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F01 Story - Tirthankars
01 - Bhagwan Mahävir
bullocks throughout the night, but failed to locate them. In the morning he returned to the same spot and found the bullocks seated by the side of the standing saint. Thinking that Bhagawan Mahävir was a thief in disguise, he became furious and rushed towards Mahävir, intending to thrash him with his whip. However, Indra himself appeared and explained to him that the saint is not an ordinary wandering mendicant, but prince Vardhamän, son of king Siddhartha, who had recently accepted initiation. Indra asked Mahävir if he could provide protection for future incidents like this. Mahävir replied in all humility that an ascetic on a spiritual path reaches his goal of purity with the help of his own practice, courage, and discipline. It is without the help of heavenly gods or humans that one should shed all of his karma to attain liberation. On hearing this, Indra bowed with reverence and departed. Afflictions by Sulpäni When the wandering Bhagawan Mahävir came to a village called Asthikagräm, he wanted to spend the night in the temple dedicated to a demon (Yaksha) called Sulpäni. The villagers warned him that the wicked Yaksha would torture to death any traveler who were to spend the night in the shrine, but Mahävir was not swayed and insisted on staying there overnight. The Yaksha became enraged and furious, thinking that this was a challenge to his powers. He therefore tried to frighten Bhagawan Mahävir by assuming various forms of a ghost, an elephant, a cobra, and a lion, but did not succeed. He then tried piercing his eyes, ears, nose, head, nails, and back. Even this extreme agony failed to pierce the serenity of Bhagawän's composure. At this failure, Sulpäni was drained of all his demonic energy, and a divine spiritual light illuminated him. Slowly his anger subsided, fear dissolved, and a feeling of goodwill took over. He touched Mahavir's feet and humbly begged Mahavir's pardon. Chandkaushik Leaving Asthikagram, Mahävir proceeded in the direction of Shvetämbikä town. The trail to this town passed through a dense and desolate forest. When some shepherds saw Mahävir entering the forest, they warned him about the black cobra with a venomous gaze living on the trail. The cobra's hissing and gaze were known to burn plants and trees and cause flying birds and standing humans to drop dead. As a result, no one crossed the forest where the cobra lived. By his divine knowledge, Bhagawan Mahävir knew of the situation. In order to enlighten the cobra with his universal love, he entered the forest and stood motionless in meditation near the place where the cobra resided. The proud king-cobra rushed out of its hole, hissing and gazing at Bhagawan Mahävir. However, Mahävir stood motionless and unperturbed. This made Chandkaushik even angrier and he blew poisonous venom towards Lord Mahävir three times. The venom neither affected Lord Mahävir nor disturbed his meditation. Blind with rage, the cobra sank his fangs into Mahävir's toe and injected of all his venom, but instead of blood, a milk-like substance started flowing from his toe. Bhagawan Mahävir cast a gentle glance of compassion and said, "Oh Chandkaushik, be enlightened and attain peace of mind. Do not inject the venom of anger in your life."
When the cobra met Mahävir's gaze, he felt as if a wave of peace and tranquility had engulfed his inner self. The cobra started contemplating and visualized his past lives (Jätismaran jnän) and realized that he had suffered excruciating pain and degradation due to extreme anger and acute attachment during his previous two births. He was full of repentance. He vowed not to look at anyone for the rest of his life, nor eat or drink anything. He decided to lie still and atone for all his sins committed during the last three births and improve his future. Chandkaushik peacefully retreated to his hole with his head inside while a portion of his body remained outside the hole. After a while, when the people heard that Chandkaushik was no longer harmful to anyone, they came to see him out of curiosity. They saw him lying quietly, and some started worshipping him by offering milk and food, while others were still furious because he had killed their loved ones. They threw stones and beat him with wooden sticks. The blood, milk, and food attracted ants, but Chandkaushik willingly suffered the biting and beating and remained at peace with no trace of anger. He died after a few days. The self-restraint and control of his feelings destroyed many of his bad karmas. Therefore, at the end of his life, he was born in heaven.
Compendium of Jainism - 2015
Page 299 of 398
