IV
334 [DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES]
had come to reside at Toranavatthu. And on seeing her he went back to the Rajah Pasenadi of Kosala, and said :—
“Your Majesty, there is no recluse or brahmin in Toranavatthu such that your majesty can wait upon him. But, your majesty, there is a sister named Khema, a woman-disciple of that Exalted One. Now of this lady a lovely rumour has gone abroad, that she is sage, accomplished, shrewd, widely learned, a brilliant talker, of goodly ready wit. Let your majesty wait upon her.”
So the Rajah Pasenadi of Kosala went to visit the sister Khema, and on coming to her saluted and sat down at one side. So seated he said to her :—
“How say you, lady ? Does the Tathagata exist after death ?”
“That also, maharajah is not revealed by the Exalted One.”
“How then, lady ? When asked ‘Does the Tathagata exist after death ?’ you reply, “That is not revealed by the Exalted One,’ and, when I ask . . . the other questions, you make the same reply. Pray, lady, what is the reason, what is the cause, why this thing is not revealed by the Exalted One ?”
“Now in this matter, maharajah, I will question you. Do you reply as you think fit. Now how say you, maharajah ? Have you some accountant, some ready reckoner or calculator, able to count the sand in Ganges, thus : There are so many hundred grains, or so many thousand grains, or so many hundreds of thousands of grains of sand ?”
“No, indeed, lady.”
“Then have you some accountant, ready reckoner or calculator able to reckon the water in the mighty ocean, thus : There are so many gallons of water, so many hundreds, so many thousands, so many hundreds of thousand gallons of water ?”
“No, indeed, lady.”
“How is that ?”
“Mighty is the ocean, lady, deep, boundless, unfathomable.”