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odd without the ring. By way of curiosity he took out all the rings and saw that all the fingers looked odd. Then he took off his crown and other ornaments that used to decorate his ears, neck, arms etc. and looked in the mirror. He noticed that he did not look as impressive as he used to
look.
This set in motion a train of thoughts within himself. I consider myself as handsome and impressive, but all that impressiveness merely arises from the ornaments etc. that do not belong to the body. The body itself is made up of blood, bones etc. that happen to be despisable but look
attractive only on account of the skin in which they are wrapped. Then, how come, I am so enamored of it? Moreover, the body does not stay forever and is going to be decomposed sooner
or later. At that stage I will have to leave every thing.' He thus realized that nothing in the world inclusive of his body really belonged to him. 'In that case' he thought, 'Why not do away with my attachment for all the temporary aspects and go in for somethiong lasting like my father?' Thus he developed acute detachment for the worldly life. This led to the rise of true enlightenment within
and he attained omniscience in that very room.
(3)
EMPEROR SANATKUMAR
In very ancient times there was a king named Ashwasen in northern India. His capital city was Hastinapur. He had a beautiful queen named Sahadevi. When she got pregnant, she saw 14 dreams that occur to the mothers of Tirthankaras and sovereign emperors. In due course she gave birth to a very handsome lovable son who was named Sanatkumar. Every one liked the boy who turned out to be very bold, brave and intelligent. At school, he quickly mastered all the arts and sciences. He also became expert in use of all types of weapons. Ashwasen was very glad to learn about the accomplishments of his son and the people were pleased and felt happy that they had such a bold, handsome and lovable young prince to succeed the king.
Once in spring season, the prince was happily playing with other princes along with his bosom friend Mahendrasingh. They decided to have a horse ride. Sanat chose to ride a horse that was newly presented to him. As soon as he got on the back, the horse started running. He ran so fast that all other princes and companions were left behind and in no time the horse disappeared from the scene. The king got very much worried by the mysterious disappearance of the prince. Anxious to get him back, he went in search but after going a little distance he lost all the foot prints of the horse on account of gusty wind and terrible storm and lost the track. Thereupon he entrusted the search to Sanat's friend Mahendra and returned to Hastinapur.
Mahendra started the search with a band of selected followers. After going to various places they entered a dense forest that was infested by wild animals and poisonous snakes. Even pythons were moving here and there. On account of the risk involved, his companions left him one after another. Mahendra had however decided not to return without the prince. He therefore proceeded alone undaunted by the adversities. For one full year he travelled far and wide but did not get any trace of the prince. During the next spring he came across a lovely area full of water springs, fanciful localities and greeneries. There in a garden he saw some lovely maidens singing sweet music. And to his surprise he noticed that his dear friend was playing there with those heavenly girls.
Sanat also saw Mahendra. He immediately approached and embraced his friend. Then he asked one of the girls to take him to bath. Mahendra got refreshed and after taking the meal he came to Sanat who was talking to his favorite girl Bakula. Mahendra requested him to narrate what had happened after the elopement of the horse. Sanat said, " I tried hard to stop the horse, but with
