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SHRAMAN MAHAVIR
Gautam was his first disciple, the great interpreter of the Lord's relativism and its commentator Once he learnt that the aspirant Ananda was seeking to die in meditation He entered the meditation room Ananda greeted him They began to discuss spiritualism and Ananda said, 'Sirel Thanks to my pursuit of the doctrine of everwakefulness propounded by Lord Mahavira, I am blessed with transcendental knowledge
Said Gautam, 'Anandal a householder may earn such transcendental knowledge but it is limited in extent You claim to have attained the highest degrees of it It is proper that you perform penances for such an untruth'
'Sirel Is it prescribed by the Lord to perform penances for speaking truth ?'
'Never'
'Sire! If the Lord prescribes expiation for speaker of untruth, then it is you who ought to expiate'
Such an assertion induced a great doubt in Gautam's mind He approached Lord Mahavira He related the occurrence to the latter
'Pray Lord, tell me whether Ananda should expiate or myself'
'What Ananda has stated he has done with full awareness It is a true assertion. He has nothing to expiate for The mental indolence overtook you and not him Your assertion was wrong You ought to perform penances Go back to Ananda endorse his truthfulness and express regrets to him
Gautam instantaneously made for the meditation room of Ananda It was a bold ethical experiment that the chief disciple of the Lord approached Ananda, supported his experience, regretted and sought the latter's forgiveness 1
The Lord knew that siding with untruth would bring no credit to Gautam If Ananda was to be let down to redeem Gautam's prestige it would have inflated his conceit to the detriment of his self Any eclipsing of the self was least tole
1 'Uvasgadsao', 1/72-82
