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Jainism: The Cosmic Vision
"In the fifth dream, you saw a lion caught in a difficult situation. It signifies that in future, Jain religion propounded by an attachment-free omniscient saint and as brilliant and vigorous as a lion, will suffer a severe set-back and become very weak. Having turned their face away from true Jain religion, the people will accept wrong religious views. Such people will gain reputation and their wrong views will greatly gain ground."
"In the sixth dream, you saw a lotus. It suggests that in future under the influence of evil times, even persons of noble birth will keep company of the wicked and vicious persons; as a result of it, they will abandon the right path of religion and will indulge in evil activities."
"In the seventh dream, you saw a seed. It means that in future the Jain householders, having lost their differentiating and discriminating power, will give donations to the nondeserving persons, neglecting and abandoning the deserving ones, just as a thoughtless farmer sows excellent seeds in barren land and rotten seeds in fertile land."
"In the eighth dream, you saw a pitcher. It signifies that in future it will be very difficult to find Jain monks endowed with meritorious qualities and observing rightly and strictly the monastic vows and rules."
While interpreting the dreams of king Punyapala, Tirthankara Mahavira drew a very vivid picture of the future. After that he gave an account of conditions prevailing at that time in his days as also of those that will take shape in future. He said, "When a tirthankara (in this context, Mahavira) is present in a country (in this context India, that is, Bharat), that
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