Bhagvana Mahavira

Author(s): Tulsi Acharya
Publisher: Jain Vishva Bharati

Page 35

The Period of Sādbanā
27
an attitude of non-possession.
Fear takes root in us when we feel that we have enemies. Vardhamāna became fearless because he assumed an attituue of friendliness towards everyone.
He began to traverse the path leading to infinity. He never thought of what was going to happen to him the next day. He did not care for food, shelter and the inclemency of the weather. All the anxieties disappaered with the renunciation of his interest in his body. He had already discarded his clothes and begun to wander naked. Even a month-long starvation did not interfere with his practice of spiritual discipline. The shades of the forest trees served as a home for him. Some times he took shelter in houses which had been abandoned or in sequestered temples. Only those who are habituated to putting on clothes, eating regular meals and living in sheltered houses feel difficulties when they do not get these. Vardhamāna put on the clothes of self-certainty, began to live in the home of consciousness and to draw strength from subtle spiritual world. He experienced no difficulty.
Having left Kșatriya Kundapura he arrived at Karmāragrāma in the evening. He remained standing in a state of meditation near the village. The first day here was the day of test for bim.
A farm-boy happened to return to the village from the farm. He had a pair of bullocks with him. He saw the monk standing there. In anticipation that he would look after his bullocks, he left the bullocks with Vardhamāna and went away. The bullocks began to graze and in a short time strayed far away. Vardhamāna was all along lost into tie depths of his soul in a state of intense meditation. It had grown completely dark and nothing was visible. The farmboy returned after having milked his cows in the village. He could not trace his bullocks. He enquired of Vardhamāna