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Saying so he proceeded further and I too had to follow him, but a tremendous curiosity was awakened in my mind to know the secret of this.
On the outskirt of Kurma Village, there was a broken Shiva Temple and in a barren relinquished house attached to this temple itself, we spent that night. That was the dense dark night of Krishnapaksha (dark half of the month), I don't know what time it was and how much night was left. All of a sudden my eyes were opened and I felt somebody was standing near my bed. I got scared, but trying to gather courage 1 asked-"Who is that?" "It is me, the Cobra "Which Cobra?"
Page 3 "The same, whose body cut into pieces of a worm was just seen by you while coming here". This reminded me of what Bhadramuni had told. He had said, "you will be able to know everything in his own words” and then I thought, "Perhaps that is why the Cobra has come to tell his own story?"
And I got up. I asked the Cobra "Why are you standing? Sit down." I moved a little and offered some portion of my blanket to sit. Hesitatingly the Cobra sat down. I requested him to relax and asked, "Tell me, Cobra! What sin had you committed so that you had to bear such severe and horrible tortures?"
The Cobra replied: "I am a great sinner. I had gravely acted against humanity. And as a result of these gross sins, I am going through such terrible tortures of body-cuts.....Not only in this life, but I have undergone such severe tortures throughout 84,000 lives and still I have to go through further 96,000 times in future. !"
On hearing this, I was greatly stunned. Not a single word could out from my spellbound mouth. Thought: What sort of sins this soul had committed that he had to undergo through such pains for 84,000 lives and still he had to go further 96,000 lives?. I asked, "You never told me anything about your sins, O Cobra!" "I will definitely tell you", Saying so, he kept quiet for a moment and then in a very pathetic tone, he started telling,
