________________
55
The soul of śramaņa Bhagavān Mahāvīra, during his sixteenth previous Bhava, was born as a son named fasayfa Visvabhūti to queen sfiuit Dhārīņi of crown-prince Visākhābhūti of King Viśva-nandi of Rājagriha.
When Munı Vıśyabhūti, who had accepted arts Cãritra Dharma,-the duties of an ascetic, and was practising severe austerities, passed on a begging tour after a continuous fasting of one month, by the place where his cousin Kumāra Visakhā. nandi, who had gone to Mathurā on his marriage occasion had encamped with his large number of servants and retinue, he was much harassed by ridicule and taunts by Viśākhānandı and his servants, on the emaciated condition of his body caused by continuous fasting and sever austerities, when he fell down by coming in collision with a running cow and this event sowed the seed of great animosity between the two princes.
Becoming enraged by the derision and taunts from fatiarxat Višākhānandı an 1 his servants, Muni Visvabhūti took an oath of killing Viśākhānandı. The soul of Visvabhūti became Tripristha Vāsudéva, during the previous eighteenth Bhava of śramaņa Bha Javān Mahāyıra and Viśākhānındı was born as the lion whom Tripristha Vasudeva killed The scul of Višākhānandt degraded himself considerably by vile derision and mean tauntings, without any cause it is important to notice how a soul degrades himself in ever-increasing succession. One cannot imagine at what low leval a soul will stop in its down-ward motion, when once the soul becomes, the enjoyer of a degraded condition and how inevitably he suffers the terrible evil consequences incidental to that degraded state. How disastrous become the evil consequences of even a small mistake ? After wandering miserably hru a number of future lives, the soul of Prince Višākhānandi was born as a farmer. Had it not been for the mercy of śramaņa Bhagavān Mahāvira towards him, the duration of his existence in this Samsāra would not have become limited. It was also thru the grace of the Venerable Ascetic, that Canadilara Mahārāja Indrabhūti Gautama initiated the farmer into his
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org