Tirthankar Mahavir and His Sarvodaya Tirth

Author(s): Hukamchand Bharilla, K C Lalwani
Publisher: Kundkund Kahan Digambar Jain Trust
Catalog link: https://jainqq.org/explore/011113/1

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TIRTHANKARA MAHAVIRA
AND HIS
SARVODAYA TIRTHA
DR. HUKAMCHAND BHARILL, M.A.,Ph.D. Shastri, Nyaythirtha, Sahityaratna
Translated by:
KASTURCHAND LALWANI
दि०जन तीर्थ
कहान
श्री कुन्दकुन्द
प्रकाशन विभाग
सुरक्षा ट्रस्ट •
Published by:
SHRI KUNDKUND-KAHAN DIGAMBAR JAIN TIRTHA SURAKSHA TRUST
Bombay-400 002

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limizes the OM RuangcrNEmeNprOne & ulle oron Ruandamurierouwautotu
NKT AANRien diwrvenpferuar
24
© Author Published in other Languages : Hindi (Sixth Editions )—40,000 copies Gujrati ( Second Edition )—2,500 Copies Marathi—2,500 copies
PRICE : Rs. 12/
Can be had from : PANDIT TODARMAL SMARAK TRUST A-4, Bapu Nagar, Jaipur-302 004 Phone : 63581
Shri Surendra Kumar Jain 12, New Colony, Near Jain Temple Model Basti, Delhi-110 005 Phone : 515253
Printed at : H. B. Printing Company 13, Bhupen Bose Avenue, Calcutta-700004. Phone : 55-0678

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UR
Dedicated most humbly to Reverend burudev Shri Kanji Swami, by whose SupremeGrilece
I have been made, what I am today! ! hello
A. SAGAR 27. LADY MADHAVAN ROAD 1 - Hukam Chandnarill
MAHALINGAPURAM MADRAS-600 034 8270356

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Publisher's Note
Sri Kundakunda Kahan Digambara Jaina Tirtha Suraksa Trust has the great pleasure in presenting the English version of Dr. Hukumchand Bharill's popular Hindi work entitled 'Tirthankar Mahāvir aur Unka Sarvodaya Tirtha' on the occasion of the 1000th annivery of Sri 1008 Bhagavan Bahuvali
The important decision to found the said Trust was taken on the occasion of the pancakalyanaka celebrations for the Sri Mahavira Kundakunda Paramagama Temple at Songad on the great occasion of the 2500th Nirvana Anniversary of Bhagavan Mahavira under the inspiring guidance and auspicions blessings of the late revered Gurudeva Sri Kanji Swami.
The said Trust has made a place for itself in the Digambara Jaina community within a short period of five years. By the blessing of the revered Gurudeva, this Trust has received the unqualified support of the entire Digambara Jaina Community in general and of people covetous of liberation in particular, so that it was decided to collect a sum of Rs. 1,00,00,000 and the work is steadily progressing Already promises have been received for Rs 75,00,000 and it is expected that the target will soon be reached.
The main object of this Trust is not only to protect the Digambara Jaina holy places from natural and nonnatural calamities, but also to protect the words of the Jinas which are like living holy places; to organise research and study and to prepare scholars who may become specialists in the Jaina texts.
In this connection, the activities organised by the Trust have been given later in this note.

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On the occasion of the 1000th anniversary of Sri 1008 Gommatesvar Bhagavan Bahuvali, the Trust has taken a decision to take the words of the Jinas to the knowledge of the widest possible public by publishing them in Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, Kannad, Tamil and English. With this end in view, the Trust has started a publication division of its own and it is intended that on the occasion of this 1000th anniversary of Bhagavan Bahuvali, a bookstall will be opened in Sravana Belgola wherefrom this pious literature will be distributed at cost price or at a subsidised price. For this purpose, the Trust is going to spend Rs. 5,00,000.
present work is being published under this scheme.
In this pious land of Bharata, 2507 years ago, lakhs of worldly beings had heard the divine sound of the last Tirthankara Bhagavan Mahavira revealing the path to liberation and became the followers of Vitaraga Dharma Only seven years back, not only in India, but all over the world bis 2500th Nirvana Anniversary was celebrated with great enthusiasm.
On that auspicious occasion, there had been much constructive activities in the country, of which one important activity had been the publication of analytical works on the life and doctrines of Bhagavan Mahavira
Although all this was praiseworthy authentic literature of a high standard was still rare. Besides, some unauthentic and irrelevant literature also got published. Two factors were responsible for this, viz., first, lack of adequate knowledge about the doctrines propounded by Mahavira and second, the exuberance of excessive modernity and unnatural synthesis.
On that auspicious occasion, the Pandit Todarmal Trust under the guidance of the spiritual personality of Sri Kanji Swami also took a decision at the celebration of Sri Jina Bimba Pancakalyanaka at Fatehpur (Gujarat) to publish a standard work in Hindi throwing light on the life and doctrines of Bhagavan Mahavira.

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With that end in view, Dr. Hukumchand Bharill was requested to undertake the responsibility which he gladly accepted He started the work with full vigour after March, 1974
Despite his multifarious responsibilities and activities pertaining to Pandit Todarmal Smarak Trust, Dr. Bharill worked day and night without bothering about the strain on his health and produced a beautiful and authentic work ‘Bhagavān Mahavira aur Unkā Sarvodaya Tirtha within a short space of six or seven months.
The book has two parts. Part One has a very interesting account of the previous and present lives of Bhagavan Mahavira which will be found useful by the readers. Along with this is given the background from Bhagavan Risabhadeva till Parsvanatha
Part Two presents an interesting discussion on the road to liberation as propounded by Mahavira. The discussion is analytical as well as intelligible. This is followed by discussion on very serious and thought-proroking topics like anekānta and syādvada on the one hand and on the other by a devotional topic like deva-śāstra-guru and a spiritual topic like the science of differentiation. These have been duly illustrated so that they may go deep down the heart of the reader Though from cover to cover one meets with the originality of the writer, yet at every place it follows the preachings of the Jinas.
The central focus of the teaching of Mahavira, viz., the soul has nowhere been lost, nomatter whether it is a historical account or an analytical discussion.
At the end of the two parts, there is a conclusion wherein the doctrines of Mahavira have been viewed in the present day context and their practical usefulness highlighted.
The conclusion has been followed by appendix on ahimsā. Ahimsā has been thoroughly reviewed in the light of the Jaina texts

