Tirthankar Mahavir

Author(s): Kumarpal Desai
Publisher: Jaybhikkhu Sahitya Trust

Page 73

Acharya Shri Kailassagarsun Gyanmandir
The tailor said, “O Soma, why don't you understand ? Will he, who has given you an elephant, hesitate to give you a goad? Do not waste time. Hurru up and go. Do not miss this invaluable opportunity. Once you have successfully accomplished this mission, you will never have to wander from place to place with a begging bowl in your hand."
Greed has no end. It is insatiable. It destroys the power of right discrimination. When assisted by the winds of temptation, the fires of greed flare up. Temptation urges man to think of his own selfish gains and makes him self-centred. Soma Sharma girded up his loins and set out to find Mahavira. He wandered here and there in search of him. At last he saw him walking ahead steadily. He was overjoyed to see on his shoulder the cther half of the divine cloth. But he could not approach him to ask for it in donation. He felt ashamed of doing so. He thought that it would be better if a gust of wind just shake off his shoulder the piece of cloth and so he would not have to beg Mahavira for it. Thus he would be saved from creating an embarassing situation.
Mahavira continued moving forward with Soma Sharma following him at a convenient distance. To Soma Sharma's utter surprise, the wind blew and Mahavira's piece of cloth got caught onto a thorny bush and was pulled off. Mahavira did not pick it up and without stopping carried on walking. When Mahavira looked back, he saw Soma Sharma picking it up.
Soma went to the tailor with the two half pieces of cloth. The tailor deftly joined the two halves together and made a whole piece of cloth. Then Soma approached King Nandivardhana and sold it to him for one lac gold coins.
Thus, Soma's wish for wealth was fulfilled and his poor days were over because he had approached Mahavira - the moving wish-fulfilling tree.
The Lonely Path of the Spiritual Practitioner
There is a village known in the present day as Kamana Chapara in Bihar State. In the days of Mahavira, it was well known by the name of
naragrama. The word "karmaragrama' is a form of the Sanskrit word "karmakaragrama'. 'Karmakara' means a labourer or an artisan, and "grama means a village. Thus, the meaning of 'karmakaragrama' is the village of labourers and artisans'.