Jainism For Beginners Level 03

Author(s): Sayampurnashreeji
Publisher: Sayampurnashreeji

Page 91

She was therefore able to ride on an elephant with the king & satisfy her urge.
In due course Queen Dharini gave birth to a very handsome & adorable baby boy. Rain in the Indian language is called Megha, so in commemoration of her urge during pregnancy, the boy was named Meghakumar. At the age of eight, he was sent to school where he learned
At night, as a junior monk, he was given a place to sleep near the entrance. Therefore, it was difficult for him to bear the accidental kicking by the monks, & his bed & body smeared by the dirt. He felt that he could not bear that sort of a miserable life & decided to give up the life of a monk.
all seventy two types of arts & crafts &
became an accomplished youth. He got married & enjoyed all the pleasures of worldly life.
In the morning, he went to Lord Mahavir to seek permission to return home. Mahavir was aware of the discomforts that Meghakumar had faced the previous night & told him, "Meghakumar, you do not remember, but let me described to you the discomforts that you faced during your previous life."
Once Lord Mahavir came to Rajgrihi, the capital city of Magadha & stayed in the Gunashil monastery. Almost every resident of Rajgrihi went to listen to His sermons, Meghakumar went as well. The sermon made a lasting impression on him. He realized the transitory nature of worldly situations & decided to renounce his worldly life. His parents were sad to hear about his plan. They tried everything possible to prevent him from renouncing worldly life. However, he remained firm. Nevertheless, in order to satisfy his parents wish, he agreed to become the king for one day & was ceremoniously crowned king with all the royal pomp. Immediately afterthat, helefteverything, renounced worldly life & became a disciple monk of Lord Mahavir.
"In your previous life you were Meruprabha, the king of elephants. Once there was a terrible forest fire which you escaped narrowly. You decided to make a shelter that all the animals could use in case of another fire. You cleared up a vast stretch of land by removing all the plants, bushes, & trees. You also weeded out the grass that grew there."
Stories During Bhagwan Mahavirs Life
Once again there was a wild fire in the forest. All the animals came running & took refuge on that stretch. You were also there. During that time, you raised your foot to scratch your body because of an itch. At that very moment, a rabbit jumped into that space. As you tried to put your foot down, you saw the rabbit