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Universal Message of Lord Mahāvīra
inhabitable regions, between smooth and rough paths, between safe and dangerous pathways, Mahāvīra wandered on. Nor did he pay heed to any advice. Steadfast in his vows, engrossed in the contemplation of the self, unaffected by human, natural and supernatural sufferings and tortures, he moved on.
There was the Yakṣa in Asthigrāma who tortured him for an entire night by assuming demoniac and animal forms; there was the ferocious snake, Candakauśika, in Kanakakhal, who was a terror in the entire region till his meeting with Mahāvīra who remained unaffected by his hisses and deadly poison; there was the shepherd in Chamani village who was so angry with Mahāvīra for not taking care of his oxen, not understanding that Mahāvīra's silence arose from meditation, that he hammered nails into Mahāvīra's ears. At many places, the villagers were hostile and extremely violent. There are many such other tales during his wanderings, all of deadly tortures, but all borne patiently and unflinchingly. If ever he spoke, it was a language of compassion and wisdom, which transformed such cruel hearts.
Apart from these soul-stirring descriptions of adversities faced by Mahāvīra, we also have accounts of the rigorous austerities observed by him while he was engrossed in Sadhanā. During this period of twelve and a half years, he ate meagre food for three hundred and fifty days only. He observed fasts for fifteen, thirty and also for a hundred and twenty days at a stretch. Immense was his will power, immense was his equanimity and tolerance.
It was an inner peace undisturbed by external forces. It was a conquest over the demands of the body, mind and speech. The final and most painful of all tests was the hammering of the nails
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