Sadhvi Vishrut Vibha
Self Restraint: A Path ToSuccess
Long, long ago, there lived a mighty emperor named Manirath in the town of Sudharshana, which was situated in Avanti. He had a younger brother, Prince Yugabahu, who was married to a very beautiful lady, called Madanrekha. One day, when Manirath was strolling in the corridors, he chanced to look out into the garden. He saw Madanrekha accompanied by her friends watering the plants. The sight of her beautiful body took him aback. The lust to possess her at any cost arose in him. He became so overwhelmed by his desire for her that his reasoning power failed to make him aware of the fact that she was his younger brother’s wife.
He started sending her valuable gifts, like precious ornaments and luxurious clothes to lure her attention towards him. Madanrekha accepted all the gifts innocently, thinking that her respectable elder brother-in-law had sent it to her. She was absolutely unaware of King Manirath’s wicked intentions. On the other hand, the king thought that she was reciprocating positively as she had accepted all the gifts sent by him. He misunderstood her silence and thought that she too was as deeply in love with him as he was with her.
One day, Yugabahu went out of town for hunting and was supposed to come back in a week’s time. This gave Manirath a wonderful opportunity to send her a message through a stewardess. The message was, “I love you so much that I am ready to bestow all my property and kingdom at your feet. Yugabahu cannot provide you with all the happiness that power, money and a kingdom can bring to your feet. This is something, which only I can give you. You can achieve this blessing if only you consent to become my queen.”
Madanrekha was stunned, when she got this message about the implications of King Manirath’s selfish and heinous feelings. She then, said to the stewardess, “How dare you utter such insensible words? If you dare to repeat them in the future, your tongue shall be chopped off. Go and convey my message to Manirath. When he heard the message he was perplexed and became furious. He thought, “As long as, Yugabahu is alive, I cannot possess her and therefore, I should try to remove him from my way.” Thus, he began to make a plan that would ultimately lead to his brother’s death.
The opportunity he desired came eighteen days after this event. One day, Yugabahu and his wife were sitting in the garden and enjoying the pleasant weather. After sometime, Madanrekha got up to collect flowers from the garden to make a garland leaving Yugabahu relaxing all alone. Manirath was watching this scene from the buses behind. He thought that this was a golden opportunity to kill his Brother, who was relaxing alone in a solitary place. Taking advantage of the situation he struck him with his sword from behind. As a result, Yugabahu fell down wounded and Manirath fled away immediately. But it is impossible to escape from the justice of nature. While he was on his way home Manirath was bitten by a snake and fell dead. He died on the spot and went to hell.
When Madanrekha came back after gathering flowers, she noticed her husband’s body lying motionless on the on the ground, drenched in blood, taking his last breaths.
At first, she lost her balance of mind, unable to accept this harsh reality. She became still for a few moments, but quickly consoled and controlled herself, for she realized that the call of the hour was to act and not to sit in despair. She put Yagabahu’s head on her lap and requested him not to harbor any ill feeling towards his brother and also to detach himself from her and all worldly desires at this last hour. Listening to her words, he became calm and quiet and peacefully left for his heavenly abode.
Now, Madanrekha pondered for a while, thinking, “It is not safe for me to stay here any longer. Manirath can assault me physically, hence it is better to leave this place at once.” So, she just left the place without any plan about her destination. Actually, she had no knowledge of the fact that Manirath too, had died. She walked mile, passing through many village, but did not halt at any village as the people of the village recognized her. She was pregnant and after two days, she was completely exhausted due to hunger and thirst. She started experiencing pain in her womb. She looked for some shelter and soon. Found a small little empty cottage near a steam in a jungle. There, she gave birth to a baby. After resting for two or three hours, she felt a little relaxed. She got up and put a ring around the infant’s finger. Then, she laid him on a soft, big leaf and went to the river to drink some water and quench her thirst. Suddenly, she saw a mad elephant coming toward her, but she could not move or do any thing due to fear and shock. The elephant came up to her and caught her in its trunk and hurled her up in the sky. She screamed for help but, no one was there to help her.
At the moment, a Vidhyadhar called Maniprabha was flying in the sky. He saw Madanrekha screaming for help and her newly born baby crying alone in the cottage. He came down and rescued Madanrekha from the elephant. At first, he too, was taken aback by her beauty and started inquiring about her. She replied, “I don’t know my destination. What about you?” She asked him. He said, “I am going to visit Monk Manichur, well known for his ‘Gyaan’ and ‘Saadhanaa’.” On saying this, he realized that he had committed a great mistake in getting attracted to the beauty of this lady while he was going to visit a great Muni. He got rid of his evil tendencies and began regarding Madanrekha as his sister. Then, Madanrekha also decided to visit Muni Manichur with her son and all of them started moving towards their final destination. On reaching there, Maniprabha introduced Madanrekha and her son to the Muni. Madanrekha asked the Muni, “What about my son?” The Muni replied, “He will be adopted and taken away by King Padmaratha of Mithila within this week.” Hearing calm and peaceful. After three days, the king took her son with him as he had no child of his own. Now, Madanrekha wanted to be free from all worldly desires and pleasures and accepted initiation. And at last, her desire was fulfilled.