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as it happens to be the most widely discussed topic connected with the name of MahaviraIt has been relegated to the appendix in order to attract the greatest possible attention of the readers and to refute many wrong and misguided views about it with due authority and proof which was not possible in the text
Thus no effort has been spared to make the text perfect. In our considered view, this objective has been fulfilled. It is our sincere desire that this book reaches everybody and they broaden the path of their own welfare through its reading
In the present age, the late revered Gurudeva Sri Kanji Swami has rendered a great service by giving a logical and intelligible interpretation of the doctrines of Bhagavan Mahavira This has had a great impact Although Gurudeva 50 Sri is no longer with us, the doctrines propounded by him will continue for ages to come, and he will remain immortal as a spiritual consciousness He has done the greatest good to us and by accepting the Right faith, Right knowledge and Right conduct as propounded
n, we can repay the debt of our gratitude of this monumental work, 50,000 copies have been printed in Hindi, 5,000 in Kannad, 2,500 in Marathi and 2,500 in Gujarati.
On the occasion of the 2500 th Nirvana Anniversary of Bhagavan Mahavira, the author of this great work was honoured by a lavish gift of Rs 25,000 by the Mumuksu Mandal of Uttar Pradesh, which the beneficiary, due to his interent magnanimity, donated for the use of further publication.
Thanks are due to innumerable persons who are somehow or other connected with this publication May all of them correctly understand the road to liberation propounded by Bhagavan Mahavira and turn themselves in Bhagavans.
Thanks are also due to the English translator Who had translated it in a very short span of time for the occasion
President and Members
Sri Kundkund Kahan Digambara Jain Tirtha Suraksha Trust,
Bombay

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TRADITION AND BACKGROUND
Bhagavan Mahavira did not start any new religion. Whatever he had said had existed from an eternal time, it is, in fact, permanent, He did not establish a religion; he simply reopened it Not religion, but faith in it which had withered away was restored by him Religion is the naiure of a thing 1 The nature of a thing cannot be a matter of creation How can it be the nature when it can be created It can only be known According to Bhagavan Mahavira, one who can remain apart from the ego of authority and mineness of self, and yet know in full 'self' and 'others' is a Bhagavan A Bhagavan is not the creator-upholder of the universe, he is its knower and seer to the full One who having known the entire universe can remain fully detached to it, or can know it with full non-involvement is a Bhagavan A Tirthankara knows the nature of a thing, unfolds it, but does not create it
Bhagavan Mahavira was a Tirthankara; he started the Tirthareligion which is a means to cross through the worldly ocean One who can start a Tirtha like this by dint of which one may cross through the worldly ocean and help others to do so is a Tirthankara In the land of Bharata, Bhagavan Mahavira was the 24th and last Tirthankara of this age He was preceded by 23 other Tirthankaras starting with Risabhadeva about whom details are available in the Jaina Purānas
While viewing the time-cycle, no part of it is separated from the tradition For, if it is done, then various inconsistencies become visible in it Although the revelation of the past is the task of the historians, a few historians cannot do justice to this work wherein involved are the oldest cultuie, civilisation and then contemporary environment in the aggregate To throw light on the environment the earliest Pauranic tradition has to be accepted as the base But in the case of Tirthankara Bhagavan Mahavira, we have the necessaiy historical material to lend support to the previous tradition and background Even before him, the 23rd Tirthankara Parsvanatha,
1 Kārtikeyānuprek sa, Gatha 476.

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TIRTHANKARA MAHAVIRA AND HIS SARVODAYA TIRTHA
the 22nd Neminatha and the 21st Naminatha have been recognised by history as towering personalities
The kāyotsarga posture of Yogisvara Risabha found in the ruins of Mahenjo-daro has compelled the historians to think as far back as the first Tirthankara Risabhadeva On this, the wellknown historian and poet Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar' writes as follows:
“In the excavations at Mahenjo-daro, there is ample evidence about the existence of yoga and the tradition of yoga and vairāgya (detachment) is as much linked with the name of Risabhadeva of the Jaina path as Sakti is with Siva in the Hindu tradition. For this reason, it is not unreasonable for some Jaina scholars to suggest that even though Risabhadeva has been noticed in the Vedas, he is pre-Veda "2
The antiquity of the Jaina religious tradition and the Tirthankaras has been clearly noticed at several places in the earliest works of the Vedic tradition, the Vedas and the Purānas In this context, the following quotation from Dr. Radhakrishnan is worthy of note:
“There is evidence to show that so far back as the first Century B.C. there were people who were worshipping Risabhadeva, the first Tirthankara. There is no doubt that Jainism prevailed even before Vardhamana or Parsvanatha. The Yajurveda mentions the names of three Tırthankaras_Risabha, Ajitanatha and Aristanemi. The Bhāgavat Purāna endorses the view that Risabha was the founder of Jainism "3
Prof. Virupaksa Wadiyar, while presenting the cause of the mention of the Jaina Tirthankaras in the Vedas, writes:
"The naturalist Marici was a close relation of Risabhadeva ..... The hymns written by him are to be found in the Vedas, the Purānas and other texts, and at places therein, he has mentioned the Tirthankaras. There is no reason then not to admit the existence of Jainism during the Vedic period.4
2 Al-Kal, March, 1962, p 8 3 Indian Philosophy, VoII, p 287 4 Mahavira Jayanti Smārika (Souvenir), 1964, p. 42

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TRADITION AND BACKGROUND
The Bhāgavat Purāṇa has noticed Risabhadeva with great respect To quote
د
"For running the administration of the world, Risabhadeva placed his son Bharata on the throne, and himself became completely detached to propagate bhakti (devotion), jnana (knowledge) and vairagya (detachment), the religion of the great Seers (Paramahansas) who themselves had attained the height of non-involvement and detachment."5
Dr Budhprakash, D.Litt., writes in his book Indian Religion and Culture in part, as follows:
In the list of a thousand names of Visnu contain the Mahabharata are included Sreyansa, Ananta, Dharma, Santi and Sambhava, and in that of Siva are included Risabha, Ajita, Ananta and Dharma Both Visnu and Siva have been given a name as Subrata All these are the names of the Tirthankaras seein that in the atmosphere of synthesis of the Mahabharata, effort was made to present the Tirthankaras as Visnu and Siva and thus establish the religious unity in the country This shows that the tradition of the Tirthankaras is very old.""
Major-General J C R Furlong, in his book, The Short Study in Science of Comparative Religion, writes:
"Innumerable number of years prior to Jesus Christ, Jainism was widely spread in India When the Aryans had reached Central India, thev found that the Jainas were already there "7
Expressing his views on 'Jainism in Bihar', P C Roy Choudhury
writes:
"Some modern writers have indulged in a common-place error by writing that Jainism was born out of the widespread discontent against the Brahmanical religion This wrong notion originated another which was that Vardhamana Mahavira was the founder
5 Srimad Bhagavat, 5/5/28
6 Tirthankara Vardhamana, p 15
7 Jain Dharm, p 11.

