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Bhagawan Mahavir ]
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thoughts of the Lord about the Law of Karma. He also knew that if he tried to save the Lord from the Upasargas, he would be taking him away from the attainment of perfect Knowledge, and this was against even the will of Nature. She felt ashamed and sorry to see the free play of the Upasargas upon the Lord. Her heart now melted with mercy on him. Just as a goldsmith improves the quality of gold by heating it in the blazing fire, similarly Nature was trying to illuminate the inner qualities of the Lord by subjecting him to various kinds of ordeals and thus removing the darkness from his soul. She felt that he was the only fit man through whom she could prepare the easiest way for this world to attain spiritual bliss in the near future.
Let us now observe the subtle features of human nature in the Upasargas of Sangama. He began with physical tortures; and the more unsuccessful he was in his attempts the more he tried to adopt measures that were more fieres. He subjected the Lord to the most inhuman tortures and ordeals that are usually employed for destroying an enemy; but he was unsuccessful throughout. At last, he felt very much dejected, and, in his anger, threw a heavy ball of iron upon the Lord. The Lord was no pumpkin-shoot that dies when touched with a finger, so he failed again and his physical tortures came to an end. Although he was tried by now and his anger, fancy, wonder, and courage had almost given way, still he was hopeful. He changed his way of torturing and began to shower more Upasargas upon the Lord. This shows that he was quite expert in studying human nature. It seems he had studied the weaknesses of human nature very minutely, for he knew where the strong
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