________________
his
anger became explosive. He wanted to kill whosoever he encountered. But then he imbibed compassion through every pore, which oozed forth from Prabhu Mahavir and which completely annihilated his easily aroused and excitable disposition. His nature became cool and calm like frozen ice. People threw stones at him, beat him with sticks, ants bit him all over, pierced his body and made it like a sieve, but there was not a single spark of anger coming forth.
If a Drishti visha sarpa, in his birth as a 'tiryanch' can convert petrol into water to such an extent, why can't we? How to achieve this will be discussed in the next chapter.
Tiryanch gati = sub-human destinity, animal destinity
Feodor Dostoyevsky, the Russian author, whose works combine religious mysticism with profound psychological insights, has written in his book, "Diary of a Writer" that,
"The experience of foreseeing one's future as dark and desolate is very traumatic. I desire to punish nature which has created this restless and contemptible condition for me. However, it is not possible for me to annihilate nature, therefore, I am destroying myself."
People who have not imbibed the philosophy of karma that, "Their unpropitious condition is but an outcome of their own past deeds and that no one else (nature or even God) has a hand in it," have to become victims of such terrible and unbearable mental turmoil.
135
