Way of Life Part 2

Author(s): Bhadraguptasuri
Publisher: Vishvakalyan Prakashan Trust Mehsana

Page 65

DISCOURSE 28
idea, flashed to him. At once, he lay down there and slept. Probably, he had learnt the exercise of breath-control! When the young man passed by his side he stopped breathing. He was lying there still and motionless, stiff and straight like a dead body. The young man saw him and thought, "This is a cemetery. Only dead bodies can be found here. He may be a dead man. Yet, let me see whether he is breathing". He placed his hand near the nose of the robber. The breathing had completely stopped. He concluded that the man must be dead.
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LAKSHMIDAS' CAREFULNESS
The young man returned to his father and said, "There is no living person in the cemetery but there is the dead body of a man beneath a tree. He seems to have died only a little time ago". Lakshmidas was taken aback. He said to his son, "Is there a dead body? Is it intact? Is it not burnt? Is the man wearing clothes ?" He asked many questions. The young man replied, "Father, the dead body is intact. He is also wearing clothes. But I found out that his breathing had stopped. Probably, he died a little while ago. That is what I feel". Lakshmidas said to his son, "Take this stick. Strike that man with all your strength. If he is alive, he will scream or groan or he will make some movement". Lakshmidas gave the stick to his son. The young man took the stick in his hand and went in the direction of the place where he had seen the dead body.
The robber heard what Lakshmidas told his son. He thought, "If I should get the wealth, I should bear with the strokes also. I will have to act like a dead man". Then, he lay down there. The young man went there and began beating him with the stick but the robber acted perfectly like a dead man. He made no noise or movement. He did not scream or groan or even utter a low cry. The young man returned to his father and told him that he was a dead man. But Lakshmidas did not believe his son's words. He said again, "Son, keep that stick there. Take this knife. Go there and cut off his nose. If he is alive, he will not allow his nose to be cut off".