Rays of Dharma

Author(s): Chitrabhanu
Publisher: Divine Knowledge Society

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Rays of Dharma
it and talked to his Guru about it. The Guru realized that Sthulibhadra was overcome with arrogance and declined to teach him further.
Some persons feel that the people will become their followers by showing some miracle. They forget that the people will stop going to them, if they come across a greater miracle elsewhere. Religion has nothing to do with miracles. If one adopts it on account of a miracle, it will cease to have any impact when the miracle disappears. The enlightened ones have therefore not given importance even to the amazing accomplishment of pneumonic capability. Religion has to arise from within; it must be the outcome of truth in life.
We do not know when ego would enter our brain. It is easy to give up the sense of belonging for wealth, wife, children etc, but it is hard to give up the ego. By virtue of the rise of detachment, Bahubali gave up everything and became an ascetic, but the subtle ego remained in his mind. As such, he wished to attain the enlightenment before going to Lord Rushabhdev so that he would not be required to bow to his younger brothers, who had renounced earlier.
He therefore adopted acute penance; he stayed steady in meditation while bearing cold, heat and rain to the extent that birds built their nests around his body. But due to the ego, he failed to gain enlightenment. Then Lord Rushabhdev sent Brahmi and Sundari to him. On coming to Bahubali they asked him to get down the elephant of ego. On hearing those words the ego of Bähubali disappeared and he got ready to go to the Lord's assembly. As he took the first step, the omniscience got manifested to him.
Omniscience lies within us, but it remains obscured due to our wrong tendencies. That obscuring envelope drops off at the sight of enlightened ones or on listening to their words. They thus become instrumental in manifesting what had been lying within us. The lock, which we fail to open by exerting too much force, is instantly opened by moving the right key. Guru's words function as the key to open our internal doors.
The above illustrations of Bähubali and Sthulibhadra are meant
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