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Non-Violence: A Way of Life
Videha, stood on the bank of the river Gandaki. This city had a number of suburbs. One of the suburbs was Kundagrama. King Siddhartha ruled over Kundagrama. He was a Kshatriya, but he believed in peace and in the ultimate truth. He followed the ahimsa, non-violent way of life of Tirthankara Shri Parshvanath, who had lived 200 years ago. One night queen Trishaladevi, the wife of King Siddhartha, had fourteen dreams. Having these dreams, the queen woke up. She related the dreams to King Siddhartha. The king called an assembly of the experts who knew the science of dreams and he asked them to expound the meanings of these dreams. The following are the portents of these fourteen great dreams.
The first dream of the saffron coloured lion suggested that the king's son would be matchless in fearlessness, bravery and generosity and that having destroyed passions, he would protect all living beings just as a lion, destroying all the mad elephants and protects the forest.
The second dream of the elephant with four tusks meant that his son would preach the fourfold religion. This fourfold religion pertains to the Shramana (the Jaina monk), the Shramani (the Jaina nun), the Shravaka (the Jaina layman) and the Shravika (the Jaina laywoman).
The third dream of the bullock implied that on this earth the chariot of religion had got stuck in the mud of irreligion, but the king's son would pull the chariot of religion out of the mud and thus propagate religion.
The fourth dream of Lakshmidevi (the goddess of Wealth) implied that having given alms all the year round, he would enjoy the endless splendour of the status of the Tirthankara.
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