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264 ][ Lord Mahavira practises penances in Uttara-Vachala
him to sit in his boat to be ferried over to the other bank. The Lord accepted this request of the boatman, took his seat in the boat, and was about to start for the other bank when an owl suddenly began to cry out. A foreteller named Kshemila, who was also sitting in the same boat, heard this cry, and said to the boat-man, "I doubt if we can safely reach the other bank of this river. The cry of the owl indicates the same fact. It is quite probable that we might have to face some fatal calamity before reaching the middle of the current. If, however, we are saved, it would be sheerly through the spiritual power of this ascetic. The boat-man did not care at all for the words of the foreteller. He continued rowing unaffected by any thought of impending danger. By and by the boat reached the mid-current, where there dwelt a god named sudrishta. He belonged to the class of the gods called Naga-Kumaras. He was a lion in one of his previous births, and was tailed faultlessly by Lord Mahavira in the body of Vasudeva Triprishta, in one of his previous lives. He thought of taking his previous vengeance upon the Lord at this time. He said to himself, "He had killed me merely through his vanity of strength. Now I have got the opportunity for taking revenge upon him. I shall not, let him go alive. He shall have to pay with interest for his misdeed."
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It should be remembered here that Lord Mahavira had killed a lion when he was living as Triprishta in one of his previous births. The soul of the same lion had now come to take vengeance upon the Lord. Indeed the existence of karmas cannot be denied. They bind one and all in their fold. The kings and the beggars, the rich and the poor, the Tirthankara and the ordinary soul are all under their influence,
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