64Charbaripa

One day, in the city of Magadha, the head of the family of a wealthy herdsman passed away. To honor the deceased man, his son held a great feast which lasted for many days. On one occasion when everyone went to bathe in the River Ganges, except for the young man’s wife who stayed home with her 3 year old child to watch over things. During this time, the guru Caparipa appeared and asked for food. The woman was honest and expressed she may be scolded for doing so. In reply, Caparipa said to find him in the forest if anyone became angry. She listened to the guru and offered him food and drinks.

When her mother-in-law returned and saw most of the food was gone, she was scolded, and out of anger, she carried her child and fled to the yogin. When she arrived, the yogin said “Very good!” and sprinkled mantra water which turned both mother and child into stone – so that they would not need anything else anymore. When the relatives realized she was missing, one by one came in search for her only to be turned into stone, in total, there were about 300 of them.

The child of that woman had certain qualities: the siddhis of the dakas, the power to transform things into gold and even produce the elixir of immortality. The family became famous, and the king of Campaka, out of faith, built a temple to the three: the child, and the husband and wife. He then built another temple to the other 300 called “Many-named.” Those who have ill thoughts cannot enter the temple; if they do, the images will beat them or worse.

This temple became a center of practice, and it is said that even now, many yogins reside there as the place hasten one’s practice results. One can attain the worldly siddhis there, and while waiting for the appearance of the Victorious One, Maitreya, one can work for the benefit of living beings.

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