Pramahajanaka (2)

To test the Great Being, she intoned the first stanza:
Who's that even though the coast is nowhere to be seen, is still swimming in the midst of the ocean waves? What mighty use do you see in striving to swim in this manner?
Then the Great Being opined: "To this morning, we have been swimming the ocean for seven days. All that time we have seen nary a soul as companion. Now, who is that speaking to me?" Looking up skywards, he saw Mani Mekhala. Therepon, he intoned the second staza:
O Goddess, we have reflected upon the worldly behaviour and the merits of perseverance. Thus, we conclude that, even through we do not see the shores, we still have to persist in our swimming in the wide ocean.
Mani Mekhala desiring to hear a further discourse from the Great Being, intoned another stanza:
The coast of the unfathomable ocean is assuredly not visible to you. Your heroic efforts are thus of no avail; you will be
Upon thes
Any individual who practices perseverance, even in the face of death, will not be in any debt to relatives or gods or father or mother. Furthermore, any individual who does his duty like a man, will enjoy Ultimate Peace in the future.
At this point, the goddess addressed the Great Being with this anza:
Any enterprise that is not achieved through perseverance, is fruitless; obstacles will occur. When any enterprise undertaken with such misdirected effort results in Death showing his face, what is the use of such enterprise and misdirected effort?
After Mani Mekhala had spoken in this manner, the Great Being, in order to convince the goddess completely, intoned the next anza, thus:
Hark o Goddess! Anyone who knows for sure that his activities will not meet with success, can be deemed to be doomed; if that one desists from perseverance in that way, he will surely receive the consequence of his indolence.
Hark o Goddess! Some people in this world

strive to get results for their endeavours even if they don't succeed.
Hark, o Goddess! You do see clearly the results of actions, don't you? All the others have drowned in the ocean; we alone, are still swimming and have seen you hovering near us. As for us, we are going to endeavour further to the utmost of our ability; we are going to strive like a man should to reach the shores of the ocean.
Having listened to the Great Being's convincing oration and to praise the Great Being, the goddess intoned the staza:
Anyone who is so full of righteous patience will never founder in the vast ocean that has no bounds. With this manly perseverance, you will be able to go wherever you wish.
After theses words, Mani Mekhala asked: "O Wise One, who has such determination, where could I take you?" When the Great Being as lightly as one would pick a bunch of flowers. She cradled him to her breast with her arms like one would one's dear child, flying up in the air.
As she did so she intoned an additional atnza:
O Wish One, thy meaningful words should not be lost in this wide empty expanse. Thou shouldst share with others the boon of enlightened wisdom that come from thy lips. When the time comes, thou shouldst establish an institute of high learning, called The Bodhiyalaya Great Wisdom Centre. Only on that day, whilst thou have fulfilled thy mission.
The word bodhiyalaya means the abode of enlightenment. The word mahavijjalaya means the abode of the great knowledge.
The Great Being was exhausted after seven days in the briny water. At the magic touch, he soon fell asleep. Then Mani Mekhala brought the Great Being to Mithila Nagara. She laid him down to sleep on his right side on a Propitious Stone slab in the Mango Grove. She delegated the duties of guarding the Great Being to local spirits in the Grove and she left for her own abode.
Sivali Devi who was an in
the courtiers asked King Polajanaka, as he was lying on his death bed: "You Majesty, after your demise, whom shall all of us entrust the throne to?"
The King answered: "All of you should entrust the throne to the one who would be able to please Sivali Devi our daughter, or to the one who would be able to tell which side is the head of the Square Throne, or to the one who would be able to string the Bow that requires the strength of a thousand men, or the one who would be able to discover the Sixteen Great treasures. All of you will entrust the throne to that one."
All the courtiers said: "Your Majesty, pray speak out the riddle of those treasures to all of us."
The King then spoke out the riddles about various things, and of all the treasures, thus:
These Sixteen Great Treasures are: the Treasure of the Rising sun, the treasure of the Setting Sun, the Treasure inside, the Treasure Outside, the Treasure which neither inside Nor Out side, the Treasure going Up, the Treasure at the Four Banyan Trees, e Treasure enclosed by the Circle One League Long, the Great Treasure at the End of the Pair of Tusks, the Treasure at the End of the Tail's hair, the Treasure in the Water, the Treasure at the Top of the Tree and the Bow which needs a Thousand Men to string.
