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JAIN RAMAYAN
child and went away; but he did not realize how bitterly the mother would be grieved when she found her son missing. He did not realize that she would be heart-broken and lament bitterly over the disappearance of her son; and that she would wander madly from door to door, in search of her son.
In fact, such are the Jivas in Samsar. They care only for their own happiness or peace; but they do not care even a little, to think of the sorrows of others. Ignoring the joys of others, they think of their own joys.
A little while later, Kurmi returned to her Ashram. She went straight to the place where she had laid the child asleep; but the child had disappeared from the tender bed of flowers. She was thunder-struck to find that her child was not on the bed. Her heart and mind became blank. Her mind was paralysed. Recovering from her shock, she began to search madly for her child, everywhere. But she could not find her child anywhere. She was greatly overwhelmed with grief. Her throat became choked with grief. Her lips began to quiver in sheer helplessness and distress. Weeping in a heart-rending manner, she began to wander through the forest. The tears flowed from her eyes like streams. She felt as though a mountain had fallen upon her head. She could not bear the separation from her son. She never ate anything: she did not even drink water. She could think of doing nothing except lamenting over the loss of her child. She kept wondering what had happened to her child. "Probably some wild animal of the forest has carried away and eaten my child. Probably, some robbers carried away my child. I do not know what agonies my child is experiencing". She thought thus. She could not bear to live in the Ashram. She looked at the Ashram and sobbed bitterly. The beauty of nature there; the melodious songs of the birds; and the sports of the animals which used to delight her formerly now caused distress to her. She felt that the Ashram was like a burial ground.
The wheel of time kept revolving. But the boy was not to be found anywhere. In consequence, Kurmi also decided to receive initiation into the Samyamdharma which her husband
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