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invisible hand removed him, and in the morning, when the prince woke, he found himself on the top of a hill, all by himself, far away from Amarpur, he knew not where. It was indeed a cruel joke, but he remembered the couplet and was not particularly in distress He now started getting acquainted with the new situation. Under an asoka tree, he saw a monk in kayotsarga posture, and felt enlightened and enriched from within. After the monk's meditation was over, the prince put the following question to him:
"Holy sir How does a living being experience happiness?" The mork made sure that the stranger was a right recipient and said,
"Religion is the surest road to happiness What to speak of happiness, in the absence of religion, even wealth and desires do no fructify. And equanimity is the first step to religion"
Sagarchandra courted equanimity from that day. He had a few more queries for the monk, but before he could formulate them, the monk had disappeared, and he found himself encircled by a large band of soldiers Their leader ordered: "Hurry up. Kill this sinful man
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Sagarchandra was all alone and without any arm once invoked the couplet and was all strength At once, he jumped upon a soldier, snatched his sword and chased after the whole group Many were killed and many fled for life They could not stand for long before a determined fighter.
Seeing the situation going out of hand, the leader, a prince himself, Samarvijaya by name, took the field
Now, this was a duel between equals which lasted for a long time none yielding the ground So, to change the situation, Sagarchandra invoked his special skill, which his adversary could not comprehend, and soon he was a captive in Sagarchandra's hands Sagarchandra, however, did no disrespect to a worthy adversary, but released him with his own hands
But one point was not clear to Sagarchandra-it was the cause of Samarvijaya's animosity for which he hunted him