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4
TIRTHANKARA MAHAVIRA AND HIS SARVODAYA TIRTHA
of Jainism This is factually wrong. Jainism had originated earlier and was fairly widespread, and Mahavira helped it to spread further, and this is the reason why such a wrong notion was entertained by some reputed scholars "8
Not only Mahavira, not even the first Tirthankara Risabhadeva, was the founder of Jainism It is not the function of a Bhagavan to propound a religion, rather, sheltered in religion, the Soul is elevated to the status of Paramatman (Bhagavan). According to the Jaina belief, Bhagavans may be infinite in number, but in a single age, in the land of Bharata, the number of Tirthankaras is 24 only. Every Tirthankara is of necessity a Bhagavan, but not vice versa. One may become a Bhagavan without becoming a Tirthankara
Taking into consideration all times and all regions, even the Tirthankaras are infinite in number. Innumerable Tirthankaras have appeared before Risabha, and in Videha and other regions, they continue to appear. To understand this phenomenon, we must turn to the time-cycle as propounded by Mahavira.
Time Cycle
Though as an object, the universe is eternal, yet as a category, it is ever changing There is no hidden divine power in or beyond the universe which can regulate the change, and yet the change is not disorderly It is an order without a regulator; it is a law without a lawmaker. Each object is itself the regulator of its own change Time is only a tool in the change.
Time repeats, and this is a natural law as well as a scientific arangement. As day and night, fortnight and month, season and year change, so do centuries, millennia, even an immensely large time, because of some natural laws In this eternal flow of time, there are up-phases and down-phases called Utsarpini and Avasarpini in the Jaina terminology. As the Utsarpini phase waxes and expands, so the Avasarpini wanes and gradually recedes. In the Utsarpinī phase, the strength, longivity and body size gradually increase, as they gradually diminish in the Avasarpiņi phase Thus if Utsarpini
8 Mahavira Jayanti Smarikā (Souvenir) 1968, p 128.

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TRADITION AND BACKGROUND
stands for growth, Avasarpınī stands for decline. Each phase, Utsarpini and Avasarpiņā, has a length of a Kodā-kodī Sāgar (inconceivably long number of years), and twenty such Kodā-kodī Sāgaras make one Kalpa. There appear two-times 24 Tirthankaras in each Kalpa. Avasarpini has six divisions called (1) Sukhma-Sukhmā, (2) Sukhmā, (3) Sukhma-Duhkhmā, (4) Duhkhmā-Sukhmā, (5) Duhkhmā, (6) DuhkhmaDuhkhmā. (Sukhmā stands for the bracing phase, Duhkhmã stands for the non-bracing phase.) Likewise, Utsarpinā has six divisions as follws: (6) Duhkhmā-Duhkhmā, (5) Duhkhmā, (4) Duhkhmā-Sukhmā, (3) Sukhmā-Duhkhmā, (2) Sukhmā, (1) Sukhma-Sukhmā.
The names of these time divisions indicate the extent of pleasure and pain in each. Here the word 'pleasure' is used in the worldly sense Upto the third time division in the first group, the dominant feature is pleasure, so that there is hardly any occasion for spiritual growth The Tırthankaras appear in the fourth division and the road to liberation opens only then From this angle, the fourth division is very important Fourteen Kulakaras appear at the end of the third division and 63 Salaka-purusas (Spoke-men-Pathgivers) in the fourth division who are as follows:
Tırthankaras 24, Cakravartis 12, Narayanas 9, Prati-Narayanas 9 and Balabhadras 9
The present time-phase is the fifth time-division of the Avasarpini. In this phase, neither the Kulakaras appear, nor the 63 Spoke-men. Nor is any one libei ated in this phase The 63 Spoke-men of the fourth division, particularly their character, is the subject matter of the Jaina Purānas. in this manner, an infinite number of Kalpas are buried in the past, and an infinite number will blossom in future. Accordingly the group of the 24 Tirthankaras one after another had been born an infinite number of times in this land of Bharata, and similar groups will be born an infinite number of times in future A similar arrangement exists in the land of Airavata The state of things is somewhat different in Videha, because there it is always similar to that in the fourth division
According to the Jaina geography, of the innumerable isles and oceans in the central part of the universe, human beings exist only in the two isles and a half; and so the Tirthankaras may appear in these two and a half isles The expanse in the first of these latter

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6
TIRTHANKARA MAHAVIRA AND HIS SARVODAYA TIRTHA
isles called Jambudvipa is one lakh yojanas, containing seven gions, viz., Bharata, Haimavata, Hari, Videha, Ramyaka, Hairanyavata and Airavata To know the details of these, one need have the deep knowledge and study of the Jaina Agamas. It is superfluous to reproduce the description here.
re
Although taking into consideration the current Avasarpiņī, it has been said that Mahavira was the twentyfourth and last Tirthankara of the land of Bharata. Yet, taking a view of the aggregate, he can neither be given a definite nor be called last. As it is said.
kālo hyayam niravadhi vipula ca prthvi
Time takes no limit, and the world is very big.
In the first, second and third time-divisions, the arrangement is that of a land of pleasure (bhogabhumi), the order of pleasure being maximum, middle and minimum, but all the same the dominant note is pleasure. Everyone is well-supplied with objects of pleasure through the medium of the Kaipa trees. Thus though the life is full of joy, from a spiritual angle, the road to its full growth is, in a sense, closed. The fourth division sees the emergence of a land of spiritual action (karmabhumi). The easy realisation of pleasure gradually tends to cease and livehood calls for more effort and pain, but the door of opportunity to spiritual growth widely opens. At the end of the third division, the fourteen Kualkaras train the common folks in the affairs of a land of spiritual appear and action. The fourteenth Kulakara of the piesent Avasarpini was king Nabhiraya. By the time of his appearance, when the third division had virtually closed, the land of pleasure was getting transformed into a land of spiritual action.
Risabhadeva
The first Tirthankara Risabhadeva was born in the city of Ayodhya from the womb of queen Marudevi, the consort of the 14th Kulakara, king Nabhiraya. Exceptionally talented by birth, he belonged to the race of Iksvaku. He was enthroned after
9 Bhavabhuti, Malati-Madhava.

