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I am the Soul
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reached. An ego that he had attained so many labdhis began to rise deep within him, and the chadmasta dasha had played its part.
When the Sadhvis had reached the mountainous terrain, they searched in the direction told by the Gurudev and found the cave. But instead of finding the meditating Sadhu there, they found a full grown lion. Ferocious looking with eyes that seemed to be burning with anger. The lion was at the mouth of the cave. The Sadhvis were perturbed and stepped back. They were gripped by fear. The cave seemed to be the right one, but there was no Muni but a lion in it. Apparently some mishap must have occured. The Muni must have fallen prey to the lion. So thinking both the Sadhvis turned back, their hearts heavy with fear, sadness, hopelessness and sorrow, and slowly trudged back to the Gurudev's feet.
"Gurudev! We found a wild lion in the place of the Muni! Where could the Muni be? What could have happened?" they cried out. The Gurudev pacified the Sadhvis saying, "Devanupriye! The Muni is very much there. It was the Muni himself. It was not the lion, but the Sadhaka. But he had slipped. The affection for you and the pride of his achievements were responsible for his fall."
And then the Gurudev was himself sad. The momentary ineptitude shown by his best disciple had arrested the widening horizon of the Jinashasan. Anticipating the impending storm, Gurudev was very perturbed. In due course of time, Muni Sthulabhadra came in. Paying obeisance at the feet of the Guru, he rendered the account of his achievements. The straight-forward disciple also told how he had used his labdhi. There were no secrets. But the Gurudev went into a poignant silence.
Later when Sthulibhadra prayed for more knowledge at the feet of the Guru, the Guru said, "Son! There is now a hole in the
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