Which side is the Head of the Square Throne and to please Sivail Rajadevi.
The King Polajanaka passed away to heaven. His body was cremated. After that, on the seventh day, all the courtiers had a meeting to consult about the King's wishes to entrust the throne to the one who would please the royal daughter.
(They gave the Chief Minister the first chance. He did not succeed and he came back humiliated. Others fared no better. Later, nobody was successful in the attempt to string the Thousandfold Bow. Nobody was able to tell which side was the Head of the Square Throne. And nobody was able to discover the Sixteen Treasures.)
The Privy Councillor said: "We should use the Grand Chariot. Because King who comes riding on the Grand Chariot will be able to reign over the whole of Jambudipa" The Grand Chariot went to the Mango Grove. did adexterambulation around the Propitious Stone and stopped near the Great Being.
All the people, the courtiers and the Privy Councillor included, hailed and crowned the Great Being on the spot.
Later the Great Being was able to solve King Polajanaka's four riddles; then asked if there were any other riddles; the courtiers said there were none.
All the people were overjoyed and elated; they said: "Oh, what a wonderment! This King is a real genius!"
Subsequently, the |King ordered that his Mother and the Brahmin be invited to come from Kalachapaka Nagara.
He organized a grand ceremony to pay his respects to them. All the people in the state of Videha were very excited and celebrated with a musical festival.
As the Grate Being, seated on his throne, was attending the function, he recalled his efforts in the ocean.
When he did so, he reflected that perseverance is an essential thing: had we not persevered in the ocean, we would not be on this throne.
As he was musing about perseverance, he felt elated and so imbued with happiness that he exclaimed:
....Things that we do not plan may happen. Things that we do plan may well meet with disaster. Wealth will not come to anybody by just dreaming about it.
From that time on, the Grate Being practiced the Ten Rules of Kingship. He reigned with righteousness. He supported all the hermit Buddhas.
Later, Queen Sivali Devi gave birth to a royal son who fulfDighavurajanakumara.
When Dighavuraj
One day, the Chief Park Tender brought to the King many different kinds of fruit of many sizes and various kinds of flowers.
Seeing all these, King Mahajanaka was very happy; he congratulated the Park Tender and said: "Look here, Chief Park Tender, we wish to see the Royal Park; go and prepare it." The Chief Park Tender acknowledged the royal wish, took action accordingly and informed the King.
The Grate Being, riding on the neck of the royal elephant, left the city with a long retinue and arrived the Park.
Near the gate, there was two mango trees with resplendent green foliage.
One of these had no fruit; the other had many. The fruit was extremely sweet. Nobody could pick the fruit from that tree because the King had not yet eaten the tasty fruit.
Seated on the neck the elephant, the Grate Being picked one fruit and tasted it. As it touched the tip of the Grate Being's tongue the fruit seemed like nectar.
The Grate Being thought: "We shall eat our fill on the way back," and entered the Royal Park.
The others, from the Viceroy to the elephant maahouts and the horse handlers, seeing that the King had already eaten the tasty fruit, all picked so,m;me and had their fill.
Still other who came in later, used sticks to break down branches; the tree was denuded of leaves; the tree was uprooted. The other mango tree still stood majestically as a mountain glistening like a gem.
The King came out of the Royal Park; seeing this spectacle, he asked the courtiers: " What is all this?"
The courtiers said: "The people, knowing that Your Majesty had already eaten the succulent fruit, fought among themselves to get a bite of that mango fruit."
The King asked: "The foliage and the resplendence of this tree are all gone, but the foliage and the resplendence of the yon tree are still intact.
How is it so?"
All the courtiers said: " The foliage and the resplendence of the other tree are not all gone because it bears no fruit."
The King, on hearing thus, felt very sad. .He mused: "That tree is still beautiful green, because it has no fruit, but this tree has been cut down and uprooted because it bore fruits.
The throne is like tree with fruits; peaceful retirement is like the tree without fruits. Danger lurks around the one with worries and does not menace the one without worries. We will not be like the tree with fruits; we will be like the one without fruit."
The King returned to the city and went to the palace. At the door of the palace, he paused for an instant and thought about what the Goddess Mani Mekhala had told him at the moment she picked him up from the sea.
