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him that the heavenly realm needs to know. As he was saying this, he came to Rohineya. Opening his book, he asked Rohineya to narrate his deeds from his previous life prior to enjoying the amenities of heaven.
Meanwhile, Rohineya was looking areund. He remembered what he had heard from Lord Mahavir's sermon about heavenly beings, when he stepped on the thorn. He observed the movements of heavenly beings in front of him. He noticed that their feet were touching the ground, their bodies had shadows, & their eyes were blinking like human beings. He immediately figured out that this heaven was not real & was only an illusion created by Abhaykumar to gain evidence of his burglaries.
Rohineya was released, but he constantly thought about what had happened. He realized that what he had accidentally heard from Lord Mahavir had saved his life. Then how could his father be right in the advice that he had given? Lord Mahavir must be a very great entity. 'If those words which were accidentally heard were so helpful, imagine how helpful his teachings would be?' he asked himself. Had he wasted his years avoiding the sermons of the Lord? After pondering at length, he decided to go to Lord Mahavir & to serve at his feet. He went to the assembly & humbly requested the Lord to accept him as his disciple. He also requested to become a monk. Mahavir asked him to disclose his real identity & confess all his past sins to the king before renouncing, his worldly life.He then disclosed his real identity to the king who was present in the assembly & was ready to accept any punishment. He also requested Abhaykumar to accept all the treasures he had collected during his burglaries.
Stories During Bhagwan Mahavir's Life
He therefore replied that in the previous life he had given donations to worthy causes, had constructed temples, had been on pilgrimages to holy places & had rendered service to deserving people. The person took note of his statement & asked him to narrate any wrong deeds that he might have indulged in. Rohineya said that he had scrupulously avoided misdeeds & therefore he was born in heaven. Abhaykumar's plan did not work & Rohineya was set free as being the innocent farmer that he pretended to be.
Since Rohineya had voluntarily confessed & had willingly returned everything that he had taken, the king decided to pardon him & permitted him to become a monk. Rohineya deeply repented for what he had done in his life. He started observing severe austerities in order to erase the karmas
