________________
352
PHILOSOPHY OF SOUL
'Suvrata' very serene by nature and learned arrived there. Pottila asked her, "Oh, Madam, one day I was as dear as the apple of the eye to my husband. Today he does not like to see my face. Kindly give me mystical charm or incantation to attract my husband”.
The nun replied, “Oh, beloved of the gods, we are nuns observing celibacy and without any attachment. I, therefore, do not bother with the worldly intrigues. We are not expected to talk in this capacity. If you want your doubts dispelled then listen to the religion preached by the Omniscient Lord”. Then she discussed the nature of religion and explained the significance of the twelve vows of the lay-disciple. Pottila accepted the twelve vows.
One good thing breeds another good thing and Pottila was inclined to get herself initiated into the monkish order of life. She asked for the minister's consent. This happened when the minister was revered as the royal father. He was wise enough not to interfere in religious proposition. He said, "I can consent only on a condition that if you become god with all the penances and vow in the next birth then come to me in the next existence to enlighten me".
The condition was accepted as there could be no objection in accepting the condition. She agreed to the condition and embraced the ascetic order of life. Having lived the ascetic life under strict discipline she attained to godly existence in the eighth heaven She was named Pottiladeva.
This god Pottila remembered his promise and started his efforts to inculcate aversion for temporal pleasures in the heart of the minister. The minister was so much infatuated with power, popularity and affluence that he was not inclined to be fed up with the worldly affairs. Power, popularity or affluence each individually can entangle a man in temporal bondages, but here all the three elements operated simultaneously. How would he allow aversion for worldly affairs to blossom in his heart !
Pottiladeva thought that the minister would not come to his senses unless misery pounced upon him and insult would only prove painful for him. One day he changed the mind of the king. No sooner did the minister enter the assembly hall, than the king turned his face away. The minister thought that any way the king was
