Bhagvana Mahavira

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

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Bhagavān Mahåvīra
the man encroaching upon his domain. It spread its hood, looked at the sun and then at Bhagavān Mahāvīra. The serpent began to spray its poison which spread over the aura around Mahāvīra's body. The entire atmosphere became poisoned, but Bhagavān Mahāvīra remained unaffected. He stood motionless in an atmosphere surcharged with poison. An endless stream of spiritual companion flowed from his steady gaze at the snake. There ensued a duel between love and rage, dectar and poison.
Seeing all this, the snake could not believe his eyes. He was convinced that the person at whom he looked would be suddenly burnt to ashes. Now it was a new experience for it. It spitted more poison but finding the man before it unaffected its rage knew no bounds. It again tried to cast a dangerously poisonous glance at Bhagavān Mahāvīra but could not succeed. It tried a third time and again failed in its attempt. It moved nearer Bhagavān Mahāvira, but the latter was perfectly composed. While the serpent sprayed poison at him, he continued to look at it kindly. It was a strange tussle between love and anger. The snake bit the foot of Bhagavān Mahāvīra and blood began to flow from it. The snake began to suck the blood but to his surprise he found that it was not blood he was sucking, but milk. The snake bit Bhagavān Mahāvīra's foot a second and then a third time and every time it felt that only milk flowed from the victim's body. The serpent coiled round the body of Bhagavān Mahāvīra but he could not upset him. The snake lost its self-confidence and presumptuousness. Its anger disappeared and it became calm. It ate a humble pie. Its grip on Bhagavān Mahāvīra's body began to become loose. Love became victorious. When Bhagavān Mahāvīra's meditation was over, he saw the motionless snake sitting docilely before him. He addressed the snake thus : "Caņdakauśika, be calm! You are born as a snake because you had been a victim of anger in your previous life. Then you had been ascetic. You had once trampled to death a frog. One of