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[ Jamali and the question of Gautama
JAMALI AND THE QUESTION OF
GAUTAMA, THE GANADHARA. Thus roaming hither and thither, Jamali reached a forest named 'Purna-Bhadra,' situated in the vicinity of Champa city, where Lord Mahavira was staying with his chief disciple Gautama. One day, Jamali came to the Samavasharana of the Lord and said, “Many of your disciples o Lord, have run into the mouth of Death before attaining Kevala-jnana. But this cannot be said in my case because I have attained Kevala-jnana as well as Kevala-Darshana I am omniscient as well as omnipresent.” Gautama Swami pitied him when he heard these foolish words of Jamali. He, therefore, asked him a question with the intention of putting an end to his vanity and pride. He said, "Jamali, will you please tell me whether the conscious and the unconscious are eternal or non-eternal ? Prove your omniscience and omnipresence by giving a satisfactory answer to this question.” Jamali hung down his head when he heard this question. He could not speak a word in reply. The Lord Mahavira said, “Jamali, this world is a collection of the conscious and the un-conscious. These two things are eternal, when they are considered from the point of view of substance and non eternal, when they are considered form the point of view of modification. I will explain this to you by an example. You know that essentially gold is one, but it has got many apparent forms. A gold bangle may be turned into a ring but then both bangle and ring are the two different forms of the same metal gold. There was gold before the bangle and the ring came into existence; it is still there in the form of these
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