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Bhagawan Mahavir]
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fairs and exhibitions with them? These pleasures are not ever-lasting. Many great men have ruined their lives by attaching themselves to their wives. Therefore, Brethren! I advise you that, if you want a true peace of mind, you must keep away from this weakness and try to save other people also. I would have long accepted consecration had it not been for the love of my parents who should have died of the pangs of my separation if I accepted it."
In the long discussion which thus ensued the prince was victorious, for his strong arguments could not be refuted by his friends. They were about to leave the place in great disappointment, when queen Trishala appeared on the scene. The prince and his companions bowed to her most respectfully. Vardhamana said to her with a smiling face "My dear mother! it is a matter of great joy to me that you have obliged me with your kind visit to my place. But, mother, you ought not to have taken so much trouble by coming over here. You had better called me instead. I would have felt very glad to present myself before you at your command."
Queen Trishala then said, "My dear little child! I have been blessed with your birth by the maturing up of good deeds that I did in my previous lives. All the astrologers say and we, too, see, hear, and feel more and more that you are that soul born of me as a son on whom the worldly creatures are always eager to cast a devotional glance in worship: this is certainly a matter of great honour to me, to the family of my father and my father-in-haw, to my caste and to my country. I also know that you are born mainly with the object of raising the fallen creatures of this world. But, in spite of
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