Jain Story Book

Author(s): Manu Doshi
Publisher: Manu Doshi

Page 55

Sangam therefore resumed his previous tactics. He produced a camping party. They were intending to have rice for their food. The cook concerned used the feet of the Lord as the fireplace for cooking the rice. Thereafter Sangam produced a bird catcher who hung the cages of the wild birds in the neck and over various other parts of the Lord's body. Those wild birds bit the different parts of His body by extending their long beaks out of the cage. As that too failed to affect Him, Sangam raised one after other terrible whirl-wind and a strong hurricane that could sweep everything in its wake. Thereby, the Lord got mercilessly tossed here and there, up and down: but He did not give up the meditation. Sangam then resorted to his ultimate weapon, the fatal wheel. He hurled it at the Lord with all his might, causing the Lord to sink in the ground up to the knees. Still He stayed unaffected in the meditation.
Now Sangam did not have any more means to inflict pain. As the fatal wheel too did not succeed, he realized that the Lord was immune to all the physical pain. Sangam therefore decided to try enticing means. He came there in his plane and said to the Lord that he was pleased with His penance and steadfastness and told Him to ask for any boon. If the Lord desired, he was willing to take Him bodily to the heaven or to salvation or to make Him the king of the whole world. The Lord however did not give any response.
Sangam then thought to try seductive measures. He produced the most comfortable weather with the lovable greenery, blossomed flowers of different hues and fragrance. Then he brought forth attractive, heavenly nymphs to make all sorts of love gestures in order to entice the Lord. Some of them started playing exciting music and performing erotic dance; some of them, uncovering the various parts of their bodies, invited Him to make love. Since there was no response, they said "Lord, we have been deeply attracted by your handsome and strong body. Therefore enjoy with our beautiful bodies any way you like." Not getting any response, they added, "If you do not have any attachment for your body, why not hand over to us so that we can use it to our satisfaction? If you cannot be kind to us, at least be merciful to us by showing your love, because we cannot survive without gaining your love. Kamdev, the god of love has overcome us by his arrows of flowers; why not protect us from his aggression ? Lord, if you do not oblige us by offering your love, we are surely going to die; therefore please give up your aloofness and give satisfaction to our bodies that we are surrendering to you." Thus they tried their best to seduce the Lord in different ways, but He stayed unaffected.
Sangam thus perpetrated on the Lord 20 major Upasargas during one night, but failed in his objective of disrupting His concentration. In the early morning, when Sangam was exhausted of inflicting pain, he saw tears in the eyes of the lord. He was glad that at last he had succeeded in breaking the bearing capacity of the Lord. Realizing what was in his mind, the Lord said that he was misinterpreting His tears. They did not result from the pain that he had inflicted. Tears came forth out of His compassion for the horrible fate that Sangam had acquired by hurling distresses upon the entity that was destined to purify every one. Thus, the Lord could not only forgive Sangam for what he had done; He also had sympathy and compassion for the miserable fate that the latter had acquired by his evil action.
This was however not the end of Sangam's story. He thought that he could not go back with the failure written on his face. He therefore pursued the Lord for six months in order to harass Him. The Lord wanted to terminate the fast that He had undertaken. But wherever the Lord went for food, Sangam would pollute it to render the same uneatable. The Lord then decided not to go for alms so long as Sangam did not give way. At the end of six months Sangam realized that whatever he might do, it was impossible to bend down the Lord. Falling at His feet, he therefore begged the Lord's pardon and requested Him to go for alms at ease.
The Lord came across the 4th major Upasarga during the last year of His spiritual pursuit. In an earlier life as Triprushta Vasudev, he had poured lead in the ears of an attendant for failing to abide by his instructions. That attendant was now reborn as a cowboy. While the Lord was meditating at a place called Shadgamani, the cowboy was grazing his oxen. As it was his time to