Meghakumär

 

King Shrenik of Magadha region in the State of Bihar, India had a beautiful queen named Dhärini. Once while she was sleeping, she dreamt of a white elephant entering her mouth. She immediately woke up and told the king about her dream. King Shrenik knew that it was an auspicious dream. He called the dream experts who predicted that the queen would give birth to a very handsome and intelligent son who will excel in everything. The king and queen were very pleased to hear this.

 

During the third month of her pregnancy, queen Dhärini had an irresistible urge to ride an elephant in the country with the king when the sky is decorated with clouds of colorful hues, lightning is flashing and it is raining. In most parts of India, it rains only during the monsoon season which is usually from June to October. Dhärini, however, had the urge during the off-season. The fulfillment of her urge was therefore a problem. In order to see that her health and well-being were not affected by the unsatisfied urge, the king asked his eldest son Abhaykumär, who was also the Prime Minister of the state, for a solution to satisfy the queen’s urge. Abhaykumär had a friend who could do miracles. The friend arranged events exactly according to Dhärini’s urge. She was therefore able to ride on an elephant with the king and satisfy her urge.

 

In due course Queen Dhärini gave birth to a very handsome and adorable baby boy. Rain in the Indian language is called Megha, so in commemoration of her urge during pregnancy, the boy was named Meghakumär. At the age of 8, he was sent to school where he learned all 72 types of arts and crafts and became an accomplished youth. He got married and enjoyed all the pleasures of worldly life.

Once Lord Mahävir came to Räjgrihi, the capital city of Magadha and stayed in the Gunashil monastery. Almost every resident of Räjgrihi went to listen to His sermons. Meghakumär went as well. The sermon made a lasting impression on him. He realized the transitory nature of worldly situations and decided to renounce his worldly life. His parents were sad to hear about his plan. They tried everything possible to prevent him from renouncing worldly life. However, he remained firm. Nevertheless, in order to satisfy his parents’ wish, he agreed to become the king for one day and was ceremoniously crowned king with all the royal pomp. Immediately after that, he left everything, renounced worldly life and became a disciple monk of Lord Mahävir.

 

At night, as a junior monk, he was given a place to sleep near the entrance. During the night, other monks using the restrooms had to walk past his side. Since no lamps are allowed in the Upäshray (the monks’ residence), they happened to trample on his bed and sometimes their feet accidentally touched his body in the dark. Poor Meghakumär could not sleep for the whole night. He had grown up in luxuries Therefore, it was difficult for him to bear the accidental kicking by the monks, and his bed and body smeared by the dirt. He felt that he could not bear that sort of a miserable life and decided to give up the life of a monk.

 

In the morning, he went to Lord Mahävir to seek permission to return home. Mahävir was aware of the discomforts that Meghakumär had faced the previous night and told him, “Meghakumär, you do not remember, but let me describe to you the discomforts that you faced during your previous life.”

 

“In your previous life you were Meruprabha, the king of elephants. Once there was a terrible forest fire which you escaped narrowly. You decided to make a shelter that all the animals could use in case of another fire. You cleared up a vast stretch of land by removing all the plants, bushes, and trees. You also weeded out the grass that grew there.”

“Once again there was a wild fire in the forest. All the animals came running and took refuge on that stretch. You were also there. During that time, you raised your foot to scratch your body because of an itch. At that very moment, a rabbit jumped into that space. As you tried to put your foot down, you saw the rabbit jump into that space, and you decided to hold your foot up in order to save the rabbit. The fire raged for two and a half days during which you continued to hold your foot up out of compassion for the rabbit.”

 

“At the end of the fire as the animals retreated, you tried to lower your foot. It was so stiff by then that you could not keep your balance and fell down. You felt agonizing pain and could not get up. You spent three days and nights suffering from severe pain. Ultimately you died, and in your next birth you were born here as the prince of King Shrenik because of your compassion for the rabbit. If you could face that much distress for the sake of a rabbit and attain this priceless human life in return, how can you not face the accidental kicking and the dirt from the feet of your fellow monks? Do you realize that by renouncing this worldly life and by becoming a monk you have taken the first step towards the long journey of liberation? Remember that all this suffering and happiness are only due to our own Karmas. They are only temporary by their very nature. The everlasting happiness is achieved only upon liberation.”

Meghakumär was spellbound by the Lord’s words and realized his mistake. He requested the Lord to reinitiate him since he had virtually broken his vow of monkhood by strongly desiring worldly life. The Lord did so and Meghamuni, as he was called thereafter, started leading a rigorous austere life. Fasting for days at a time, he stayed in meditation most of the time in order to eradicate his Karmas. When his body became very weak and he could no longer observe the rigors of ascetic life, he decided to observe the fast until death. This vow is called Sanlekhanä. He fasted for a month on mount Vaibhärgiri near Räjgrihi. Upon death, he was born in heaven. Bhagawän Mahävir has stated to Gautam-swämi that at the end of the heavenly life, Meghakumär would be reborn as a human being and would attain liberation.

 

Here is a great example of compassion. An elephant bears

discomfort and pain to save a little animal. As we are more developed and more rational beings, we should learn from these animals to be helpful to each other. In addition, when one takes an oath to lead the life a monk, one should not revert to a worldly life or even entertain thoughts of doing so. An ascetic life is a very tough and rigorous life which makes one realize and understand the true nature of the soul. In order to achieve this understanding, one must put aside the worldly life permanently because it tends to distort things. Suffering occurs because of one’s past Karma, so one should bear it with patience and focus on the soul for self- realization.