________________
(47)
swans whitening all the quarters, moving slowly in all the quarters in the sky, warbling and eager to leave for the Manasa lake on hearing the charming thundering sounds of clouds resembling those of the monsoon. Afterwards, he assured the Sage that those swans, flying in the sky, become anxious on account of the new clouds, possessing bits of the shoots of lotus stalks as provendor for journey, would accompany Him, desirous of going to the abode of the lord of the Yakṣas, up to the Kailasa mountain, and the flamingos, moving slowly, resorting to the sky along with Him, would become his associates in the sky and said that if He were desirous of attaining heaven, He should be ready for a fight instantly and bid farewell to the mountain where He was practising penance. He told Him that he should remember the liberated souls for when a great calamity befalls, remembrance of dieties is generally expected or should resort to the Rāmagiri mountain, for a warrior who comes into contact with it, gets all his sin washed off. He asked him to give up repentance and to be affectionate towards him and embrace him and in case He did not comply with the suggestion made by Him, he asked Him to be ready immediately for a fight whereby he would throw Him into the jaws of the god of death. He urged Him to abandon the way leading to salvation preached by lord Jina and to follow the other one shown by him so that He would hear a message of his beloved. He showed Him, two paths, one of which was circuitous and the other straight. In his opinion, though one of the two paths was circuitous, it would lead Him happily to the destination. He asked him to go by the circuitous way. He said He, moving like a cloud in the sky, would be looked at by the females of Vidyadharas and would be looked by them as if a peak of a mountain carried off very high up in the sky by the wind. He thought that His act of assuming the form of a cloud with a desire to imitate him would be proper on the part of the Sage when he, clad in a brilliant armour, would be
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