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TRADITION AND BACKGROUND
to earn eheir liveshold
Nabhiraya. During his rule, he initiated many works of public interest for his subjects and taught them to earn their livelihood by dint of six types of activities, such as, sword, pen, farming, technology, commerce and craft 10 Since life had become difficult in the absence of the Kalpa trees, which had started disappearing with the land of pleasures, some alternative arrangements were essential to avoid the tension arising out of the difficulty in earning livelihood With the emergence of the land of spiritual activity (karmabhumi) all necessary arrangements were initiated by king Risabhadeva, for which he was given diverse names, such as, Prajapati, Brahma, Vidhata, Adipurusa, etc.
As prince, Risabhadeva was married and had two wives, Yasasvati and Sunanda Yasasvati had a second name which was Nanda Risabhadeva had 101 sons and 2 daughters. Queen Yasasvatı gave birth to 100 sons starting with Bharata and one daughter named Brahmi. Sunanda gave birth to a boy named Bahubali and a girl named Sundari.
On the one hand, he trained his sons in difficult skills like fighting, on the other he trained his two daughters, Brahmi and Sundari, in the science of letters and the science of numerals respectively. The Brahmi script, named after the princess had been widely used in our ancient inscriptions. Regarding this Brahmi script, Dr Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar' writes:
"All Dravidian languages have their genesis in the Brahmi Script ......According to the well-known Jaina tradition in South India, Brahmi was the daughter of Risabhadeva It was Risabhadeva who was the inventor of 18 scripts of which one became Kannada."11
Although the word 'vidyā' has a wide connotation, in the field of learning, it has many branches other than letters and numerals Inspite of that, at the present time, vidyā includes those branches wherein numerals and letters are in wide use.
10 prajāpatıryah prathamam jijīvişuh śaśasa křşyadısu karmasu prajah-Acarya
Samantabhadra, Svayambhu Stotra 11 Samskytı-ke Car Adhyāya, p. 44.

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TIRTHANKARA MAHAVIRA AND HIS SARVODAYA TIRTHA
Those who know these are considered to be educated, and the rest uneducated, even though the latter may have expertise in their own fields Education today stand for education in letters and numerals In the field of education, women are still lagging behind Though female education has been much publicised, and propagated in these years, even then the situation has been far from satisfactory and it has not brought women at par with men. It was further pitiable 50 or 60 years ago It is considered to be a matter of good luck if out of a lakh of women, a few are gifted with education It is not the function of women to acquire education Such an ideology has been the main factor which has prevented and hampered the growth of female education. It was Risabhadeva who first imparted education to his daughters. This shouid clearly indicale the attitude of the Jainas to female education.
One day (the ninth day of the dark half of Caitra), king Risabhadeva was seated on his throne surrounded by hundreds of kings and the dance by the nymph (apsarā) Nilanjana was in progress Risabhadeva and other members of the illustrious asseembly were delighted by the dance, but ill-luck prevailing, her life-span was over just then, so that Indra at once replaced her by another similar divine dancer. Although Indra had done all this with skill and speed so that none else could perceive the change, but it did not escape the penetrating vision of Risabhadeva As soon as he realised the transitoriness of the worldly life, his attachment for it faded and he was full of detacmhent He decided to be initiated in the Digambara order.
As soon as the Lokantika gods came to know this, they gave full approval to this desire of Risabhadeva Though the relatives and other members of the royal household tried very humbly to desist him from his resolve, they could not make him sway from his pious resolve Ultimately, he abdicated and enthroned Bharata in Ayodhya and Bahubali at Podanapura, and became a monk
Along with him, about four hundred kings joined the Digambara order as monks They followed the king because

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TRADITION AND BACKGROUND
of their emotional attachment for him rather than their faith When monk Risabha steeped in meditation, he remained meditating for six months continuously Likewise fortitude and heroism was absent in these kings who had in a moment of enthusiasm assumed the role of a monk They were very much disturbed by hunger and thirst Risabhadeva was mute all the time and other monks did not have anyone to guide them In fact, before initiation, they had not taken the permission of Risabhadeva Being deeply immersed in meditation, Risabhadeva had no idea about the predicament of these monks. In the end, these monks had to satisfy their hunger by taking wild vegetation and they began to dress according to their own imagination,
In this manner, bad saintliness and bad religion got started with good saintliness and good religion in the land of enjoyment all living beings attain heaven as devas after death, but with the emergence of the land of spiritual activity, wherefrom started the road to liberation, as also opened the road to four-fold existence. Among those four thousand who had deviated from the right path, there was one Marici who, having passed through many good and bad lives ultimately ended as the final Tirthankara Mahavira.
When after six months, the meditation of monk Risabhadeva ended, he went out to collect food, but because of the emergence
the land of spiritual activity, none knew how to make an offer to the monk He could not get food for seven months and nine days Thus on the expiry of a total period of one year one month and nine days, he obtained food for the first time in the city of Hastinapura from the hands of Sreyansa, the brother of king Somaprabha. Sreyansa had recollected by dint of his memory of the previous births the manner of offering food to a monk, and thus he was able to make the offer The gieat monk took his meal on the third day of the second half of Vaisakha and since then that day has been called Aksaya Tritiya which is an occasion for countrywide festivity. In this manner, the founder of the religious order (dharma-tirtha) is Tirthankara Risabhadeva and of charity (dānatīrtha) is Sreyansa.

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TIRTHANKARA MAHAVIRA AND HIS SARVODAYA TIRTHA
Monk Risabhadeva continued to perform the severest penance, both internal and external, for the realisation of self, by remaining mute for a thousand years One day as he was completely immersed in self, he attained the highest, the supreme knowledge (kevala-jnāna). Indra, the king of the gods, came down to organise his first congregation (samavazarana). Brisabhasena, the younger brother of king Bharata became his first Ganadhara. Both the daughters of Risabha, Brahmi and Sundari, joined the order as nuns (Aryikā) and took charge of the female section of the spiritual order. Quite a large number of the four thousand kings who got initiated into monkhood with Risabhadeva and then parted company, came back to join the order and were initiated into it by Risabhadeva. But because of passion, Marici did not rectify his mistake and started opposing Bhagavan Risabhadeva by propagating an alternative faith of his own.
Then on the expiry of his life-span, Bhagavan Risabhadeva discarded his mortal frame on the top of Mount Kailasa and entered into nirvāra. As he was the first Tirthankara of the present down-phase of the cycle, he has also been called Adinatha.
One Question : Two Answers
SHORT STORE
After the above analysis, the most natural question that arises is, was Bhagavan Risabhadeva married and had wives ? Did he rule ? Did he impart lessons in farming, etc. ? Does a Bhagavan marry ? Does he rule ? Does he teach farming ? Does he have children ? If the answer is in the affirmative, what is the difference between him and us? He is just like us !
If this be true, then what does the marriage of a Bhagavan mean ? Where from did come the wives ? What is his need of a kingdom? Why did he teach farming, etc. ? For, a Bhagavan is the very embodiment of detachtment; and, for one wholly detached, such perversions as marriage is simply not possible. The fact is that he who got married was prince Risabha, he who had consorts was king Risabha, he who ruled was also king Risabha, he who taught farming was also king Risabha. These were not the activities of Bhagavan Risabha.

