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CHAPTER TWELVE
and became a god. I have come here to enlighten you, requested by you earlier. The killing of Kṛṣṇa by Jarākumāra was foretold by Nemi and it happened just so. The words of the Omniscient are not false. Jarākumāra was sent by Kṛṣṇa, after he had given him his kaustubha as a token, to the Pāṇḍavas' house."
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Bala said: "It is a good thing, Siddhartha, that I have been enlightened by you. What shall I do now, crushed by the calamity of my brother's loss?" Siddhartha said, Henceforth, nothing is fitting for you, discerning brother of Śri Nemi, except mendicancy." Bala agreed and, accompanied by the god, performed Kṛṣṇa's funeral rites at the mouth of the Sindhu.
"9
A
End of Rama's life (36-70)
Knowing that Rāma wished to take initiation, Śri Nemi quickly sent a sage, a Vidyadhara, unequaled among the compassionate. At his side Rāma took initiation and practiced sharp penance, after going to Mt. Tungikā, and Siddhartha stood guard.
One day Bala entered a city to break a month's fast and was observed by a townswoman, who was standing at the mouth of the well, accompanied by a small child. Her mind occupied with looking at Rama's exceeding beauty, she tied the rope around the boy's neck instead of the water-jar. When she began to throw him in the well, then she was noticed by Bala and he thought, "Shame on my beauty, the cause of evil. Henceforth, I shall not enter cities, villages, et cetera, but shall break fast with alms from wood-gatherers, et cetera in the forest."
After enlightening the woman, Bala went to that very forest and practiced very difficult penance for a month, et cetera at a time. Food, drink, et cetera were brought by the gatherers of grass, wood, et cetera and the muni broke his fasts, accepting the pure food given by them. The wood-gatherers, et cetera went and told their own kings, A man with a godlike form
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