if
