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at once to convey this good news to the prince at the garden. These men came running to the garden and communicated the good news' to the prince. When the Bodhi-sattva heard the news, the following words suddenly dropped from his lips:
'A Rāhu-fetter is born.'
(In India, Rahu is considered to be an inauspicious planet that swallows the moon and the sun during an eclipse).
When the men came back to the palace, the king enquired about the reaction of the prince. On being asked like that, the men tendered a verbatim account, where on the new-born babe was named Rahula.
The Bodhi-sattva returned to the city. At that time, . a Ksatriya girl, Krša-Ga utami by name, was observing the beauty of the city from the top of her mansion. Her eyes fell on the Bodhi-sattva, and on seeing his grace and adornment, she expressed a great joy and uttered a happy couplet (udāna) which was as follows:
"Perfect calm have the parents
who have a son like this, Perfect calm has the woman
who has a husnand like this".
This joyous couplet reached the ears of the Bodhi - sattva, and his thought became concentrated on this. Thought he,
What's that whose calmness imparts calm to the heart?,
As he became indifferent to attachment and other causes of misery, his thoughts reached a depth:
'Perfect calm is attained only when the fire of attachment, aversion and delusion is put out. Perfect calm is attained only when the dirt of ego and wrong outlook is wa shed away. This girl has uttered words that are good for me. I am in search of nirvāna. I must give up my home this very day and move out in search of nirvana.'
