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and then seven days he would not eat. It was bound to happen that he would disturb his whole system of digestion, and that's what happened. At the age of eighty-two his whole digestive system simply collapsed. He died, perhaps of a stomach ulcer, cancer, something -- nobody knows, but something to do with the stomach. The stomach simply failed to function. He was responsible; nobody else was responsible for it.
In the night, the Jaina monk cannot drink water -- and in a hot country like India, and the hottest part, Bihar.... Even in the hot summer, the moment the sun goes down nothing can go down into your stomach: no food, no water, nothing. And only one time you have to eat, and that too standing, not sitting, because that is too luxurious and comfortable. If he looks at my chair he will go mad, he will simply freak out!
He used to eat standing, and he cannot use anything, only his hands -- no pot, no utensils, nothing, because that is possession, and he does not possess anything. So he has to use his hands as a cup, and the food is given into his hands and he eats it. It is uncomfortable, very uncomfortable, because both hands are full, now how do you eat? I have tried and not succeeded... not really, just before a mirror, not with any food in my hands. But when your hands are both engaged in holding the food, then you have to eat just like an animal, directly from the mouth. He cannot eat much because he can only have his hands filled once. How much can he hold in his hands? He has to drink water that way. He was naked too. These were the qualities prescribed by the ancient tradition of Jainas for a tirthankara, and he was fulfilling each quality whatsoever the cost. The tirthankara cannot get food every day because in the morning, doing his meditation, he makes a note in his mind that, "today I will accept food at a certain house, only if certain conditions are fulfilled." Still, he can manage things... and he has to tell them to nobody: that two bananas should be hanging in the doorway, only then will he accept food, otherwise he will not accept it. Now, everybody can go bananas and nobody will be able to find any. So sometimes ten days will
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