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[ Lord Mahavira and Goshala
He began to weep and cursed his own fate. Lord Mahavira was as cheerful even no'w as he was before, for great men ever remain unaffected by joys or sorrows. He said to Goshala, "Goshala, do not regard calamities as 'calamities'. They are the gifts of Nature. Just as it is impossible for the lightning to flash without clouds, in the same way it is impossible for the virtues of a man to shine without calamities.” Here lies the beauty and reality of life. Goldsmith has said the same thing about life
"The life of a man is journey-a journey that must be travelled, however bad the roads and accomodation."
--Goldsmith Shortly after this, Soma and Jayanti, the two nuns belonging to the Shasana (Order ) of Lord Parshvanatha passed that way with their companions. Learning from the people about this occurrence, they came to the well and gazed inside it for a long time. At last, they discovered the two hermits, one of whom appeared very cheerful and calm in the midst of all the calamities and troubles that had befallen him. They also marked him cheering up very calmly the other hermit, whenever he moaned in agony of his wounds. Every 'word, that he spoke in consolation, was full of sweet nectar. From their knowledge of the jain-scriptures, from their experience gained by keeping company with the saints for a long time, from the contemporary circumstances and from the talk of that grave, cheerful, calm, and exceedingly lustrous ascetic, the nuns concluded that ascetic was undoubt. edly a great soul. They said to themselves, “Should we not think that he is the last Tirthankara? This does not require any more proof; for the extraodinary gravness and
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