Aptavani-2
291
The Lord has said, “Do renunciation and penance during the
three time cycles of Dwapar, Treta and Satyug. But in the fourth
era of this time cycle-Kaliyug, there will be no need to seek
penance and neither will you have to ‘pay’ for penance (go look
for it).” During the time cycle where people had to look for
penance, it was the right thing to do because in those days even
if one looked for it all day long, he would not find it. Those time
cycles are gone. Today opportunities for penance are plentiful.
Even Lord Mahavir had to go looking for penance during
those days! People did have penance, but not the Lord. No
penance would come to the Lord, so He thought, “All these
people take so much care to have the opportunity to feed me,
then they cook for me with so much care. That is why no one
insults me; no one does anything to me and yet I have so many
karmas left.” The Lord could instinctively understand all this.
Just as a person can tell he is going to vomit before he actually
does, in the same manner Gnanis can tell way in advance when
a ‘vomit of karma’ is due to occur. A Gnani is able to incite
discharge of pending karmas prematurely (udirana). Humans
do have this ability. So Lord Mahavir thought, “I should move
away from this nice area and go where there are primitive
people whereby my karmas can come to an end. I still have
pending karmas.” People around the Lord addressed Him with
a lot of love and respect. They garlanded him with flowers
wherever he went and that is why He decided to go to strange
and dangerous territories. The dangerous primitive area was
about sixty miles away and was inaccessible by way of the main
road. People came to bid the Lord farewell, but they beseeched
Him, “Lord please do not to use this narrow path through the
jungle. The serpent Chandkoshiya lives on this path. He does
not let anyone use this path and anyone that does, he kills him.
Lord, he will torment you.”
But the Lord said, “You are telling me not to go, but it is
necessary for me to use only this path. This is what I see in my