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544
Liberation of Gautama Buddha
Starting from Rājagrha, the Buddha came to V He spent there sometime and then came to Veluvagrāma (Benugrāma) to stay there during the monsoons. He asked the monks to find convenient places with friends and acquaintances around Vaisāli to live there. This was the last monsoon sojourn for the Buddha.
During this sojourn, he fell victim to a mortal disease. The Buddha thought,
'It is not appropriate for me to die without bringing it to the notice of my attending monks and monks of my order beforehand'.
He held fast to the thread of life and recovered from the disease. On seeing the Leader fully recovered, Ananda expressed a profound satisfaction and said,
"Bhantel. Because of your serious illness. I felt a blank within me. I had lost my sense of direction even. I had ceased to have a perception of religion".
Said the Buddha,
"Ananda ! I have now become aged, old, worn out, exhausted , advanced in age. I have touched 80. Like an old cart which can with difficulty be used with patches here and there, I am also somehow pulling on my body. But, you see, how can I live long in this state. So, Ananda, henceforth live in the light of thyself, in the succour of thyself, with no other succour, in the light of religion, in the succour of religion, with nothing else to depend upon".
atta dipa viharatha attas aranà anannas arană dhammadiva dhammasarana anannasarana
One day, the Buddha was resting in a caitya named Cäpāla. The long-lived Ananda sat beside him. To Ananda Bhagavān Buddha said,
