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was any harm if he refused to see him. His mother then explained to him. "After all, he is the king who rules over us and protects all. His order cannot be disobeyed." Then Shalibhadra asked whether the king also lorded over him. When the son came to know that the king was the master of all, he got grave and said, "Then I am not all-in-all. I have also a master over me!"
The king duly had an audience with Shalibhadra and left for his palace. Shalibhadra felt agitated even after the king had left him. He found that the charm of his life was lost.
Hence he told his mother, "I don't want this limited lordship. I want to be the lord of all." Hearing this, his mother became uneasy. She remembered the day when her husband had left the place.
Then, Bhadra said to her son, "The road to suzerainty is not so easy. It is not possible for you to become a monk. Can you walk bare-footed? There will be trouble at every step. Can you face all this?" Then the mother was overpowered with emotion and said, "Look here son, there is immense prosperity for you. What do you lack in life?"
Shalibhadra replied, "I want only your blessings." His mother then pointed out that it was not possible to renounce the world all of a sudden. He should renounce it step by step. She was sure that past impressions of uneasy life would come in his way before leaving.
One day Shalibhadra's sister Subhadra was attending on her husband. And a tear rolled from her eye and dropped on
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