________________
I am the Soul
779
wrong. They harbour animosity towards the sages and begin to carry ill will for them. What a great treason!
In this age too we get to see this all around us. Our history too is witness to it. How treacherously Goshala behaved with Mahaveer! But Brothers! I would say that Goshala was righteous. He did not pretend. If he developed feelings of animosity against Mahaveer, he came into the open and tortured Mahaveer in a way that the world could see, and got himself a place in history. But this age is a terrible age. In this age those who destroy each other with their envy and jealousy are so treacherous that they attack just like the tiger from the back. Those, against whom the envy and jealousy is directed, do not even realise it or even understand it. This deception causes the bondage of great mohaniya karma.
Let us think about Goshala. In Bhagawan Mahaveer's chhadmastha state, he remained with the Prabhu as his disciple and travelled with him. He learnt a lot from Prabhu and began to travel independently. He was an ascetic and moreover had learnt several arts. He had learnt to read the past and predict the future. He started his own group and attracted people in the thousands. They became his devotees and began to propitiate Goshala. He had mastered the art of making people toe his line.
With this art, it does not take long to build a crowd of devotees. Our dear Gurudev, the late Pujya Pranlalji Maharaj used to say often, 'There are those who will bend, it takes only one to make them do it.' This has been happening in all the ages. Goshala gathered devotees not in thousands but in lakhs.
Time passed, and Mahaveer attained kevaljnana. He establilshed the tirtha and became a tirthankar. Not just humans, but demi gods and god of gods Indra too began to propitiate him. The immense sun of his omniscience began to shine bright
Jain Educationa International
For Personal and Private Use Only.
www.jainelibrary.org
