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Bhagwan Mahavir ].
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beating, they took him to be a perfect thief, tied him, and flogged him most cruelly. Still the Lord was as calm and cheerful as ever, and suffered all the afflictions gladly. He never showed the feelings of anger or hatred to those that inflicted bodily punishment; he stayed in any ruined part of the city that he could get; and if he could not get even that, he passed his time by standing or sitting under a tree. During this period, he ate whatever dry or stale crumbs of bread he could get at the completion of his course of panance. Sometimes, he had to eat uncooked victuals and practise penances as usual. The greatest wonder was that regardless of the severity of cold, Lord Mahavira absorbed himself in meditation, with no clothes on his body, arms stretched both ways, in the open air, under the shade of tress, or on the banks of pools and rivers. His penancial practices in summer season were still more wonderful. When the winds blew very hot, and the suns rays were scorching, he stood on the burning rocks of the mountains and there absorbed himself in meditation not for a day or two, but for weeks together. Thus bearing all physical and mental suffering gladly and roaming in the country of the Latas, Lord Mahavira passed his ninth Chaturmasa there. We do not want to see our readers weep for a longer time by describing at length the Upa sargas that Lord Mahavira had to face during this Chaturmasa. But they should know that those Upasargas helped the Lord very much in making his Karmas ripe. He was therefore, very grateful to them as well as to those who caused them. Goshala, too, suffered all these Upasargas with the Lord. At the end of the Rainy Season Lord Mahavira left that heathen-land and resumed his Vihara.
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