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190
SHRAMAN MAHAVIR
I have not been duped I have fully understood what Mahavira stands for'
'I know him since much earlier' 'Let me know your opinion of Mahavira' 'Is it not clear to you from my abandonment of his company?"
'Abandonment of company may be caused by more than one reasons Let me know what caused you to abandon him!'
'Mahavira is not constant in his ideology He keeps shifting his stand-point At one time he propounds a particular ideology and a little later another
'Earlier he shunned all company now he is surrounded by his disciples
'Earlier he kept quiet now he is over engaged in preaching
'Earlier he would initiate none now he is over-crowded with neo-initiates
'Ecrlier he performed austerities now he dines regularly
'Earlier he took plain, dry food. now he partakes of sumptuous meals
'Mahavira, you so much talk of, is a bundle of contradictions That's why I abandoned his company!'
Gaushalak further laboured upon his thesis
'Can you suggest a single common point between the kinds of life that he led in the past and that he leads today, Ardrakumar? If his past conduct was proper then the one today is improper If what he does today is proper, what he did then was improper Either must be faulty How can both be termed proper?'
'l find both proper' 'How?'
"I state with all the force at my command that he was alone then, is alone now and will be alone in future as well When the Lord made his odyssey within, he was alone without Since that odyssey is over, he launches on his odyssey without Hence he is alone within You must know Acharyal that an individual empty within recedes from human company
