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26 Kshamapana more important than ever before. In the cultural context of today, there is a greater need for forgiveness today than ever. In the times of Bhagavan Rishabhdev, men were simple and dull. By nature they were simple, but intellectually they were dull. A disciple went begging. He got 32 vadas. (A vadun is a fried eatable.) He thought, "Out of these sixteen some are to be given to the guru. Let me then eat sixteen fresh vadas."
He walked a little way further and thought, "If I show these to the guru, he will give me half of them. Let me then eat eight vadas." Then the disciple walked on, halted and ate half of the vadas each time. At last there was but one vadun left with him. The guru asked the disciple, "Why is there only one vadun ? What became of the other vadas ?" Then as the disciple ate the vadun he said, "This is how I ate them." The disciple was simple by nature, but intellectually he was dull.
During the period from that of the second Tirthankara to that of the twenty-third Tirthankara, people were simple and intelligent. In the times of the twenty-fourth Tirthankara, Bhagavan Mahavir, and in later times, people are crooked (vakra) and dull. Today simplicity
Kshamapana o 27 has been all but lost. Simplicity is taken for silliness and roguery is taken for cleverness. Man's intellect has reached great heights but his heart goes on contracting. Forgiveness without simplicity is formal. So, in these days of crookeddull people, we need to cultivate the virtue of forgiveness. When we say, "May all sentients forgive me my offences !", we need not have any inferiority complex. We should feel ourselves uplifted. Pride should melt. We should have a firm conviction that the other person is like us in all respects.
In the times of Bhagavan Mahavir, Chanda. pradyota, the lustful king, broke into the house of the royal sage Udayan who lived a lotus-like life. He came riding on a ferocious elephant, named Analgiri, carried off from Udayan's palace a beautiful maid-servant and a sandalwood idol from his temple. These were no ordinary things, the maid-servant and the idol. At the time of her death Udayan's dear wife Prabhavati had asked the king to worship the idol and to take care of the hunch-backed maid-servant. Seeing this idol, Udayan gradually tried to reduce his wailings over his wife and the delusion of samsara. The hunch-backed maid-servant who worshipped the idol became temple attendant. Meanwhile, a
