Tirthankar Ajitdev started the conversation with a patient and intense voice, “The coconut tree that you asked about, the main reason for the roots of that coconut tree going very deep into the ground is greed.
• Treasure is buried under that tree.
• There are seven lakh gold coins in that treasure.
• That treasure will be used for a good purpose.
• That treasure was buried by you and the soul of that coconut tree in previous incarnation.”
I was extremely surprised and I asked, "Lord, how and when did that being and I bury the treasure in that place? Now I am in a human incarnation while it is a single-sensed plant. Why so?”
Tirthankar said, “It is the story of this West Mahavideh region. In this area, there is a city named Amarpur. A wealthy merchant named Amardev lived in that city. His wife was named Sundari. She gave birth to twins. One was named Gunchandra and the other was known as Baalchandra. You were Baalchandra, simple and straightforward in nature. Whereas Gunchandra was crooked and sly, contrary to his name. Despite being sons of the same parents, both of you had different qualities. Both of you studied under the same scholar. You had become skilled in all kinds of arts. Your father had handed over his business to both of you. You were handling the business well. You had earned a lot of wealth. You bought some precious gems, a lot of gold coins and several ornaments from that wealth.
One day, both of you exchanged your views. ‘We have acquired a lot of wealth in this city. If we go to Laxminilay City and do business, we will be able to sell our goods at a very high rate and earn a great deal of wealth.’
You decided to take the sea route to reach to the city of Laxminilay. And so, you hired a ship for a long period and filled it with such goods that would give high returns in Laxminilay and would help in doing business easily.
Both of you started your journey sitting in that ship. Only your wives were present in your house. You both did not have any children, and your parents had passed away. However, your wives had requested both of you a lot to not go to distant countries saying, “You have a lot of wealth, then what is the need of going abroad?”
You were convinced but Gunchandra was greedy. He wanted to become a millionaire. So you both didn’t listen to your wives.
You reached the shore of the sea near Laxminilay. The permission of the king was necessary to do business in that city. Both of you took a bath, put on fresh clothes, took precious gems in a gold platter and reached the royal court. Saluting King Surtej, you presented the gems to the king. You introduced yourselves and asked for permission to do business in Laxminilay. The king granted permission. You started business by buying house and shop in the city itself. You believed that it would take four to six months to sell the goods, but all the goods were sold in just two months. Seven lakh gold coins were earned by you. You became happy. Your hardwork had shown the colours of success very soon. You were thinking of returning back to Amarpur when suddenly one day, Laxminilay City was attacked by a mighty king named Vijayvarma. The kingdom of Vijaypur was widely spread in that area. King Vijayvarma was a mighty and ambitious king. His army was also an expert at souring the enemy's teeth.
King Surtej, who lived a life of luxury in Laxminilay, was terrified by the sudden attack. Out of fear, he hurriedly got the gates of the city closed. There was chaos in the city. What should people here do in a hurry?
They were thinking of something and at that time, the king made an announcement in the city, 'Whoever wants to save his life, should climb the nearby Laxmi Mountain. I am also going to the mountain with my family. There is a proper security arrangement there for all of you.’
The fort of Mt. Laxmi is made of iron. Arrows of the enemy will not be able to penetrate it. Selected soldiers will patrol day and night over there. So, every citizen should reach there with his valuables. The road to the mountain is safe and open.’
The soldiers of King Surtej continued to face Vijayvarma’s army from the fort. Within three hours, the city got empty. Soldiers opened the gates of the city. King Surtej and his subjects had reached the mountain safely. The houses were open. The palace was vacant. King Vijayvarma went back empty-handed with remorse.
***
Along with the king and subjects, both of you started climbing the Laxmi Mountain. You had carried seven lakh gold coins with you. Tying two big bundles, both of you started climbing up with a lot of effort.
You had taken another way to reach up. You were afraid that the king might see your wealth and take it away. That's why, you started climbing straight towards the west! But after climbing for some time, you got down into a deep ditch. It was very dense. Hardly had you come out of it when you realised that you had to climb almost the same distance as much you had covered. When you climbed a small hill, you saw that the trail to climb the mountain was right in front. Enthusiasm filled within you and you started running. The trail was clean. The footprints of animals and humans were visible. You didn't even stop to breathe. You kept walking. Since it was uphill, your speed was slowing down even after trying hard. You were scared too. Your only wish was that whatever happens, you should reach the top of the mountain before night.
