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of the soft, feathered bed that he had been used to, he was given only a hard board and a wool blanket for sleeping. By morning, the prince spent such a sleepless and uneasy night that he had decided to give up the whole idea of becoming a monk and to return to the life of a prince. Furthermore, he began to wonder why he had ever decided to leave his palace for the forest in the first place.
In the morning, the monks were in the habit of seeing, worshipping and listening to Lord Mahavira and the prince was persuaded to go with them before he left. As the prince approached and bowed to Lord Mahavira, Lord Mahavira saw what the prince was feeling and thinking and he said “Megh, you have been thinking that you miss the respect, service and luxurious things of the palace life too much to become a monk. Is that true?" And the prince bowed his head in some shame to the Lord, saying, "Yes, that is true." Then Lord Mahavira spoke: "But do you know who you are and who you have been in past lives?"
"No, my Lord, I do not know and that is why I came to you," the prince replied.
Then, through the magnificent perceptual powers of Lord Mahavira, a past life of the prince suddenly came to Mahavira's consciousness and he said to the prince. "Very well, I will tell you. In a past life, you were the leader of an elephant family and there were over 400 elephants in your family. One day a terrible forest fire
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