Life of Bhagwan Mahavir
The First Years Alone
The First Years Alone is a Jain story from the Life of Bhagwan Mahavir collection about patience, compassion, forgiveness, self-reliance and anger overcome. A new monk walks out of the park alone, and the world begins to test him: a beggar who missed the year of giving, a cowherd who wants his bullocks, a hut whose roof the cattle eat, a yaksha who has killed every traveller who slept in his temple, and a serpent whose look is poison. Then, in a weaver's shed at Nalanda, a restless young man decides to follow him. The third of six long reads on the life of Bhagwan Mahavir, told the way Acharya Hemachandra and the Kalpa Sutra tell it.
| Teaches | Patience, Compassion, Forgiveness, Self-reliance, Anger overcome |
|---|---|
| Collection | Life of Bhagwan Mahavir |
| Tellings | The full story (20 min) |
| Who it suits | For grown-ups |
| Tradition | Shvetambar telling |
| Thought to keep | He gave away half of the last thing he owned, and he turned down the one protection he was offered. |
Read the opening of The First Years Alone
The opening of the story
The winter afternoon was turning towards evening when Bhagwan Mahavir walked out of the park of the Jnat clan. He had taken leave of his brother Nandivardhan, and now there was no one beside him. He was barefoot, with no ornament anywhere on his body, and he owned one thing in the world: the fine divine cloth that Indra had laid on his left shoulder. He walked slowly, his eyes on the ground a few steps ahead, so that no small creature would be hurt by his feet.
He had not gone far when an old Brahmin came hurrying after him, out of breath. His name was Soma, and he had once been a friend of King Siddharth. He folded his hands. "Lord," he said, "for a whole year you gave to everyone who came, and the whole country grew rich. Everyone except me. I have been poor since the day I was born. I was away begging in other villages all through your year of giving, and I never even heard of it. My wife has scolded me all the way here. Have pity on me. Give me something."
Read the whole story of The First Years Alone See plans
What The First Years Alone teaches
Values Patience Compassion Forgiveness Self-reliance Anger overcome
To carry into the day
He gave away half of the last thing he owned, and he turned down the one protection he was offered.
To talk about together
At Morak he left rather than be the cause of other people's anger. When is stepping away the kindest thing we can do?
Sources
Retold for JainStory from the traditional story and checked against 3 published sources: