Acharya Tulsi
| 2 | Thirty Years Of Family Life |
here are things in the world, which we cannot easily believe in. We are accustomed to believe in those things only which we have seen with our own eyes. It is common knowledge that the mind of a child grows with the growth of his sense-organs and the brain. Knowledge is not innate in the mind of a child. The reader will be surprised if he were told that the son of Trisala commanded extra-sensory perception while he was still in the womb of his mother. Experience tells us that a child in the womb is not even capable of having sensory knowledge, not to a speak of super-sensory knowledge. Miraculous events create all kinds of doubts.
The child which Trisala had conceived had been born in his previous lives as an ascetic called Nandan. He had performed long tapas (penances). He would remain absorbed in meditation for a whole month without eating anything. At the end of the month he would take meals for a single day only and then again begin another month-long meditation. These tapas and meditations lasted for years and years together in a series. Service and meditation were blended together in the saint's life. Subtle powers had come to acquire perfect control over gross ones. By removing the effects of karma enveloping his consciousness he bad permanently developed the capacity for pratyaksa or direct perception, avadhi jnana, which may be called as clairvoyance.
While it was still in the womb, the child, out of compassion for its mother, decided not to move and stir in the womb. Why should it cause pain to its mother or to anybody else it thought. Its soul had been soaked in ahimsa from time immemorial. It had been immersed in compassion. Moved by these it stopped stirring in the mother's womb like a yogi lost in meditation.
When Trisala did not feel the foetus stirring in the womb, she became sad. Doubts possessed her. After some time she disclosed her condition to her attendants. The king also came to know what was happening to the queen. He too became gloomy. The entire household shared the anxiety and sadness of the royal couple.
The unborn child perceived what was happening in the external world. He saw sadness and anxiety pervading the whole atmosphere of the palace. He soon came to know the cause of the sudden change and reflected, "This world is really mysterious. That which is done for the good of mankind is regarded as a source of evil. I had stopped stirring out of compassion for my mother. This has caused distress to everyone. The world is accustomed to gross things only beyond which it is incapable of imagining anything." It decided to stir again.
When Trisala felt the stir in the womb, her face beamed with joy and the gloom changed into exaltation. The news reached the king also. Once again the palace became gay and assumed a festive appearance.
The child in the womb reflected upon the mental state and ambitions of its parents. Out of affection for them, it resolved not to become an ascetic after he had been born during the lifetime of his parents.
