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of his early life and initiation have been narrated earlier in this volume. He was initiated in the company of 500 Kṣatriya youths. We have a complete account in the Agama (5) why Jamali rebelled against Mahavira. given below: One day, Jamali came to Bhagavan Mahāvīra
It is
and said,
"Bhante! If you kindly permit me, I intend to move in some other area in the company of 500 monks".
Mahavira heard Jamali's prayer but gave no reply to him. He remained silent. Jamali repeated his prayer thrice, but when there was still no reply from Mahavira, he did not care any more for his permission, but moved out for another region in the company of his 500 monks.
Once monk Jamali was stationed in a caitya named Kosthaka at Sravasti. As he was living on poor, dry, cold He and inadequate food, he had an attack of yellow fever. had a severe pain and burning sensation all over his body. He asked his monks to spread the bed for him. The monks were busy with other duties. But Jamali could sit no longer. Even a moment's delay was oppressive for him. He shouted,
"Is my bed ready"?
The monks said,
"No, sir, it is not yet ready. It will be ready soon".
On hearing these words, Jamali hit on an important point. Thought he,
'According to Bhagavan Mahāvīra, what is being done has already been done, what is moving is already moved, and so on. But I find that this is totally wrong. Till the bed has been spread, and not still in the process of being spread, how do I correctly say that the bed has been spread'?
He called the monks round him and shared his thought with them. Some monks agreed with his logic, but some others did not. The former remained with him, and the latter went back to Mahavira.
