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MAHĀVIRA'S FIRST SIX YEARS AS AN ASCETIC 79 When Gośāla had come near, saying, “ Hello, uncle," they got on his back one by one and rode him. From carrying them one by one the miserable Gośāla's body was reduced to nothing but panting and the robbers went elsewhere.
Gośāla reflected: “ At the first, I have experienced misfortune hard to endure today, like a dog separated from its master. The gods, Sakra and others, avert misfortune from the Lord. My misfortunes passed away, too, when I was under his protection. How shall i, unlucky, find him again like a treasure, who is able to give protection by himself, though indifferent from cause? I shall follow him only.”
After making this decision, Gośāla crossed the forest and wandered unceasingly, trying to find the Lord's foot-prints.
Further attacks (605-627) The Master went to a shed in Viśālī which belonged to a smith and, after obtaining permission from the people occupying it, stood in statuesque posture. The smith had been sick for six months and had recovered. On an auspicious day, attended by his family, he went to the shed. When he saw the master in front of it, he thought: “The sight of a heretic on the first day is a bad omen for me. I shall destroy this bad omen here and now.” He, malicious, picked up an iron hammer and ran to kill the Master. Just then Maghavan employed clairvoyance to know, “Where is the Master," saw the smith on the point of killing him, and went there. Hari made the hammer fall on his own (the smith's) head by his power and he went to Yama's abode by some means, though he recovered from sickness. After bowing to the Master, Sakra went to the heaven Saudharma.
The Master arrived at the hamlet Grāmāka. Th Lord stood in kāyotsarga in the temple of Yakṣa Bibhelaka in the garden Bibhelaka. The Yakşa had a trace of right-belief from a former birth and, penetrated by affecțion, worshipped the Lord with divine flowers, unguents, et cetera.
The Lord of the Three Worlds went to the village sāliśīrşa
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