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TRADITION AND BACKGROUND
Indeed, he was not a Bhagavan by birth, nor can one be a Bhagavan by birth Bhagavans are not born, they are made. Afterwards, when he conquered himself, he became a Bhagavan. The conquest of delusion, attachment, greed, etc, is synonymous with the conquest of self A Bhagavan is one who is fully detached and is all-knowing. But Risabha was not fully detached, nor all-knowing by birth. He acquired these when he became a monk by throwing out all acquisitions of wives, children, kingdom, etc, and the attachment connected with these and became a nude monk and got immersed within self, thus wholly weeding out attachment, greed and ignorance Thus whenever the adjective (prefix) Bhagavan is used with his name before he had attained total detachment and omniscience, It should be understood as an honorific title bestowed on him in anticipation of his future Bhagavan-hood. When it is said that Bhagavan Risabhadeva taught farming, here, too, the word Bhagavan is to be understood in a similar sense. In order to understand this, one must understand the expressions used in the Jaina philosophy.
Bharata and Bahubali
Of the 101 sons born to king Risabhadeva, at least two, Bharata and Bahbuali, are the much-noticed personalities in the Jaina Purānas Bharata was the eldest and was the first World Monarch (Cakravartı) of this age From him, the country has taken its name as Bharata. We have it in the Srimad Bhāgavat as follows: "The great Yogi Bharata was the eldest of the hundred sons of Risabha and from him this country has taken its name as Bharatavarsa "12 In support of this fact, there is available ample evidence in the Indian classical literature 13
In this connection, Ramdharı Singh 'Dinkar', writes, "Bharata was the son of Risabhadeva from whom the country has taken its name as Bharata."14 With the help of a cakraratna born in his armoury, he conquered all the six segments of the land
12 yesām khalu mahayogi Bharato jyesthah śreşthagunascasit
yenedam varsa bharatamıtı vyapadıśantŚrīmad Bhagavat, 5.4.90 13 Mahapurāna, Introduction, p. 27-28. 14 Samskrti-ke Car Adhyaya, p. 129.

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of Bharata and brought them under his control and taught the feudatory kings how to govern their kingdom Emperor Bharata was a very careful and competent ruler when he was on the throne, and later he proved himself to be the best of the Yogis and acquired full detachment and omniscience within two hours of his initiation
His brother Bahubali too was a great warrior, unconquered even by Emperor Bharata, a Kamadeva in physical grace, a great Yogi and penancer, who in the age was the first (even before Risabhadeva) to enter into liberation On being initiated into monkhood, he never went out in search of food, and did not budge from his posture of meditation till he mastered complete detachment and omniscience Thus passed a whole year when he stood in the posture of meditation (dhyānn-mudrā) During The rainfall months, creepers grew with the support of his body which they wrapped and his feet were covered by ant-hills His hard penance is a notable event noticed in the Purānas A gigantic 57 feet stone image of Bahubali covered with creepers stand at Sravanabelgola in the State of Karnataka and it attracts every year thousands of visitors from neai and far
As already said, Bharata acquired the cakraratna with which at the fore he set out for the conquest of the world. His mission was successful but the cakraratna suddenly stopped at the entrance of Ayodhya On enquiry it was discovered that till the wheel had completed the complete subordination of all the six segments, it would not enter into the capital city So the search went on as to which segment had been left out. It was soon found that nothing had been left out except the kingdoms of his own brothers So messengers were despatched post-haste to all of them, and almost all of them approved of the monarch's proposal except Bahubali
Being sorry at the meanness of the elder brother, other brothers developed a detachment and joined the order of monks under their parent. But the messenger who had gone to Bahubalı came back with the following message: "The younger brother Bahubali may submit to the elder brother Bharata, but not surely king Bahubali to another and more powerful king Bharata. If he has decided for a trial of strength, I shall suitably res

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TRADITION AND BACKGROUND
pond." The provocation was enough and the war started The ministers from both the sides tried to dissuade their respective masters, but failed Then thought they : "Both the kings are in their last body-frame wherefrom they will be liberated So they will loose nothing from the war But the men on both the sides who are present here for fighting will simply be obliterated for no gain to them So we should strive to stop this massacre if we can” So they came to their respective masters and proposed a straight fight between the two monarchs which would spare the life of so many. This was accepted and it was decided that the monarchs would fight with their eyes, then in the water and ultimately they would he wrestling.
Bahubali had, compared to Bharata, a greater physical strength and a higher stature and he remained unconquered in the three modes of fighting The shame of defeat was too much for Bharata and he lost control of himself and hurled the wheel on Bahubali by transgressing the code of warfare, but Bahubali was unhurt and invincible But all these developments gave a turn to Bahubali's way of thinking, and hence to his life He renounced everything and became a monk Bharata now became the Emperor (Cakravarti) over the whole world
Thus all the brothers and sisters of Bharata were in the spiritual order Although as Emperor Bharata remained in the hub of the worldly life, nevertheless, his worldly life itself was unprecedented and worthy of imitation which theme has often been sung in popular ballads.
From Ajita till Nami
After Risabhadeva, the life-story of all the Tirthankaras from Ajita, the 2nd till Namı, the 21st Tirthankara is available in the Jaina literature but with far less elaboration. Compared to Risabhadeva, even the elaboration in the case of Neminatha, Parsvanatha and Mahavira is very much less
The main reason for this is that except the few just mentioned who had certain special events to notice, for the rest the life-stories had an amazing similarity. All the Tirthankaras

