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## Āgama Sūtra 39, Chhedasūtra-5, 'Mahānishīth'
Study/Purpose/Sūtrāṅka Study-8- (Chūlikā-2) Susṛḍha Kathā Sūtra-1484
O Bhagvant! Why is this said? At that time, there was a person named Susṛḍha here. He criticized many Asanyama Sthānaka within a single day and performed a great, severe, and difficult Prāyaśchitta. Still, he did not attain purity. This is why it is said.
O Bhagvant! What was the story of Susṛḍha?
O Gautam! In this Bharatvarsha, there is a country called Avanti. There was a small village called Sambhukk. In that village, there was a Brahmin named Sujñaśiva, who was born poor, without any sense of propriety, without grace, miserly, without compassion, extremely cruel, merciless, with a fierce nature, difficult, learned, a greedy, wrong-sighted person, whose name itself is a sin. Sujñaśrī was his daughter. Her beauty, radiance, and splendor were unparalleled and superior to the beauty, radiance, and splendor of all men and women in the three worlds. Sujñaśrī had a wicked thought for the next life: "If this child's mother dies, it would be good. I will be free from sorrow. Then, this child will live in sorrow. And royal fortune will be obtained by my son." As a result of this wicked thought, she was born with the karmic defect, and her mother died immediately after her birth. After that, O Gautam! Sujñaśiva, her father, begged with great distress. He went from house to house, worshipping mothers who gave birth to new children. His daughter grew up. Then, a terrible famine, lasting twelve years, came, which separated mother and son. When the entire population left, abandoning their relatives, one day, Sujñaśiva, hungry for many days and filled with sorrow, thought, "Should I kill this child and satisfy my hunger? Or should I sell her flesh to a merchant and buy food to save my life? There is no other way to survive. Or, I am truly cursed. It is not right to do this. But, I should sell her alive." Thinking this, he sold Sujñaśrī to a Brahmin named Govinda, who was a master of fourteen Vidya Sthāna, and had great wealth. Therefore, Sujñaśiva, wounded by the words of hatred from many people, left his country and went to another land. There, he also kidnapped another girl, sold her, and earned a lot of wealth.
During that time, eight years of the famine passed. Then, all the wealth of Govinda, the Seth, was destroyed. O Gautam! Due to the loss of wealth, Govinda, the Brahmin, was filled with sorrow and thought, "Now, the time of destruction for my family is near. I am not able to see my beloved wife even for a moment. What should I do now?" Thinking this, a cowherd's wife came to sell food. The Brahmin's wife bought four laddoos made of ghee and sugar, measured by a cowherd's measure. As soon as she bought them, the children ate them. The cowherd's wife said, "O Sethani! Give us the cowherd's measure in return. We have to reach Gokul soon." O Gautam! After that, the Brahmin woman ordered Sujñaśrī, "Go quickly and find the cowherd's pot that was sent by the king, so that we can give it to the cowherd." Sujñaśrī went inside to search, but she did not see the pot of rice. The Brahmin woman said, "It's not there." Then, the Brahmin woman said, "Go and look in the upper part of the pot and find it." She went to the courtyard to look again, but she did not see it. Then, the Brahmin woman herself went there to look, but she also did not find the pot. Filled with great wonder, she started looking everywhere. She saw her elder son eating rice with a prostitute in a secluded place. Her son also looked at her. Seeing her mother coming towards him, he was ashamed.
Muni Dīparatnasāgar Kṛt (Mahānishīth) Āgama Sūtra-Hindi Anuvāda
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