| Gautama
accepted the wise suggestion and taking leave of the Rishi proceeded forth with to the
Brahmagiri. Here he started a tapa that was unequalled in severity. For some time he took
nothing else than leaves for food, then he discarded that also and took nothing else than
water. Soon he discarded that also and continued to keep body and soul together with
nothing more than air, practised 'vayu-bhakshan’. This penance lasted for
eighty-eight thousand years ! The news reached Ganga.
She was most unwilling to leave her most enviable position and she decided to obstruct the
rishi’s penance. She employed a patent trick. There was a well-proven path of
seducing the rishi. She sent several beautiful damsels to the rishi. They tried to attract
him towards them. All their art in singing and dancing proved utterly futile, so were
their wiles of enticing men useless. Nothing, would budge the sage from his determination
and concentration,
Then Ganga decided to make a supreme effort. There was one
Jatika, a maid cum- companion of Ganga. The maid had several super natural powers and was
extremely fond of her mistress. When she found Ganga uneasy, she offered to do whatever
she could to relieve her anxiety. Ganga asked her to approach the sage in the form of his
wife Ahalya and try to wreck the control the rishi had achieved over the physical
pleasures. |
