________________
KESARI
85
to the temple precincts along with his men and hid there waiting for the thief. At the dead of night, Kesarı came through the sky and descended there with the sandals in his left hand, he entered into the temple. The king silently shut the door from behind.
Haviog finished his worship, as Kesarı came to the door, he was chased by the king Quickly, he placed the sandals on the floor, but had no time to wear them So he left them behind, opened the door and run out at top speed. The king's men followed him
As Kesari was running, there came a sudden change in him. He was now thinking of his bad deeds and accumulated sios
A timely reaction may even change the cruelest of men and build a bright future for him. As Kesarı penetrated into the deepest part of the forest, he came across a monk immersed in meditation He stopped there and thought of desisting himself from malice and greed He thought of the transitoriness of life, of its sure end Soon his evil karma moved out and he became enlightened This metamorphosis took no time to work out and was complete by the time the king entered into the arena to arrest him. The king now could not lay his hand on him , instead, he bowed at his feet and said,
“My dear friend ! How is it that the thief Kesarı is changed into Kesari the enlightened ?"
So said Kesari :
“Sire ! It is true that my whole life is a long story of misdeeds ; but in the midst of them, I never forgot to sit for one samayika per day That is why the bondage of karma could not cnspare me very fast Know it for certain, oh king, that as much karma is tranquilised by a short equaDimity as by a long drawn pedance. That is the charm of equanimity. It is this short course that has helped me in my enlightement
The king came back to his city, while Kesari courted the life of a wanderer indicating the path of liberation to the worldly beings
