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INTRODUCTION TO JAINISM
or mummies. Throughout the history of Jain culture no mummy has ever been found, but through the ages one has given utmost attention to spiritual messages by means of script, symbols or sculptures on rocks and in caves which will guide the soul on its upward path. This is the only goal worth striving for.
The treasure temple
In the summer of 1999 something unusual happened. It was in a little old temple in Rajasthan - about which for security reasons I will give no further details. Below the three-storied part of the temple above the ground there were said to be another four levels. There was a story about a treasure being hidden there. But nobody had ever had the courage to descend into the catacombs. There is no light, and it can be very dangerous because of snakes and invisible beings. Once a year only a few people descend to the upper floor of the four subterranean ones to perform a ritual in the total darkness.
But on that day in 1999 one monk had the nerve to go down. He reached the catacombs and tried to find his way. But he was not the first person in the history of the temple to have been there, because he found an old sign saying “don't go any further, there is danger here.” So he decided not to go in that direction, but continued to a narrow opening which might perhaps lead to another room. The passage was so narrow that he could hardly move either forward or backward, and then, right in front of him, he saw a cobra, moving in the opposite direction. The man understood that his moment to die had arrived and started singing mantras. The serpent approached him and ... slid out between his legs. The monk regarded this as a sign. He followed the animal and saw that it disappeared into a small hole in the floor. There he found a stone that could be shifted aside. Under the stone was another level, but it was filled with water. He put his hand into the water. Then he felt something hard and smooth and round. He gripped it and pulled it up. It was a sculpture of a Tīrthamkara
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