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Bhagawan Mahavir ]
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taste the fruit of their past sinful acts and make amends for them by passing through all sorts of ordeals, have to spend their life hour by hour, day by day, month by month, and year by year. The span of their life is generally twenty years; but it gradually decreases and at last comes down to sixteen years only at the end of the Ara. The people can live only in the caves of the Vetadhya Mountain near the banks of the Ganges and the Sindhu (Indus) which take their rise from the heigher regions of the Chulahema Mountain. But even there, on account of excessive heat in the day and deadly paralysing cold at night, they cannot come out of their caves in any part of the day or night. In the morning or in the twilight of evening, they issue forth from their dens and wander about in search of food on the banks of the river flowing near by. They catch fish and other water animals, which now form their chief food to live upon. All the corners of earth appear to be barren; sensual passions and desires of men multiply more and more; they are more abundant in the beginning of this Ara then they were at the end of the previous Ara. Distinction of their own flesh and blood having already gone, people now take the first opportunity to satisfy their sexual appetite one way or other. According to the nature of the Ara this becomes their very religion and chief duty of their life. They are naturally inclined to choose a greater evil and commit the greatest sin. In spite of their being destitute of every thing in this world, they become so proud of themselves that they regard others as nothing. Existence of God and religion is denied altogether. People do not fear to commit such humiliating and sinful acts as produce a sensation of horror, indignation and
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