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Diksa of Fifteen Hundred Hermits.
I he hermits who were waiting there, saw Gaṇadhara Mahārāja Inorabhūti Gautama coming down from the great mountain As soon as he approached them, they bowed down before him and requested hun, "O Rigorous Devotee ! O Great Soul! We all of us are desirous of becoming your disciples, you will, therefore, be pleased to favour us by accepting our request."
Gaṇadhara Mahārāja Indrabhūti Gautama said, "May the Omniscient Lord Sramaņa Bhagavān Mahāvīra-dèva be your Guru Preceptor."
The hermits persistently insisted upon him to give them Diksa,-Initiation into is Order of Monks-there and then, and to make all of them his own disciples. On account of their excessive eagerness, Gaṇauhara Mahārāja Indrabhūti Gautama gave them Diksa there on the spot. The gods supplied them all the materials suitable for an ascetic life, and all of them started, accompanied by Ganadhara Mahārāja, to meet Śramana Bhagavan Mahāvīra.
Feeding of Fifteen Hundred Hermits
On their way, when at noon-meal-time they arrived at a small village, Gaṇadhara Mahārāja asked all the Munis, 'What desirable food shall I bring for you?" They said, "Let us have a Pāyasanna,-Rice boiled in milk. "
Gaṇadhara Mahārāja Indrabhūti Gautama, then, brought from the village af Ksira,-Rice boiled in milk,-just sufficient for his own use, ordered all the hermits to arrange themselves for dinner and said, "You do your break-fast with this ANA Payasanna,-Rice-boiled in milk. "
All the hermits thought simultaneously-How will such
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