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272
SHRAMAN MAHAVIR
Said the Lord, 'Two warriors Sumukha and Durmukha were moving ahead of you They saw the monk standing without support in the sky on one foot He was staring at the sun Said Sumukha, "What a great austerity!"
'Said Durmukha, "It's no austerity He has ruined himself He is king Prasannachandra of Potanpur He has entrusted the state to his young son as does a cruel cartman harness a young calf to a heavy cart The child can hardly bear the burden His counsels have conspired with king Dadhiwahan to usurp the kingdom It is no dharma It is no austerity
‘The two moved on conversing'
'The monk was distracted by the conversation He said to himself "I have ever supported and partonised my ministers They have betrayed me They have been lured by power How urgrateful man is? He awaits the least opportunity to usurp another's right I shall set them right for their misdeeds"
'The ex-king-monk flew on the wings of fancy to Potanpur and began to fire the counsels for their treason The body stood erect in meditation, while the mind fought battles in the arena of Potanpur'
Said the king, How very strange, sire! How our eyes are duped! We fail to divine the mind that hides within the body Sire, is the ex-king-monk still progressing towards hellish damnation or receding therefrom?'
'He has receded from the infernal fate' 'Towards which direction? 'Towards liberation' 'How was it, sire ?'
'The high-water mark of our excitenment augurs a benefice move The monk had had enough of his fanciful fights Then he crashed upon the existing plane of reality He saw that there was no kingdom, no monarch, no ministerial plot It was all a creation of words He had been soaring high in the sky of fancy Now he is fully conscious of reality and hence he moves ahead towards liberation!'
