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Aptavani-2
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Aptavani-2
The Lord has said, "Do renunciation and penance during the three time cycles of Dwapar, Treta and Satyug. But in the fourth era of this time cycle-Kaliyug, there will be no need to seek penance and neither will you have to pay' for penance (go look for it)." During the time cycle where people had to look for penance, it was the right thing to do because in those days even if one looked for it all day long, he would not find it. Those time cycles are gone. Today opportunities for penance are plentiful.
Even Lord Mahavir had to go looking for penance during those days! People did have penance, but not the Lord. No penance would come to the Lord, so He thought, "All these people take so much care to have the opportunity to feed me, then they cook for me with so much care. That is why no one insults me, no one does anything to me and yet I have so many karmas left." The Lord could instinctively understand all this. Just as a person can tell he is going to vomit before he actually does, in the same manner Gnanis can tell way in advance when a 'vomit of karma' is due to occur. A Gnani is able to incite discharge of pending karmas prematurely (udirana). Humans do have this ability. So Lord Mahavir thought, "I should move away from this nice area and go where there are primitive people whereby my karmas can come to an end. I still have pending karmas. "People around the Lord addressed Him with a lot of love and respect. They garlanded him with flowers wherever he went and that is why He decided to go to strange and dangerous territories. The dangerous primitive area was about sixty miles away and was inaccessible by way of the main road. People came to bid the Lord farewell, but they beseeched Him, "Lord please do not to use this narrow path through the jungle. The serpent Chandkoshiya lives on this path. He does not let anyone use this path and anyone that does, he kills him. Lord, he will torment you.
But the Lord said, "You are telling me not to go, but it is necessary for me to use only this path. This is what I see in my
Gnan. I do not insist, but this is what I see in my Gnan so please remain calm and let me proceed." So everyone in the town remained standing there only, no one entered the jungle. Who would, having heard of the serpent Chandkoshiya? The Lord can go if he wants. When it came to the foul-tempered Chandkoshiya, they were ready to leave even the Lord. Would people not abandon the Lord?
The Lord took the path through the jungle. Since Chandkoshiya serpent could smell the Lord, would he not go berserk? He would not let even wild animals come through, so he came to the Lord very angry and bit him on his leg. As he bit the Lord, a little of the Lord's blood went in his mouth and the moment he tasted the Lord's blood he came to remember his past life. The Lord gave Chandkoshiya a sermon: 'Listen Chandkoshiya! Calm down, calm down. Quieten your anger!' In his previous life, Chandkoshiya was an ascetic who used to get angry with his disciples and hence his current predicament. "So be at peace now. According to the knowledge you have just attained, you are a pure Soul.' As he gained knowledge, Chandkoshiya came to a realization that in his past life he was an ascetic and that he used to get very angry with his disciples. His anger was no ordinary anger. It was not the kind a husband has for his wife now and then. Disciples are trapped and stuck with their Guru and the Guru keeps abusing the helpless disciples. Upon hearing these words of the Lord, Chandkoshiya fell. As he lay bleeding, his blood attracted many ants, which took no time in devouring his body. The ants kept pulling and tugging on his body and Chandkoshiya had to suffer a lot of pain. But he suffered the penance quietly and took birth in a higher life form.
From here the Lord moved into the land of the primitive people. When these people saw him they started saying to each other, "Just look at this mendicant. Where did he come from? Let's throw stones at him. He is not even wearing clothes. Let's