Despite the load of gold coins, you had covered a great distance in a few hours. You were switching your bag from one shoulder to another again and again.
Sometimes to the right and sometimes to the left, this way, the baggage had to be managed. Yet you did not sit anywhere to rest or relax. Sometimes, even after lifting the bundle on the head, you both kept walking and climbing. Your confidence pushed you up.
You were deciding the way talking to each other. ‘No matter what, we must reach the top before it gets dark.’ You were speaking and getting breathless. Though the atmosphere was cold, sweat was dripping from the bodies of both of you. The shoes you put on your feet were not comfortable. However, you were climbing regardless of the pain. There was silence in the deep valleys of the mountain. The chirping of birds and the rattle of animals running away in the bush could seldom be heard. Your breathlessness while talking would break the silence and pierce the ears. Still, you were saying something, it gave you a sense of relief. “Well, there are no fierce animals like tiger and lions on this hill. Otherwise, we would have died.”
Meanwhile, both of you felt thirsty. Your throat was drying up with intense thirst. Your chest was expanding and contracting like bellows. Fire seemed to rise in your chest. Still, your journey was on. Till that time, you hadn’t met anyone. You hadn’t seen anybody at all! There was no human voice coming from the surrounding. Even the sun had descended in the valleys of the west. Somewhere on the hills behind you, there was some light. You thought that in a few minutes, darkness would descend on earth! You started climbing up with all your strength.
The sun set and you reached the peak of the mountain. There, you saw a wonderful sight.
There was a group of trees created by nature, it was a beautiful place. You thought that the area was so green, hence there must be some water nearby. You walked quickly and reached the grove of those trees. There were mango, babool and neem trees in that clump. There were rows of banyan trees. Both of you went near an old banyan tree. The branches of that tree were spread nearly upto a hundred yards. You walked around that tree and saw a spring of water flowing on one side. You put aside the bundle of gold coins and ran wildly towards the water source. You drank water till it filled your stomach. Then you came under the banyan tree and laid down keeping the bundle of gold coins under your head. But there were no traces of sleep because your legs were shivering with pain. There was severe agony in the thighs. The soles of the feet had become hard. There was severe pain in the back. But cool breeze was flowing due to which the body could get some relief. You two brothers started talking to each other.
Gunchandra said, “It was quite troublesome to climb up. But we and our wealth are saved at last!”
Baalchandra said, “Still, we are not safe in this unknown and rugged place, are we? Any robbers can come and snatch these bundles of coins and run away. If we try to confront them, they will kill us.”
“You are right. We should do one thing - hide these gold coins somewhere,” Gunchandra said.
“Shall we dig a pit in a secret place, and bury them?”
“But for that, we will require a big vessel of copper or brass. The coins can be filled up in that vessel and then buried.”
“We will find it tomorrow morning. All the people of the city have reached the mountain. Somebody must have brought such a vessel. It can be found only in the morning.”
You both fell asleep while talking.
Waking up in the morning, you washed your hands and feet near the water spring, and also splashed water on your eyes. Then you looked here and there. A small and ruined temple was seen at some distance. You went there. You circumambulated the ruins of the temple. The wall on the right side of the backyard of the temple was quite safe. Near that wall, there was a broken piece of a huge rock. Two huge stoned pillars were lying at some distance from it. The surrounding was absolutely deserted. You said to Gunchandra, “We should hide our bundles here for now.
Then we’ll go towards the south, the people of the city were going to live there. From there, we’ll get some vessel, fill it with gold coins, close it with a lid and bury it.”
You both went towards south. But not even a single person was there! Everyone had come to know that the enemy king has gone. That's why, all the people returned to Laxminilay with a sign of relief. Some people had left their utensils, food, clothes etc. in a hurry! The kind of vessel you wanted was obtained from there. You got food and grains from somewhere. You lifted as much as you could and came back. You reached the broken temple. The bundles of gold coins were absolutely safe.
First, you ate until your stomach was full.
After cleaning a part of the temple, you piled the grains there. Then, gold coins were filled in that vessel. Seven lakh gold coins properly adjusted in it. After that, both of you together dug a deep pit behind the back wall of the temple. You dropped that vessel in that pit. Although you had to work very hard due to the heavy weight, but at last the vessel ended up in the pit of the ground. You filled the pit with stones and soil from above. You marked it with a sign and got relaxed.
