སྟག་རྣའ་རྟགས་པ་བརྗད་པ 3

3

When the venerable Ānanda had reached the outcaste house, he approached the ritual platform and stood by its side. He then cried out and wept, “I find myself in this dreadful predicament, and now the Blessed One does not take notice of me!”

At that very moment, however, the Blessed One took notice of the venerable Ānanda, and having taken notice of him, he immediately vanquished the mantras of the outcaste with the mantras of a perfectly awakened one. This was the formula:

Sthitir acyutiḥ anīti³⁶ svasti sarva­prāṇibhyaḥ |
saraḥ prasannaṃ nirdoṣaṃ praśāntaṃ sarvato ’bhayaṃ |
ītayo yatra śāmyanti bhayāni calitāni ca | taṃ vai devā namasyanti sarvasiddhāś ca yoginaḥ |
etena satyavākyena svasty ānandāya bhikṣave ||³⁷

Then, once the spell of the outcaste had been broken, the venerable Ānanda left the house of the outcastes and began to walk back to his monastery.

The outcaste girl Prakṛti saw this, and as she watched the venerable Ānanda going back, she said to her mother, “Mother, this ascetic Ānanda is going back!”

“Surely, my child,” said he mother, “the ascetic Gautama must have noticed him and countered my mantras.”

“But, mother,” replied Prakṛti, “do we not have mantras more powerful than those of the ascetic Gautama?”

“My child,” the mother replied, “we do not have mantras more powerful than those of the ascetic Gautama. Even mantras that are overpowering to the entire world,³⁸ my child, are all vanquished by the ascetic Gautama when he wishes, but the world does not have the power to counter the mantras of the ascetic Gautama. In this way the mantras of the ascetic Gautama are more powerful.”

The venerable Ānanda then arrived at where the Blessed One was. Having approached him, he venerated the Blessed One’s feet with his head and stood to one side.³⁹