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STORIES OF RAUHINEYA AND OTHERS
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benefit the thieves, the muni, giving protection to all living things, approached the forest. One thief climbed to the top of a tree, like a monkey, and saw Kapila, the best of ascetics, coming at a distance. The thief thought, "Who is this that comes, disregarding us?" He described him to the leader. Kapila approached the leader who, saying in his ignorance, Thank heaven for the sport that has come," ordered the muni, Dance, dance, ascetic." Rși Kapila said: "There is no musician. How is dancing possible without music? There is no result without cause. So the five hundred thieves made music by clapping their hands and Kapila danced and sang aloud in a way pleasing to the ear.
"In this transitory existence full of painful experiences, that action should take place by which I shall not come to a low status." Kapila sang five hundred verses beginning with this one, all in Prakrit, charming with beautiful melody. When the great sage Kapila had sung these verses, the thieves were enlightened by these verses, one by each verse. Then Muni Kapila had the five hundred thieves take the vow of mendicancy. Indeed, this was (fore) seen by his intellectual vision.
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The Brahman sage, Kapila, having accepted the teaching of the god of gods in Rajagṛha, is right here, purifying your city. He, omniscient, self-enlightened, the crest-jewel of the Śvetāmbaras, will make the consecration. There is a maturing of your merit.'
Then Muni Kapila, requested by the lord of Avanti, consecrated the statue, throwing powder purified by sacred verses on it.229
After he had anointed it and worshipped it, the king lifted the statue in his arms and set it on the door of his heart as a miser would a treasure. The king set the statue on Anilavega's shoulder and, mounted near it, supported it himself
229 534. The powder is kept in the hands, mantras are recited, then the powder is thrown on the statue.
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