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TIRTHANKARA MAHAVIRA AND HIS SARVODAYA TIRTHA
come from their births previous with the acquisition of a great merit called Tirthankara-prakyti, for which all of them have in common five auspicious events, which need no repetetion here This is the reason why, apart from the life story of Risabha, those of other Tirthankaras have hardly any scope for literary or poetic elegance. Leaving aside a few events in the life of Risabhadeva, the rest have been shared by the succeeding Tirthankaras
From Ajita to Nami, the most important things to note aie that the 16th Tirthankara Santinatha, the 17th Kunthunatha and the 18th Aranatha had been Cakravarties and Kamadevas before they became Tirthankaras
A Cakravarti is one who is the master of the six segments of the world with 32000 crowned feudatory kings as his vassals. He acquires nine treasures, fourteen gems He has 96000 consorts in attendance. His army has 84 crores of warriors, 18 crores horses, 84 lakhs elephants and a similar number of chariots, 3 crores cows and 1 crore ploughs. The details of a Cakravarti's treasures may be looked up in the Jaina Purānas
Kamadeva is a great man with a highly Their number is 24
graceful body.
Since three of the Tirthankaras had been world monarchs, the description of their life-story was perhaps exception to contain a separate account of their secular greatness, but since this bears some similarity with that of Bharata who himself was a world monarch, this has been meticulously abondoned to avoid repetition.
At the time of the 20th Tirthankara Muni Suvratanatha, there lived in India the legendary heroes, Rama and Laksmana. Rama had never been a Tirthankara but he has been widely noticed in the Jaina literature There are quite a few Jaina Tirthankaras who have not been separately noticed in the Jaina texts, but Rama story in some facet of it is rarely missing either in the Purānas or in Kavyas (long poems) The reason for this is the many facetedness of Rama's life, which does throw some light on one aspect or another of any one's life The National Poet Maithili Saran Gupta has rightly sung:

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TRADITION AND BACKGROUND
“Rama! Thy life itself is a poem, Any one who desires may become its poet "15
According to the Jaina tradition, Rama and Laksmana take their place in the galaxy of 63 illustrious personages. Rama was Balabhadra and Laksmana was Narayana Ravana has been considered to be a Prati-Narayana and Hanumana was a Kamadeva Both Rama and Hanumana became, later in life nude monks and attained complete detachment and supreme knowledge Though not themselves Tırthankaras, they are as much worthy of reference as the Tirthankaras, and there is hardly any difference between the two.
Neminatha
Bhagavan Neminatha, the 22nd Tirthankara, was a cousin of Krisna Andhakavrisni, the king of Sauripur had ten sons, of which the eldest was Samudravijaya and the youngest was Vasudeva. Samudravijaya became the father of Neminatha, as Vasudeva became the father of Krisna The name of Neminatha's mother was Sivadevi The entire race, the Yadavas, had fled Sauripur because of the fear of Jarasandha, who was a half-Cakravartı Emperor and Pratı-Narayana and they had taken shelter in Dvaraka Krisna is one of the 63 illustrious perconages, he was a Narayana and his brother Baladeva was a Balabhadra This was the Age of the Mahābhārata, when flourished the Pandavas and the Kauravas, who have been noticed in the Jaina Purānas.
The story of Neminatha's attaining a state of detachment is exceedingly heart-rending on which poems, songs and paintings exist in a large number There exist many poems and songs in the form of Nemi-vivāha and Rārul-bārahamāsā. The incident goes as follows:
Rajamatı (Rajul), the princess at the famous City of Junagadh near the Girnar mountain was betrothed to Nemi Kumara From both the sides, elaborate preparations were made for the celebration. It was at its pitch and the marriage procession
15 Saket, Title Page.

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reached the vicinity of Junagadh The inmates at the palace at Junagadh were anxiously awaiting the arrival of the procession. Things were ready for the performance of rites at the entrance The atmosphere everywhere was one of joy Although Rajul, who was surrounded by her attendants who were cracking jokes befitting the occasion, looked grave, inside, she was also in a light mood, awaiting the arrival of the procession While dreaming of the pleasant company of Nemi Kumara, she had in fact forgotten everything else
Right then, like a cyclone, the news spread all over the city that being sympathetic to the mute appeal of the animals who had been caged for the purpose of the marriage dinner, the minutest chord of attachment in Nemı Kumara had given way. He had decided not to marry, removed the nuptial thread, and taken the road to the Girnar mountain His attachment had transformed into detachment, and having torn asunder the great acquisition including the parents, treasures, granneries, the kingdom and every other object of attachment, and like wise all internal attachments, like greed, malice, etc, he had become a nude monk.
The news took no time to spread. Efforts were made to induce him to return, but all was in vain The Lokantika gods appeared and approved his decision The initiation was appropriately celebrated with suitable zeal by all gods and men There dropped a curtain of metamorphosis on the whole situation which changed from a happy marriage occasion into an environment of detachment
Rajul's mind too changed She too took the road to selfrealisation Following the footprints left by him, she proceeded towards the Girnar mountain The whole city looked agape with a sense of deprivation The members of the marriage party had come to acquire a bride, but they lost the groom King Ugrasena desired to endow a huge dowry on his daughter and send her to her new home in a palanquin, but all these remained discarded, and Rajamatı proceeded towards the mountain in a white sādi The king had collected and got prepared costly robes to be bestowed on his son-in-law, but he discarded whatever robes he had on his person and became a nude monk

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TRADITION AND BACKGROUND
17
and took his place on the mountain. He had come to marry with Rajul but events turned in a manner in which he got married with Liberation.
The pathetic episode in the life of Nemi Kumara and Rajul has been sung by the Jaina poets in a touching and thoughtprovoking manner It has also been the theme of many traditional paintings and crafts. It was indeed an unusual episode of separation for the Jaina stories-separation without a physical contact. And what did Rajul get out of it except a pleasant reverie ? fun
!! m e d
et
Compared to her, Yasodhara enjoyed the company of the Buddha for some time. She had a son to support her, she had the expectation that the Buddha would some day come back. Sita too enjoyed the pleasant company of Rama and she had the expectation of a future restoration-though circumstances were very much against her, she knew for certain that Rama's mind had not changed so hope still lurked. Even Radha was not fully disheartened. But Rajul got nothing before she was discarded, and she held nothing on which to live in memory. Besides, the mind of Nemi Kumara too had changed, and so there was no hope on which she could live on. There was the need of a Bhavabhuti 16 to depict the pathetic story of this pious lady.
Monk Neminatha was already self-enlightened, and now he started making steady progress on the steps to stability. On the 56th day from his initiation, he rose to the stage of ksapaka-śreni, which was the exrteme point in penance, and soon acquired the supreme knowledge and became a Bhagavan. He shone like a beacon light for full seven hundred years, showing the right path; and, in the end, on completion of the life-span of a thousand years, he entered into liberation at the Girnar mountain.
This is the reason why Girnar has been considered to be a siddhak setra, a Land of Liberation This is a holy place of the Jainas. Located near Junagadh in Gujarat, this place attracts also many who are not Jainas This was not only a land
16 Bhavabhuti was a Sanskrit poet

