This
destroyed, by practising right means, rightly enlightened in the four
true principles, he casts off fear and escapes the evil ways of birth."
The king when first he saw his wondrous spiritual power of miracle
rejoiced in heart; but now his feelings deeply affected by the joy of
hearing truth, he became a perfect vessel for receiving true religion,
and with clasped hands he breathed forth his praise: "Wonderful indeed!
the fruit of your resolve completed thus! Wonderful indeed! the
overwhelming sorrow passed away! Wonderful indeed, this gain to me! At
first my sorrowing heart was heavy, but now my sorrow has brought forth
only profit! Wonderful indeed! for now, to-day, I reap the full fruit of
a begotten son. It was right he should reject the choice pleasures of a
monarch, it was right he should so earnestly and with diligence practise
penance; it was right he should cast off his family and kin; it was
right he should cut off every feeling of love and affection. The old
Rishi kings boasting of their penance gained no merit; but you, living
in a peaceful, quiet place, have done all and completed all; yourself at
rest now you give rest to others, moved by your mighty sympathy for all
that lives! If you had kept your first estate with men, and as a
Kakravartin monarch ruled the world, possessing then no self-depending
power of miracle, how could my soul have then received deliverance? Then
there would have been no excellent law declared, causing me such joy
to-day; no! had you been a universal sovereign, the bonds of birth and
death would still have been unsevered, but now you have escaped from
birth and death; the great pain of transmigration overcome, you are
able, for the sake of every creature, widely to preach the law of life
immortal, and to exhibit thus your power miraculous, and show the deep
and wide power of wisdom; the grief of birth and death eternally
destroyed, you now have risen far above both gods and men.
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