Treasury of Jain Tales

SR No.: 006762
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: V M Kulkarni
Publisher: Shardaben Chimanbhai Educational Research Centre
Publication Year: 1994
Total Pages: 468
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 17 MB

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That night, in the company of other monks, he slept in a room but being the junior most, he was given the place near the door of the room. As it is he could not sleep at all. He was also disturbed during the night by the other monks sharing the room with him, who often opened the door and went out to relieve themselves, and came back. Every time they did this, they had to step across his body and more than once his hands and feet were crushed by them. He disliked being dirty all over like this. He cursed the monks who insulted his body by hitting it every now and then with their feet. He remembered the respect with which every one had treated him when he was a prince in the palace. He now regretted his choice to become a monk. That was a mistake indeed. The first thing in the morning he would do was to approach the Great Master, Mahavira and tell him that he was no longer interested in the wretched monkhood. He would rather go back as a householder. This is how he tossed restlessly without sleep, waiting for the morning to come. When however he went to see the Master, it was in fact the Master himself who described the prince's distressed state of mind even before the prince began to say anything. Mahāvira expressed his sympathy for the prince but instead of granting him permission to go back to the world that he had just renounced, he narrated the following story which is the story of Meghakumāra's earlier life.
"In your previous birth, you were the king of elephants, Sumeruprabha was your name and you lived at the foot of the mountain Vaitādhya in the company of many elephants. You were particularly fond of sexual pleasures. Once in the summer season, a terrible fire broke out in the forest and birds and animals were desperately trying to save themselves from it. But there was hardly any place in the forest where the fire had not reached and many of them were burnt to death. As you and your herd of elephants started running from the fire, you came to be separated from the others. You saw a pond where there was little water and more mud. You were extremely thirsty and were also tormented by the heat. You thought a pond might give you the relief that you so much needed and as you tried to reach the water you got stuck in the boggy mud, the more you tried to come out the deeper you went. You felt