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........MAHĀVIRA'S WANDERING AS AN ASCETIC 85
Siddhārtha, who had been appointed by Sakra to ward off calamities, was attentive at the time of an answer to Gośāla, not at any other time. The Indras too, alas! were all indifferent to the pain of him at whose feet they act as servants and roll on the ground again and again. At whose mere name as a charm great troubles disappear, he is oppressed by small ones. Before whom are we to complain? Alas for the kind acts to people, because of which, even though they originated with the Master, the Master, whose soul is assailed by obstacles, is not rescued from an evil fate by ingrates! The Lord did not esteem his own strength which tolerated the failure of the world to rescue (him). People eager for worldly pleasures take the fruit of their own strength. Without obtaining a dwelling, partaking of heat, cold, et cetera, the Master, vigilant, passed six months which were watchful of dharma. Absorbed in pious meditation, occupying an empty house or standing under a tree, the Master passed the ninth rainy season.
Then the Master and Gośāla went to the city Siddhārtha and then went on to the village Kūrmagrāma. Seeing a stalk of sesame on the road, Gośāla said to the Lord: “Master will this stalk of sesame ripen or not?” Then by the power of fate, the Blessed One broke his silence and said himself: “Sir, it will ripen. But the seven flower-souls that are present on it will be the same number of sesame seeds in only one seedpod.” Gośāla did not believe his words, dug up the sesamestalk, and threw it with a ball of dirt (clinging to it) somewhere else. "May the Master's words not be false, " then nearby gods created a shower of rain and the sesame-stalk revived. Pressed down with her hoof by a cow passing in its vicinity, it was pushed into the damp earth and then became firmly planted. Its root grew strong gradually and gradually a shoot appeared and flowers began to grow on the sesame-stalk. The Blessed One went to the village Kūrmagrāma, accompanied by stupid Gośāla, thinking himself devoted.
Now, between Rājagpha and Campā there is a wealthy village named Gobāra, the ornament of the whole earth. In it
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