The Jain 1992 04 Special Issue

Author(s): Natubhai Shah, Vinod Kapashi
Publisher: UK Jain Samaj Europe

Page 11

So he approached his parents and asked for permission to renounce the princely life so as to find a way to lessen the misery of mankind.
NO
HIS MOTHER WAS AGHAST.
I
WHEN MAHAVIRA SAW HOW GRIEVED HIS PARENTS WERE, HE MADE A DECISION.
BY THE TIME MAHAVIRA WAS 20 YEARS OLD, BOTH HIS PARENTS HAD DIED.HIS ELDER BROTHER, NANDIVARDHANA BECAME KING.
NO MAHAVIRA, NEVER! I WILL NEVER LET YOU GO. IF I AM PARTED FROM YOU I SHALL DIE OF GRIEF.
PLEASE DON'T CRY, MOTHER. I WILL NOT TALK OF GOING AWAY AS LONG AS BOTH OF YOU ARE ALIVE. I PROMISE
I AM NOW FREE TO BECOME AN ASCETIC. I SHALL ASK NANDIVARDHANA TO PERMIT ME TO TAKE THE VOWS.
MAN
BELOVED SON, GIVE UP THESE IDEAS AT LEAST AS LONG AS YOUR MOTHER LIVES.
Two years later Nandivardhana gave him permission garments. He plucked his hair out in five handfuls. to become an ascetic. He gave away all his wealth to Then he made obeisance to all liberated souls and the poor and needy. His abandonment of all began his life as an ascetic. He wandered far and possessions was so complete that he even gave up his wide.
For twelve and a half long year's Mahavira wandered to find the reality and truth. He patiently bore the numerous insults and injuries heaped upon him.
Often he was physically assaulted. HE INTENSIFIED HIS AUSTERITIES HE WAS INDIFFERENT TO WHAT HE ATE BY OBSERVING A STRICT SILENCE AND LONG FASTS. HIS PENANCES TOO BECAME MORE SEVERE.
AND.. TUHAN
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