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he went near the tree he saw a hollow part and that there was something in that. He took out that and observed that something had been written on that. But he was illiterate, so could not read that. He was under the impression that because of this leaf, fire could not burn it. Had I been literate, I would have gone through as to what was written. But now what could he do? He recollected that the soul is immortal, fire cannot burn it, it can't be destroyed and it never dies". Kaundesh decided to give that leaf to the ascetic and he started searching for him. After wandering in the jungle for a while in search of the ascetic, he saw the ascetic near a tree. He walked towards the ascetic. He was satisfied. He requested the ascetic to kindly accept that leaf and oblige. Kaundesh narrated the story how he got the leaf. When the ascetic looked at Kaundesh, he asked innocently "Does it belong to you, as this leaf is also unaffected"?
The ascetic told, "this is not a soul, but the depiction is about souls". Kaundesh asked, "when and how shall I have self-realisation? When will my sorrows be over?" The ascetic said, "Oh yes, you will have self-realisation and your sorrows will also be over. You will be remembered for thousands of years". Kaundesh asked, "how will that be?"
The ascetic said, "Do you know, that today you have done two great deeds for the world?" "Which are those?" asked Kaundesh. The ascetic replied, "First, as a palmyra leaf you have saved Shastra (holy book) and thus you have secured your fame for thousands of years." "And the other one?" asked Kaundesh. The ascetic replied, "secondly, you have propagated Jinavanee by handing over this to a deserving person". "What will happen with this?" said Kaundesh. The ascetic replied that by presenting this Shastra, you have propagated the verdict of the Omniscient. For this, you will be remembered in future and you will become a famous man". Kaundesh said, Oh! is it so, I have never thought so".
That incident changed the life of Kaundesh and he became more kind to the cows. He thought when all are God, then what mistake made me cow-man and made them cows?" One day Kaundesh saw a cow in trouble in the river. He ran to save the cow, but he stumbled against a projection. He got injury and he realised that death was certain. Then he decided to leave food and water and resorted to Samadhi to attain eternal peace.
