________________
RIVER CROSSING
The Jains believe that if one repeats the Namokar Mantra, a divine litany, no harm can come to you. There are many stories about people encountering lions, tigers and other violent beasts and finding protection through this prayer. In this story, Guruji tells how he crossed a river and used the prayer and the cosmic protection which it provides, to avoid drownings. There are, of course, possible rational explanations for the event but the evidence is not available.
ne time was travelling to Ludhiana, a in Punjab, India, and there are two roads for reaching the city. One road went across a river called the Satluj which means seven streams and it is spoken of in the Vedas or sacred writings of the ancient sages; and the other road to Ludhiana went around the river. The road across the river was 12 miles to Ludhiana and the other road was twice that distance. Since the river was very wide and deep, the only time that the traveller could ford the river was when the gates of a dam up the river were closed. Then, the water in the river flowed into an irrigation canal for the surrounding territories.
On this particular day, as I approached the river, I saw over 100 people crossing the river when its waters
111
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
