z:\ ambedkar\vol 011\vol11 07.indd MK SJ+YS 5 10 2013/YS 18 11 2013 525
FRIENDS AND ADMIRERS
525
T his was done, and early that day the Lord, duly robed and bowl in hand, came to the palace where the prince was awaiting him, outside the portals.
Seeing the Lord approaching, the prince advanced and saluted him and moved in his train towards the palace.
At the foot of the stairs the Lord stood still. Said the prince: “I beg the Lord to step up on the carpeting; I beg the Blessed One to do this,—to my abiding weal and welfare.” But the Lord kept silent.
A second time did the prince appeal, and still the Lord kept silent. A third time he appealed, and now the Lord looked towards Ananda.
Ananda understood what the trouble was and asked that the carpeting should be rolled up and removed for the Lord would not tread upon it as he is looking to those that shall follow hereafter.
So the prince ordered the carpeting to be rolled up and removed, after which he ordered seats to be set out upstairs in the palace.
The Lord then proceeding upstairs, sat down on the seat set for him, with the confraternity.
The prince with his own hand served that excellent meal without stint to the Lord and the confraternity.
The Lord’s meal over and done, Prince Bodhi, seating himself on a low seat to one side, said to the Lord: “ My view, sir, is that true weal must be sought not through things pleasant but through things unpleasant.”
“In days gone by, Prince,” said the Blessed One, “ I too held the same view in the days before my enlightenment. Time was when being quite young—with a wealth of coal-black hair and in all the beauty of my early prime—despite the wishes of my parents who wept and lamented, I cut off hair and beard, donned the yellow robes and went forth from home to homelessness as a pilgrim. A pilgrim now, in quest of the Good and in search for the road to that utter peace which is beyond all compare.
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