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326
JAIN RAMAYAN
Then the two ladies began singing together.
Bestow peace and felicity on all;
Bestow peace and felicity on all; Anjana's eyes welled up with tears. The pearl-like tears rolling down her cheeks symbolized her tale of agony and anguish and her inexpressible misery.
May we attain Kevaljnan By virtue of our heartfelt devotion. Reveal thyself to us And dispel our distress ! Oh treasure-house of compassion;
Oh thou spring of sublime love ! After having sung those songs of glorification, the two noble ladies prostrated before the Paramatma and meditated upon him with devotion to attain his inconceivable grace; and then they came out of the temple. When they looked around, they noticed at a short distance a small cottage built of sticks and leaves. They approached the cottage. There was no one in it; it was vacant. They thought for a while and then decided to spend that night in the cottage Vasanta Tilaka collected some grass and leaves from the sorroundings. She made a bed out of them for Anjana. Anjana lay on that bed of leaves and she slept lying down at her feet.
But how could Anjana get sleep? She lay on her bed of leaves looking at the sky with fixed eyes. She felt that all her ambitions and aspirations had been crushed down by the cruel Samsar and when she thought of it, the tears streamed forth from her eyes. Her heart seemed to be breaking into pieces. She tried to forget her anguish in meditating upon Lord Rishabhdev but she could not forget her misfortune which followed her like a dreadful shadow.
She thought, “Tomorrow when I go to my father's house I will have to face boundless disgrace and humiliation. Will my mother and father, brothers and sisters-in-law receive me with sympathy ?” A cloud of doubts and fears hovered over her mind
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