________________
130
JAINA STORIES enchanted words (mantras), and they are veterads in wisdom. I am sure, they may suggest something worthwhile's
The suggestion at once appealed to the king and it was given effect to immediately A number of holy men were called in and were requested to give their advice in the matter. All of them tried their enchanted words, but Sahasramalla was so very intelligent that he escaped.
Repeated successes emboldened the thief and made him uodaunted and reckless There was a panic in the city. Anybody who challenged him lost his life He had no scrupple even to rob the weaker sex, as if he had a complete licence. This was a source of great anxiety for the king and the entire administration
In the midst of this widespread gloom, there appeared a streak of light when there came a monk, Visuddha by name, who possessed kevala jnana. The king came to pay homage to the monk, and so also came the people from the whole city. Even Sahasramalla did not keep aside. Kevali Visuddha said in his sermon :
"To kill, to lie, to indulge in sex behaviour, to have reckless acquisition—these characterise an impious soul Such a person behaves wrongly with others, but he should know that whatever is painful to self is also painful to others So one must not be bad in his behaviour to others. If you have right to joys of life, everyone else has a similar right."
The sermon had a great impact on everybody, but the greatest on the thief, whose whole life now lay before him, like an open book and he felt the highest remorse for all that he had done. The most dominant thought in his mind now was that he had acquired the greatest of sins. In depriving others of their all, he felt, he himself had been the most deprived The trend of his thought was now inward. When other people had departed, he came near the monk and made the following submission :
Very noble sire! There is no vile activity on earth wybich these stained hands had not perpetrated They have acquired such a notoreity that they now never shrink from