The King could not remember the exact words, for he was exhausted and drowsy from the seven-day swimming in the briny water, but he knew that she had said he would not find the path to absolute happiness without sharing the wisdom he had found in the ocean.
Mani Mekhala had told him to establish an institute of high learning called the Pudalay Mahavijjalaya. Once he had fulfilled this mission, he could find the path to peaceful retirement.
The Grate Being thought: "Each one,may he a trader, a farmer, a king, or a priest, has his duty to do. Anyway, before anything else, we have to find a way to revive the fruitful mango tree."
So he summoned the chief minister and told him: "Go and invite the Brahmin to came here, together with a couple of his
Udicchabrahmana Mahsla promptly came, along with two disciples, Charutejobrahmana and Gajendra Singha Pandit.
Of these two, the first mentioned was an expert i
The moment the arrived, Gajendra Singha Panpit threw himself at the feet of the King and said: "Your humble servant is at fault; when the courtiers asked me to pick mangoes for the Viceroy, I used my new automatic fruit harvester, unwitting that it would uproot the mango tree. Your Majesty!"
The King said: " Do not despair, my God inventive man. The mango tree is down already. Now the problem is: how to restore the mango tree to its former state. We have nine methods for this; some of these could be usable.
first: culturing the seeds;
second: nursing the roots so they grow again;
third: culturing (cutting) the branches;
fourth: grafting on the other tree;
fifth: bud-grafting on the other tree;
sixth: splicing (approach grafting) the branches;
seventh: layering the branches;
eighth: smoking the fruitless tree, so that it bears fruit;
ninth: culturing the cells in a container.
Brahmana Mahasala, pray order your two disciples to study the problem and do the implementation."
Udicchabrahmana acknowledged the royal order by saying: "Your Eminent Majesty, Gajendra Singha will immediately bring the machine to raise the tree to its upright station. And Charutejo will collect the seeds and the branches to act according to the royal initiative.
The King ordered the two to hasten on their way, but bade the Brahmana Mahasala to stay on for further consultation.
When they were alone, the King told the Brahmin: "We have kept this to ourselves for a very long time, ever since the time we embarked for Suvarnabhumi. Just before the giant waves charged at the ship, we overheard saying : "Non, pudalay yak su kab pla lae tao. (pronounced: noun, bpoo tul-lay yuk soo gkub plar lae dtow." meaning : over there, a giant sea crab fights with fish and turtles.)" And they also said that whoever manages to step on that giant crab, will achieve greatness, provided he practises genuine perseverance."
The Brahmin said: " I have also heard of a story in this vein, but I do not know if there are such giant crabs."
The King spoke further: "There surely are. After jumping from the top of the mast into the sea beyond the fish and the turtles, we swam in the ocean. We rested from time to time. Sometimes we felt like treading on the sea floor, like being near the shore, the same feeling as the sixth individual among the Seven Individuals (in the Fifth Udakupamasutta). In fact, it was the Giant Sea Crab." The Brahmin said: "Really, that was great merit of your perseverance."
The King continued: "As the Goddess Mani Mekhala picked us up from the sea, she said: "Thou shouldst share with others the boon of enlightened wisdom." When time comes thou shouldst establish an institute of high learning. At that time we were exhausted and dazed; so we thought we heard we should name the institute after the sea crab which is called 'Pudalay' in Suvarnabhumic language. Now we are not sure of the name; please, great teacher, voice your thoughts."
The Brahmin said: "In my humble opinion, the Goddess must have said 'Bodhiyalaya', the same name as the Hermits' Institute in the Jetavana Temple, in Devamahanagara, Suvarnabhumi. But if the institute is called the 'Pudalay Mahavijjalaya', it would be quite adequate."
The King said: "thank you, dear teacher. We are sure that time has come to establish th
From the Viceroy down to the elephant mahouts and the horse handlers, and up from the horse handler
They lack not only technical knowledge but also common knowledge, i.e. common sense: they do not even know what is good for them. They like mangoes, but they destroy the good mango tree."
The Brahmin supported the idea; he said: "Wise King, do not have to worry; I still have some good dependable and The Pudalay Mahavijjalaya will be established. Mithila is not yet at a loss for good people!"

By King Bhumibol Adulyadej(the ninth monarch of the Royal House of chak)