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of liberation for Neminatha, this was also a land where he practised penance Rajul too practised her penance here Two sons of Krisna, Pradyumna Kumara and Sambhu Kumara, too were liberated from their seat on this mountain. Pradyumna Kumara was a Kamadeva.
Parsvanatha
The 23rd Tirthankara Parsvanatha is the very embodiment of the spirit of non-malice In one of his previous lives, the one-sided malice entertained by one Kamatha towards him on the one hand, and Parsva's feeling of amity towards him on the other are a proof of his highest attainment in non-violence.
About 3000 years ago, an exceedingly illustrious child was born in the race of Iksvaku in the line of Kasyapa to king Asvasena of Varanasi from his enlightened consort Vamadevi on the eleventh day of the dark half of Pausa. He was named Parsva Kumara Parsva Kumara was brilliant, rich in intellect, endowed with many auspicious marks and detached to worldly life hy birth. Although there was no dearth of luxury goods in his home, he had no attraction for them. Though reared under the shadow of affluence, he remained non-involved like a lotus though in water. In his youth, his parents tried to settle him in marriage but they could not succeed 10 make him agree.
He was self enlightened by birth and so he was always indifferent to the worldly life. One day in the morning, he was going out for a walk in the company of his friends when in the way he saw his maternal grandfather garbed as a monk performing the pancāgni penance on the way side. In the midst of the blazing flame, there was a pair of he and she snakes who were also getting burnt. Parsva Kumara knew all this by dint of his extra sensory knowledge and he asked his grandfather to desist from this type of penance, but the latter was not convinced till the log was pierced and the pair came out half burnt. Parsva Kumara consoled the snakes with sweet words. As their sin had reached a low point, after death they were born as Dharanendra and his consort Padmavati.

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TRADITION AND BACKGROUND
After this heart rending episode, Parsva was full of compassion, and he became a nude monk on the eleventh day of the dark half of Pausa
Once the said monk Parsvanatha was seated in meditation with a vow of non-breaking silence in the district of Ahi when a god named Samvara (who had in him the soul of Kamatha) was flying through the sky. When his eyes fell on Parsva, the inveterate hatred of his previous birth against him suddenly came up and he inflicted on him terrible hardships, such as severe downpours, snowfall, hailstorm, terrible gusts of wind, even heavy shower of stones, but he could not sway Parsva from his penance
At the time when Samvara was inflicting these hardships Dharanendra and Padmavati sought to soften his hardships. Though Parsvanatha was fully protected in his meditation and he neither desired nor need help from any quarter, still Dharanendra and Padmavati tried to help him within their own resource In accordance with this tradition, many images of Parsva have been found with the hood of a snake above him, but these cannot and must not be very old, since, as per the sacred texts, images are made only after one had conquered all foes, internal as well as external, and become a victor (Arahanta), and at this stage, no hardship can be inflicted on him So the image with the hood of a snake can be the image of monk Parsva, and not of Bhagavan Parsva The images of Bahubali too need a similar consideration. An image with creepers may be that of monk Bahubali, but surely it cannot be that of Arahanta Bhagavan Bahubali. But unfortunately such a wrong tradition got started and is still continuing. One may come across in any temple in India the image of Bhagavan Parsva with the hood of a snake and of Bahubali with creepers
On the 14th day of the dark half of Caitra, when fully immersed in self, monk Parsva had the acquisition of supreme knowledge He became a Bhagavan Afterwards, for about 70 years, he travelled on foot all over the country and delivered sermons at innumerable congregations

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In the end, on completion of a century of lifespan, he entered into nirvāna at Sammet Sikhara, from which it has acquired the name Paresnath Hill. Even the Railway Station is named Paresnath. Located in the District of Hazaribag in Bihar, this is the most important place of pilgrimage for the Jainas. On this mountain, twenty out of twentyfour Tirthankaras of the Jainas have attained nirvana. Thousands of pilgrims visit this place every year.
Thus we see that Bhagavan Mahavira had been preceded by a long tradition, a long line of Tirthankaras, from a hoary past. Of this long line, Bhagavan Mahavira was the last, as, in this down-swing of the cycle, Adinatha was the first, though, needless to add, in the preceding up and down swings of the cycle prior to Adinatha, there had been innumerable Tirthankaras, as there would be innumerable more after Mahavira in the subsequent up and down swings of the cycle till an infinite time. The first Tirthankara to appear in the upswing following Mahavira would be Mahapadma So it would be a gross error to call Mahavira the founder of Jainism, as Buddha is called the founder of Buddhism.
Bhagavan Mahavira was not the founder of a new religion; he had simply developed it and propagated it. Indeed, he did not even introduce a reform. And pray, who can reform a religion ? Religion is always a reformed thing that helps the reform of a soul which is under perversion Viewed as a category, reform itself is religion.

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BHAGAVAN MAHAVIRA : PREVIOUS BIRTHS
To understand Bhagavan Mahavira, it is not enough to look at his life as Mahavira; for, the process of his final liberation had started much earlier and is spread over his many past lives. So in order to understand this process by which he became a Bhagavan and a Tirthankara, we must have a look at his previous lives
There is another reason why this is important, which is that it gives an insight into the process of transformation by which the soul attains the status of a Paramatman, or, to put it in the reverse order, it indicates why a soul continues to pass through the cycle of life and death for not understanding as to how to stop the cycle
In his previous lives, if Bhagavan Mahavira had enjoyed life in the heavens and became a Narayana and a Cakravarti many a times, many a times, again, he had suffered the heaviest pain in the hells and passed through the lives of mobile and immobile beings So it is necessary to highlight some of his previous lives in concise. These, as depicted in the Jaina Purānas, are as follows:
In eastern Videha, in the isle of Jambudvipa, on the northern bank of the Sita, in the country named Puskalavatı, there was a city named Pundarikini Near the city, there was a forest named Madhuka where lived the king of the Bhilas (a tribe) named Pururava The name of his wife was Kalika
Through the same forest was once passing a nudist monk, who was a great penancer, Sagarsena by name. Mistaking him for a deer, as the Bhila king raised his bow and was about to fix an arrow to hunt him, his wife caught his hand and softly said, “Dear! What are you doing? This is not a deer. This appears to be a forest deity who is passing.” Thus being saved from a great sin of homicide, the husband and wife came to
ak, bowed before him with great devotion, heard his

