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the proximity of Bhagāvan Rşabhadeva, and narrated all that he had heard about his future greatness, Marici's joy too knew no bound. He clapped his hands thrice in joy, sprang up in the sky and praised again and again his own good luck. Shouted he,
"How great is my line! How noble is my line! My grand father is the first Tirthankara, my father is the first World-monarch, and I shall be the first Vasudeva, a world-monarch and the final TirthankaraAll my great ambitions will thus be fulfilled. My line is the best of all".
Because of this ego, Marici acquired great karma that gave him a lowly birth. This is the reason why, though he was marked to be the last Tirthankara Bhagavan Mahā vira, and he should have been placed in a Ksatriya womb, to start with, he had to spend some time in the (lowly) womb of the Brahamana lady Devānandā (2).
We get an account of total 27 (past) lives of Mahavira of which he lived two before he was born as Marici, and the rest afterwards. Of the 27, he lived the first life as Nayas ara Karmakara. In this life, he had offered food to a meritorious monk because of which he acquired right faith. But later, when he lived as a World-monarch as also as a Vasudeva, he had acquired great sins because of which he had been assigned to the hells, as low as the seventh one. In his 25th birth, he propitiated the 20 nimittas (list given at the end of this Chapter) which are basic to the attainment of Tirthankarahood, and he acquired thereby auspicious karma to give him the name and line (nama-gotra) of a Tirthankara. He spent his 26th life in the 10th heaven named Pranata, and in his 27th life, he was born to be Sramana Bhagavān Mahavira.
TĀPASA SUMEDHA
Sumendha was born in a Brahmin family in the city of Amarvati. He lost both his parents in his infancy. Thereupon, be became indifferent to the world, and was initiated as a tāpasa monk.
Immersed in deep thinking, he had a realisation as follows:
| SR No. | 022804 |
| Book Title | Agama And Tripitaka Comparative Study |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Nagaraj Muni |
| Publisher | Today and Tomorrows Printers and Publishers |
| Publication Year | 1986 |
| Total Pages | 804 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 19 MB |