You decided to stay on that mountain for a few days. You made that broken temple good enough for living by doing some repair work. You went back to the southern area, brought food and started spending your days.
Days passed. There was a desire in your mind to go to your country.
You told Gunchandra, “I wish to go to Amarpur. We'll leave from here in a month or so. Till then we need to decide something about how to carry these gold coins. We should hire one or two big ships.”
Sinful thoughts flashed in Gunchandra's mind.
‘This Baalchandra will have to give me half the gold coins of his share. But if Baalchandra does not remain alive, then all these gold coins will be mine! Seven lakh gold coins will be in my possession. I should remove Baalchandra from my way.’
Gunchandra said, “See Baalchandra, tomorrow I will go down the mountain to the city. After fixing the ship, I will take the goods which are lying in the house, keep them in the ship and return by evening with some sweets.”
Gunchandra left. He went to the city and brought sweets. Then he went to another shop and bought poison. He then mixed the poison in sweets and reached the mountain in the evening.
He said to you, “Brother, I already ate many sweets in the city. I have brought this for you. Eat it, it is very good!”
You ate the sweets.
You started feeling dizzy. Your stomach started burning like fire and veins started cracking. You started rolling on the ground and after suffering for some time, your life was blown away. You were of a sinless heart, and in the last moments you had adopted equanimity. That's why, you died and became a heavenly god of the lower category.
Gunchandra dragged your dead body and put it in a deep pit. He was overjoyed! He started dancing!
“Now, I will be the sole owner of seven lakh gold coins!”
It was night time. Gunchandra was sleeping in one corner of the temple when he sensed some warm air in his ears. In his sleep, he put his hand on his ear, but he felt that something soft was touching his jaw. He opened his eyes. He screamed as soon as he opened his eyes. There was another face in front of him. A dangerous hissing face! With his scream, the face moved a bit behind. Gunchandra hurriedly tried to stand up. His face collided with the dreadful face as he stood.
That face was of the deadly cobra. He was very fat and ten feet long as if it was the snake of death. He spread his hood and lifted it up. He had gone crazy with anger.
Gunchandra was speechless. He could not even move an inch from there! The snake grabbed his body with its tail and bit his leg.
A terrible scream came out of Gunchandra's mouth. He rolled down from the platform of the temple. The snake had slid from there in a moment. Gunchandra died. The treasure remained there. After dying, he was born in the hell named Ratnaprabha.
Tirthankar addressed me and said, “Vijaysinh, your life span of heaven came to an end. From there, you incarnated in the womb of Vasumati, wife of Harinandi in the city of Tankanpur in this region. Harinandi, elated with the joy of son’s birth, celebrated whole-heartedly. You were named Devdutt. Your upbringing was done well. Having spent childhood, you set foot in the garden of youth.
One day your father said to you, “Dear, there is a mountain named Laxmi near Laxminilay City. It is very huge, and the area is marvellous. There is a temple of Goddess Laxminivasini on that mountain. That goddess is worshipped by our family. She is miraculous too! Like us, thousands of other men and women worship that goddess.
In the beginning of every year, there is a grand festival of the goddess. Thousands of men and women go there to attend that festival. They worship the goddess and get their wishes fulfilled. She is the presiding deity of this entire area. Every year, I myself go to participate in that festival! But I will be very happy if you go this year. You will be mesmerized to see the beauty of nature on the hill! You shall return after worshiping the Goddess and taking her blessings. Yes, hundreds of poor, orphan men and women also come there in the festival of the goddess. You donate generously to them. I also donate there every year!”
You immediately agreed to go to Mt. Laxmi. Your father made preparations for your long journey.
Many relatives had got ready to come with you in the journey. Your father also sent armed guards with you. On a good day, you started the journey.
After a tireless journey of a few days, you all reached the foothills of Laxmi Mountain. After resting there for two days, you climbed the mountain and saw Goddess Laxminivasini’s idol. The festival had started. Thousands of people had come to attend the festival. You worshiped duly and donated to the poor and orphans.
Your camp was at some distance from the temple. You arrived at the tent, had food and rested for some time. By then, it was evening. You came out of the tent and gazed at the western side of the mountain. The sun had set. But the colours of the evening had painted the horizon! The shadows of those colours were enveloping the tall trees attractively. The marvellous splendour of the small and big peaks of the mountain attracted your mind very much.
