Muni Kishan Lal
Chakravarti Brahma Dutt was holding court one afternoon. One street player prayed that he be allowed to stage a dance drama. The king agreed. The dance drama commenced. At that time one of the employees of the court offered a garland. The king heard the song of the bees and saw the drama. There was lot of humour and fun. The king felt a kind of a feeling of already experienced the present situation. He felt that he had seen this earlier. He tried to concentrate on the where... his aura started getting clear and he was able to through iha apoha margana and gaveshna recollect his past life. He recalled that he had seen this kind of dance drama in the Saudharma heaven in a celestial place. The moment he recalled the incidents he fell fainted. Ministers immediately tried to revive him by sprinkling cold water and sandal paste. This cooled him down. He regained his consciousness. The king got back his composure. He thought of his friend of the previous birth and felt an urgency to meet him. He created a sloka: aasva daso mrigo hansou matangavamarou tatha... The king then declared, "The one who will complete this couplet will be given half the kingdom."
So famous did this line of the couplet become that it was on everyone's lips. Many scholars tried to complete the couplet but could not.
Chitt was reborn in the family of a Seth (businessman) in the city of Purimtal. When he reached adolescence he gradually recalled the incidents of his previous birth. He felt that this world is transient. He preferred to lead the life of an ascetic. Being a monk he started visiting village after village. He was enchanted by the beautiful garden at Kampilpur city. He heard a farmer reciting the first line of the 'shloka' while running the watering wheel. The moment the monk heard it he remembered all the incidents of his previous birth. He immediately completed the couplet by reciting the second line -
"aisa nao shashtikaha jaatihi anyonyabhyam viyuktayaho"
The farmer who was operating the watering wheel memorized it. He thought that he could get the half the kingdom as promised by the king by completing the second line of the couplet. On getting the consent of the king he recited the shloka -
aasva daso mrgow hansow matangavmarow tatha aisa nao shashtikaha jaatihi anyonyabhyam viyuktayaho
The moment the king heard the (shloka) couplet he fainted again. The ministers were very angry. They wanted to punish the farmer because he completed the couplet in such a way that the king had fainted. Fearing the punishment the farmer said that the second line of the couplet was completed by a monk and that he had memorized it and thus recited in the durbar.
When the king regained his consciousness he went straight to the garden to meet the monk. On seeing the monk he could recognize his friend of last birth. The monk gave him a discourse on 'karma' that is good deeds and explained that by continuing to do good deeds the human birth is possible. Man has to undergo problems, difficulties, miseries or comfort according to one's deeds in the previous birth. He said, "O King, know that these luxuries of worldly pleasures are transient, destructible and mortal. You should concentrate on doing good." But the king was so enamoured by his luxurious life that he could not sacrifice them for a life of purity and righteousness. He was lost in the worldly pleasures. Then he was drawn to the hell whereas the monk continued with his penance and meditation. Since he led the life of purity, penance and meditation he attained salvation. He became enlightened.
