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The Upliftment of Sodas
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flesh. He had become completely oblivious of his surroundings. He was running concentrating all his attention on the small foot-prints, impelled by his desire to secure human flesh. He did not at all look around. On all sides, there was the dense forest with huge trees, high mountains and deep valleys. The path was stony and flinty and the land was uneven, rocky and barren, for miles around. A huge lion sat on a rock and was looking for prey. All of a sudden, its eyes fell upon Anand who was blindly running through the forest. At once, it roared in a terrible manner, leaped and stood before Anand staring at him. Anand was nonplussed by this unexpected event. The bow, and arrow fell off his shaking hands. He began to shake like a dry leaf. The lion's horrid claws tore off Anand's body; and he fell down.
Anand who set off in search of prey became a prey himself. He became a play-thing in the hands of fate. Sodas waited long for his friend; but how could he return ? Taking rest there for a day, Sodas entered the territory of the southern kingdom. Suddenly, his right eye shook. He saw some women coming from the opposite direction.
The sparrows began chirping. The atmosphere was filled with a new consciousness on account of the melodious cries of birds.
Sodas did not entertain the desire of eating human flesh as he did every day. He kept walking straight ahead. He thus continued to travel till noon without taking rest. The sun-god was blazing bright over his head, playing with his own light. Just then, he noticed a lake full of cool and pellucid water y. A huge peepal tree stood on the bank of the lake. Sodas
cool water of the lake; and then, he lay beneath the peepal tree to take rest. Having rested for a while, he got up and began walking to and fro enjoying the fascinating sights around. Just then he saw something extraordinary
A great muni sat immersed in meditation beneath the peepal tree and the wild animals of the forest were playing around him. The face of the muni was radiant and full of sublime ten
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