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The 6th Year as Keval
Completing his monsoon stay at V ijyagr ma the Lord proceeded to Vras and stayed at 'Ko haka caitya'. There he gave a sermon to the people present, inspired by which the father of Cullin , his wife y m and Sur deva and his wife Dhany became votaries. Later on, they were counted amongst the foremost r vakas of the Lord. From Vras, the Lord arrived in lambhiy and stayed with disciples in amkhan da garden. The king of lambhiy , Jita atru, came to the Lord. Near the
amkhan da garden, there was a place of a renouncer named Pudgala, who was a veritable scholar of the Vedas and stras. He had attained vibhamga (skewed) knowledge by observing fasts and penance enabling him used to know the situation till Brahmaloka. Once out of ignorance he opined that the age of gods is between ten thousand years to ten s garas and he had propagated this opinion everywhere. This view reached Gautama during his wandering for alms and he told the Lord about this. The Lord said -“No, the best age is up to 33 s garas.” When Pudgala learnt this, he came to the Lord for clarification. On listening to the sermon of the Lord, He got enlightment; and taking initiation from the Lord, observing penance and restraint, he attained liberation.
During this period, Cula ataka also became a votary. After passing through various places in lambhiy a, the Lord reached R jag ha. There Mamk , Kimkama, Arjunam 1 and Kyapa were initiated into monkhood by him. Householder Varadatta too accepted restraint and attained liberation after 12 years of austerities. He had his rainy halt in R jag ha. Nandana also took intiation here.
The 7th Year as Keval
Sensing opportunities, Lord Mah v ra remained in R jag ha after the end of the rainy season. Once, king re ika was with the Lord when a leper came and sat there. Suddenly, the Lord sneezed. The leper said “die soon." Then re ika sneezed and he said "live long". When Abhayakum ra sneezed, he said, “Live or die”. When K la aukarika sneezed he said, “Neither live nor die.” This way, he said different things when different people sneezed. However, re ika was angry at the use of the word 'die' for the Lord. Even before anyone reacted, the leper vanished. Addressing re ika's curiosity, the Lord said "O king! This
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