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To this, Mahāvira made the following reply,
"King Udāyana of Vitabhayapura who has already received initiation from me will be the last king to attain liberation".
Abhayakumara thought in his mind,
"If I am initiated after I become a king, there will be no chance for me to attain liberation. So why do I not be initiated in my youth"?
Abhayakumăra came to Śreņika, and expressed to him his desire for instant initiation. After hearing him, Srenika made the following observation:
"It is time for me to be initiated into monkhood. I am afraid, you are yet too young for that. At this age, you should assume the responsibility of running the administration of the state".
But Abhayakumāra was adamant. So Srenika said at
last,
"Look here. On the day I am angry with you and ask you to get away, and not to show me your face, you will have your permission for initiation into monkhood".
After a gap of some time, Mahavira came again to Rajagrha. It was a chilly winter. One evening, as King Sreņika and Celana were coming back after paying their homage to Mahavira, they saw a monk standing in meditation on the bank of the river. At night, as the queen lay in her bed, she woke up suddenly, and just then she remembered the said monk, when the following words slipped from her mouth,
"What he (the monk) may be doing at this moment"?
The king heard these words and had at once an apprehension about the chastity of his wife. Next morning, while going to pay his homage and obeisance to Mahavira, he gave the following order in Abhayakumāra;
