Tirthankar Mahavir

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

Page 97

The Eyes wet with Compassion
Having taken the vow of a three-day-long fast, Tirthankara Mahavira stood in silence and in meditation in a small temple called Polasha in the Pedhala Park outside the village. He was so engrossed in meditation that bullocks, mistaking him for a post, rubbed their flanks against his body. On seeing his mental concentration, endurance, perseverance and unflinching forbearance, Indra, the Lord of Gods, paid his obeisance to Tirthankara Mahavira and said in a voice choked with emotion, "O Revered One, in granting forgiveness you are like the earth, in enduring calamities you are like a mountain, in steadfast persistence in spiritual efforts you are like an ocean and in concentrating the mind you are like a rock. Neither a man, nor a powerful god, nor a mighty demon can swerve you from the spiritual path you have adopted."
All agreed with Indra in his praise of Mahavira. But a god named Sangama could not tolerate this. He was very proud of his godhood. He wished to prove that man is nothing before god. He believed that a man, however great he might be, would succumb to the lures of wealth and damsels. Obtaining the permission of Indra, he arrived where Mahavira was standing in deep meditation. He thought : "Indra has made a mountain out of a mustard seed. I shall turn that mountain into a mustard seed again."
He put his plans into action. He played his tricks one by one on Mahavira. He inflicted innumerable favourable and unfavourable calamities on Mahavira in quick succession. In one night he inflicted twenty dreadful calamities en Mahavira. He assumed the form of a violent wind and threw basketfuls of dust on Mahavira's eyes, ears and nose. After that he sent ants to bite him. The pain from this was as sharp as being pricked incessantly by pointed needles. Then he sent gadflies and mosquitoes to suck his blood. After that he sent white ants to bite every inch of Mahavira's body. Then he sent an army of scorpions to attack Mahavira with their poisonous stings. Sangama's cruelty was unending but Mahavi saintliness proved superior.