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136
SHRAMAN MAHAVIR
'How was it, then, that my Lord had been cruel to his body? You underwent the most rigorous penances Was it an equnimous treatment with the body?'
'Gautam, there is nothing quizzical in it The treatment and its quantum is dictated by the type and gravity of the disease My prescription bore relevance to the malady and its intensity, rather than to a masochistic trait'
'Sire, the accumulated latancies can be purged by means of meditation Why had the Lord to resort to penances ?'
'Gautam, I have no faith in a lopsided effort Hence I combined penances with meditation I have to instal reconciliatory spirit in place of exclusiveness'
'My Lord, were you averse to meals ?'
'Gautam, a non-relativistic language can hardly express what I mean, I ate to nourish my spiritual cultivation I refrained to eat that which hampered me in the course It is all relative I seek to light the wick of relativity in the lamp of fanaticism'
'My Lord, many are the lamps lit by the shramanas in the past What justifies a fresh lamp, sire?'
'l concede Gautam that Lord Parshwa did light the bright lamp that burns till today But its flame is dim now It calls for a renewed effort'
'Sire, you lived in isolation for full twelve years Why an order at this long last?
'My aim is to propagate non-violence and relativity amongst the masses It warants a mass medium Religion owes its birth and evolution to human society and not to a vacuous wilderness'
Then, what led you pass long years in wilderness, sir?'
'It was to fill the inner vacuum, Gautam. Until one's own vacuum is filled, one cannot succeed in filling that of others During my spiritual practices I was practically alone Neither I attended any congregation nor preached and organised Rarely would I discuss philosophy, if at all I spent the fourth chaturmas (rainy season) of my pursuits at Champa I stayed
