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62
MAHAVIRA'S PREDECESSORS
for an explanation. The moment he was in the presence of the great ascetic all his pride in his fancied learning fell from him, and he besought Mahāvīra to teach him. He not only became a convert himself, but took over with him his five hundred pupils and his three 1 brothers.
The Sthānakavāsi tell yet a third story of Gautama's conversion, Indrabhūti was going to assist at a great sacrifice, but, to his surprise, he saw that all the gods, instead of going to the sacrifice, were going to hear an ascetic preach! Gautama asked who the ascetic was, and, going to meet him, was astonished at being called by his own name. He was still more astonished when Mahāvīra proceeded to answer all the unspoken questions and solve all the doubts that had been in his mind about karma, jīva, mokşa, &c.
All sects believe that, however converted, Gautama by his intense attachment to his master, was for long prevented
from attaining Kevala jñāna or Omniscience. A sermon The Uttarādhyayana records a sermon entitled The Leaf by Mahā- of the Tree which the Jaina say Mahavira preached to Gau. vira.
tama to try and help him to reach Kevala jñāna. It is worth while studying it closely, for it tells us much of Mahāvira's doctrine. Mahāvīra warns Gautama that life will end sometime, even as the withered leaf of a tree must fall to the ground when its days are done; and that its duration is as brief as that of a dew-drop clinging to a blade of grass. Only when the chances of rebirth have resulted in one's being born as a human being can one get rid of the result (karma) of past action. How rare is the opportunity; for one's soul might have been imprisoned for aeons in an earth, or a fire, or a wind body; or it might have been clothed with a plant, an insect, or an animal form; one might have been born in heaven or hell as a god
According to other accounts there were only two brothers. ? This sermon the Jaina regard as containing the essence of their religion.
