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GLIMPSES ALONG LIFE'S JOURNEY
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fication. He at once adopted the minor vows of the dharma, and renouncing food and water immediately settled down to perform the sallekhanā VOW. In due course he shook off his serpentine coil, and was immediately reborn among the devas, as the result of the severe asceticism implied in the accomplishment of the sallekhana death. The devas are all endowed with clairvoyance from birth, and Danda's jiva (soul) found out that the cause of his great good luck was his son, Manimāli, whose preaching had changed his heart. He then came to thank his son personally, and presented him with this divine necklace, which has descended to your majesty in due course! Such is the history of your great ancestor, Danda. Can you after this doubt that there is a survival of the soul after death? Any one in your kingdom will vouch for the truth of this matter, as it is not a very old one.
"I will yet tell you the story of your own great-grandfather, Sahasrabala. How he renounced the world, made over his kingdom to your majesty's grandfather, and, taking to saintly life, became omniscient and obtained salvation, are known to one and all throughout the length and breadth of your kingdom. Nay they impressed your wise grandfather so much that he, too, renounced the world and became an ascetic, and,