You said to all your companions, “Let's go around the camp in the west direction. How adorable the sight is!”
***
Vijaysinh, your deceitful and murderous brother of previous life, Gunchandra, died and went to hell. After completing the lifespan of hell, he became a snake on the same Laxmi Mountain. He had set up his den at the same place where you had buried the wealth.
The snake did not know that treasure was buried there. But in the past life, he was attached with that place along with the wealth. And the values of attachment had awakened. So, despite being ignorant about the wealth, the snake liked that place and had built his shelter there. 'This place is mine, I won't let anyone else come here’ - such an intense attachment was getting stronger for that place.
You reached that area while strolling with relatives, guards and friends. That place was liked by you too. After all, you too had an attachment towards that place, didn't you?
You said to your relatives, “How beautiful is this place! How adorable is the environment!
These trees, these springs, these groups of wild animals. How pleasing it is!”
While walking, you reached that place. That snake saw you. He lifted his hood, shrunk its body and kept staring at what you were doing. He saw you, but your eyes did not fall on him! He was afraid, ‘What if this man takes my place?’ And here in the last birth, the fire of hatred that had emerged at the time of your death, got ignited again.
Your eyes were on the horizon. The snake came slowly towards you. The rattle of the dry leaves on which the snake slid, caught your attention. You looked at the ground and shrieked, “Snake!”
But at that very moment the snake bit your leg. He started running away after biting you. But your guards reached there with an open sword. Many swords pierced into its body and it was chopped into pieces.
You ran. After covering some distance, you fell on the ground! The poison was spreading in your body. Your relatives started crying bitterly. One of your guards knew the mantra to remove snake venom. He sat next to you and started chanting the Garudi Mantra. But his efforts were in vain. The snake was dead. If the snake was alive, it would have to come there with the influence and power of the mantra and suck the poison back. And your poison would have gone away.
Your family members held your funeral there. From there, you incarnated in the womb of Yashodhara, the wife of Shivdev in the city of Kritangala. You were named Indradev.
The snake died and was born as a lion on the same Laxmi Mountain.
***
When you got young, King Veerdev of Kritangala appointed you in the service of the state. You used to do all the personal work of King Veerdev. The king had complete faith in you.
One day, King Veerdev said to you, “Indradev, you have to go to the city of Laxminilay and give my message to the King Maanbhang there. You should also take five soldiers with you because it is a long journey.”
You marched towards Laxminilay with the soldiers.
Knowing the way, the soldiers said, “If we cross the Laxmi Mountain, then quite a few miles will be reduced.”
You said, “Alright, we will climb the mountain, cross it and go to Laxminilay.”
You started climbing the Laxmi Mountain. The weather was cold. Cool breeze was blowing. On the other hand, the sun had set on the way uphill. You were passing through the middle of the ravines, deep gorges, and climbing the hill.
The soldiers said, “Indradevji, now shall we stop somewhere here to spend the night? Proceeding in the dark doesn't seem right.”
You stopped there. You saw a flat land outside a cave. You all reached there and decided to spend the night there.
You said to the soldiers, “It is quite cold and this is a mountainous area. So, let’s have a campfire. There will be dry logs and leaves around. Get them.”
The soldiers piled up leaves, wood, etc. and rubbed stones to ignite fire.
In the light of fire, you all saw the area around and also the cave. The state was looking beautiful. You kept on burning the fire for three hours. Then the soldiers fell asleep. You hadn’t slept. You were awake. The flames had subsided but the woods were still burning.
You were calm. Opening the armaments tied on the body, you put them aside. You were lying on your left side with your legs straight. Meanwhile, an animal appeared coming out of the cave. It was dark there. You suddenly sat up. You were wondering who that animal would be? Just then that dreadful scary face came near you and grabbed your leg in his jaws. At that very moment you realized that this is not an ordinary animal, but a lion. You tossed your feet with all your might and picked up the burning wood in the fire and threw it at the lion. His forehead was hit hard by the wood. He took a few steps back, but before you could take any other measures or think of anything, the lion pounced on you as if lightning fell from the sky. The lion let out a terrific roar. The soldiers woke up after hearing the roar. The sight left them astounded. Seeing the giant lion, they got scared.
