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"Your body and soul are firm like thunderbolt. You bear with equanimity the most difficult of ordeals. You will soon attain omniscience."
The 11th Year of mendicancy
From S vatth the Lord left for S nula hiya. There he did the Bhadra, Mah bhadra and Sarvatobhadra penance and continuous fast for 16 days. In the bhadra penance, for the first two days, a person meditates in the east, south, west and north directions, respectively, four times a day. Observing the two days of fast without breaking it, he took the mah bhadra penance. Therein, in the same sequence, he meditated in each direction, day and night. This way, after 16 days of fast, he completed the three kinds of meditation. After completing the three kinds of meditation, the Lord reached the house of householder Ananda. At that time, his maidservant, Bahul had come out to throw leftovers of food after cleaning the utensils. Seeing the Lord, she asked – “What do you want, oh Lord?” Mah v ra extended his palms. The maid gave the leftover food to the Lord with great devotion. Considering it faultless, the Lord broke his fast with it. The gods showered the five auspicious things and through the glory of the giving, released the maid from her servitude.
From there the Lord proceeded to D dhabh mi. Outside the city, in the caitya named Pol sa, was a garden named 'Podh la'. There, observing a fast, the Lord bent his body slightly and fixing his gaze on a gross object, he became meditative. Seated amidst gods and goddesses the king of gods, Indra, saw the Lord in meditation and saluting him, said -“So unique is the courage and resolve of Varddham na Mah v ra that let alone men, even gods cannot disturb him from his penance." Everyone was happy with Devendra's words, except a god named Samgama. He went to the Lord with the intention of disturbing Lord's penance. Accordingly he created a web of calamities. First he caused pain in the entire body of Lord, created an apocalyptic shower of sand, caused pain to his body with ants, scorpion, snake, etc. When nothing affected the Lord due calamities he produced; he created enchanting seductive scenes and then tried to agitate the mind with pitiable sights. However, Lord remained firm and steady like the Sumeru Mountain in meditation. Samgama produced 20 kinds of unbearable calamities of different kinds in one night – even showing the Lord's parents, Siddh rtha and Tri al crying in pain, tried to seduce through beautiful apsar s and in the form
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