You sprang in front of the lion with all your might. When you hit a piece of burning wood on the lion's face, the lion slid back. The lion shook the mountain with his fierce roar. Before you could think of doing anything, the lion jumped. You moved a little, but the lion caught your left hand in his jaw. In your other hand, there was a piece of wood. Before you hit the lion, the lion started dragging you. You lost your balance and started being dragged. The lion had bled your hand.
You shouted and said to the soldiers, “Give me my sword.”
You caught hold of a knife that very minute. Accumulating all the strength you had in your body, you struck it on the lion.
But at the same time, the lion's paw fell on your head. Like someone hit a heavy hammer, you groaned out of immense pain and started attacking the lion with the dagger. You were feeling dizzy. Your soldiers surrounded that lion, hit him with a spear and knocked him down.
They came near you, you were breathing your last breath. Your head had exploded. Your face was mutilated. In a few moments your life was blown away.
The lion also died. You also fell asleep in the lap of death.
You killed the lion; the lion took your life.
The soldiers sitting near your dead body started weeping. After performing your funeral there, they returned back to the city of Kritangala.
***
There lived an untouchable named
Yakshdas in a town called Shristhal. His wife's name was Matruyaksha. In the womb of that mother, both of you (the soul of the lion and your soul) were born as twins.
• Your name was Kaalsen.
• Your twin was named Chandsen.
You both grew up to be hunters.
One day, Chandsen said to you, “Brother, there is a mountain named Laxmi at some distance from here. There is a dense forest and thousands of animals there. If we go hunting there, a lot of animals can be hunted with little effort."
You both went to hunt there. You got thrilled on hearing the name of the Laxmi Mountain. Your mind also yearned to go to that mountain.
Both of you picked up your bow and arrows and left. After travelling for a few days, you reached the Laxmi Mountain. Anyway, your relationship with Laxmi Mountain was connected. The treasure buried by your own hands on that mountain was also attracting you since innumerable years.
You were hungry. You hunted a boar. The boar was hit by your arrow and fell on the same place where the treasure was buried. You ran to that place. Lighting a fire, you cooked the boar in it and had your meal. After eating, you lied down at the same place and started talking. Chandsen was unnecessarily scraping the ground with his small knife. Suddenly, his dagger collided with a metal utensil. There was some sound. When Chandsen saw, he found that there was a big metal vessel. His sixth sense awakened. ‘It is surely some treasure’ - this thought emerged in his mind. After thinking something, he put the soil back in the pit.
You asked him, “What's in the pit?”
“What else will there be? Stone and clay!”
“No. You are lying and hiding something. But I have seen it.”
“What have you seen?” Chandsen got angry. He stood up. The ghost of treasure had entered his mind. ‘This treasure is mine, I will not let Kaalsen take any part of it. But he will ask. I will cut him into pieces with my knife and throw him away! What does he think of himself?’
You were still talking while lying down. In this way, Chandsen, who was furious with anger, broke down on you. On your shoulder, on the neck as you strike with a knife, he started hitting you with his palm. Chandsen was a man of enormous stature. You had nothing to do with his power! You were thin, but you were strong. As you tried to stand up, Chandsen gave you a slap on the ear.
A scream of pain came out of your throat.
You pleaded with folded hands, “Chandsen, don't kill me! I don't want the treasure!”
But he was not ready to listen. He grabbed your head with both hands and slammed it on the ground. You got dizzy, but you still faced it. You gave shocks by pressing both his feet to the side. He fell on the ground. Before you could stand up, that Chandsen stood up quickly. He wrapped his heavy hand around your neck and covered your mouth with the other hand. You started suffocating. You tried your best to get rid of him.
Kaal was behind Chandsen. His knife was lying far away. He threw you on the ground and ran to pick up his dagger. And then he threw the dagger at you with all his might. Your body was cut by the dagger.
You died and reincarnated in hell because a strong desire to kill Chandsen had emerged in your mind.
Chandsen stopped at the spot where the treasure was present. He built a small hut and started living there. He could not remove the treasure because of fear.
Then one day, another hunter came there.
He said to Chandsen, “I will also live here.”
Chandsen said, “This place is mine; you cannot stay here.”
He pushed Chandsen and said, “Does a place ever belong to someone's father? Whoever remains here, will own this place!”
Chandsen dared to face him but the hunter was much stronger than him. He beheaded Chandsen with a single stroke of his sword.
The treasure remained there.
Chandsen died and went to hell.
In this way, both of you reached hell where you had to burn in the forest of sorrow and pain for a long time.