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pious and inspiring words and gave up wine and meat The Bhila king fulfilled the vow till the end of his life and after death, he was reborn as a god in the first heaven named
Saudharma.
Having completed his life in the first heaven, he came down to be born as a son to Emperor Bharata named Marici. Along with his grand parent Risabhadeva, he was initiated into a nudist monk-hood, but like the other four thousand kings who were initiated simultaneously and slipped from the path, he too deviated
Most of these four thousands had respect and devotion for Risabhadeva, and so, though they had parted company because they were not receiving guidance from the leader, after he had become a celebrity, they rectified their mistake and rejoined his order. But this did not occur in the case of Marici. He assumed the robe of a Parivrajaka monk and strove to propound a new faith like Risabhadeva. Although during his life he had acquired a great sin namely falsehood by propagating and upholding a false faith, which enlongened the time of his stay in the cycles of worldly life, still, since the time of his death, he had pious thoughts, after death, he attained the fifth heaven named Brahma
Having descended from there on the completion of his lifespan, he was born in Saketa as a son unto a Brahmin named Kapila and was called Jatila. There also, because of his past linkage, he became a Parivrajaka monk, and on death, he became a god in the fifth heaven. Then he was born as Pusyamitra, a son unto a Brahmin named Bharadvaja There also the situation repeated and he was born again as a god in the first heaven
Then followed a series when he became a Brahmin named Agnisaha followed by a life in the third heaven named Sanat Kumara, another Brahmin Agnimitra followed by the fourth heaven Mahendra and still another Brahmin named Bharadvaja followed by the same fourth heaven.
In all these, he passed through similar experiences. Though

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BHAGAVAN MAHAVIRA : PREVIOUS BIRTHS
living on and propagating falsehood, he had always some pious thoughts which helped him again and again to acquire life in heaven But since he had an intake of falsehood, he could not remain in a blessed state for long and he slipped into the life of mobile and immobile beings which he repeated for an innumerable number of times
From there, good luck prevailing, he became a Brahmin named Sthavara, died amidst pious thoughts and was reborn in the fifth heaven called Mahendra.
Having descended from there, he was born as a prince named Visvanandı unto king Visvabhuti of Rajagriha King Visvabhuti had a younger brother named Visakhabhuti. His youngest son was Visakhananda Witnessing the dismantle of the autumn clouds, king Visvabhuti became indifferent to the world. He abdicated in favour of his younger brother Visakhabhuti, made his son Visvanandi the crown prince and moved out as a nude monk
Prince Visvanandi had a beautiful garden of his own named Manohara and he was very fond of it. One day, he was enjoying the company of his ladies in that garden When Visakhananda saw this, he desired to have the garden for himself. So he went to his father, king Visakhabhuti He told his father that he must have the garden, or, else, he would court voluntary exile.
Although king Visakhabhuti was never in agreement with this sort of request, what wrong things does a man not indulge in when involved under the pressure of affection to his progeny This had happened in the case of Kaikeyi (in the Rāmāyana) who sent Rama into exile. Being blind with affection for his son, king Visakhabhuti sent his nephew Visvanandi out on a pretext of fighting out the disturbances caused by the chiefs who inhabited in the mountain valleys, and handed over the garden Manohara to his son Visakhananda
When the valorous Visvanandi came to know of the plot, he became immensely angry. As he rushed to catch Visakha

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nanda, out of fear, he fled and took shelter on a Kaitha tree. When prince Visvanandi uprooted the tree, he jumped down and took shelter beneath of stone pillar When Visvanandi smashed the stone pillar with a severe blow, Visakhananda begged for his life with folded hands and saved it with difficulty.
the event cast are decor
Although out of compassion Visvanandi released him, but the event cast a deep shadow on his mind. He became indifferent to worldly life and became a nude monk.
When he saw the outcome of his misdeed, king Visakhabhuti became immensely sorry and penitent. He also realised futility of the mundaue life and gave it up and became a nude monk
By practising severe penances, both external and internal, Visvanandi was emaciated. One day he was out on a begging mission in the city of Mathura. While on the street, he was hit by the leg of a cow who had just calved and he fell on the spot. Just in front was the residence of a prostitute wherefrom his brother Visakhananda saw him. Visakhananda who lost his kingdom because of his misdeeds, lack of vitality and unjust behavior was currently employed in the diplomatic service of some king and had come to Mathura on business He recognised his brother in monk Visvanandi and to ridicule him, he shouted, “Where is gone thy strength with which you uprooted the tree and smashed the stone pillar with a single blow ?" The monk could not bear the insult and was deeply upset. He decided to teach him a lesson, and ended his life by a trance and was born in the tenth heaven called Mahasukra.
From that heaven, he descended to the land of Bharata in Jambudvipa and was born as Tripristha, son of king Prajapati of Podanapura, who was a descendant of Bahubalı, by his wife Mrigavati, and the soul of his uncle Visakhabhuti was born as Vijaya, the son of the same king by another queen named Jayavati.
Vijaya was the first Balabhadra and Tripristha the first Narayana. This was the time when Tirthankara Sreyansanatha

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25
was shining in the spiritual world of the land. At that time, there reigned a Vidyadhara named Mayurgriva at Alakapura near the northern range of the Vijayardha mountain. The name of his wife was Nılanjana. Because of his sinful deeds, the soul of Visakhananda passed through many low existences, and then, because of a turn of karma, was born as Asvagriva, a son unto the Vidyadhara couple. He was a Prati-Narayana and so he conquered three segments of the world and ruled over it as semi-Cakravarti. Now there was a severe war between Narayana Tripristha and Prati-Narayana Asvagriva, and, as per destiny, Tripristha killed Asvagriva and replaced him as semiCakravarti monarch.
Emperor Tripristha was the master of a great fortune. He had a harem of 16000 queens who were as charming as the divine girls But though he was in command of the best worldly opportunity, he did not utilise his chance for the upliftment of his soul. He wasted his whole life in running the administration and in enjoying pleasures. After death, he was born in the seventh hell as an infernal being What else could have
the outcome of a worldly life dedicated to transitory joy ?
Having spent his time there, he became a terribly fierce lion on the Singhagiri mountain on the bank of the Ganga He spent his life in cruel deeds and, after death, he was born as an infernal being in the first hell. Being released from there, he came again on the top of the Himavan mountain as a lion with glittering mane This was the tenth life backside of Bhagavan Mahavira, and from this life onward started his reform
This fierce lion was extremely cruel and powerful One day, the said lion with terrible jaws had killed a deer pierced it and was devouring its flesh when descended there from the sky two Carana monks who were exceedingly tranquil and kind. Addressing the lion they said, “Oh king of the animals ! By not caring for your soul, upto this time you have suffered enormons pains Just as to satisfy an insignificant selfish object you have killed this deer, in the same manner, in your previous births, you had perpetrated innumerable acts of violence and cruelty for the gratification of five senses In your life as

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Tripristha Narayan what an enormons suffering did you undergo, and what an assortment of sins did you commit! But the desires for pleasure are insatiable and are never satisfied. In consequence, you were directed to the seventh hell, and there you suffered terrible pains Then you became a lion and underwent the same predicament. Just try to think and review your previous births"
On hearing the pacifying words of the monks, the lion became some what calm and looked inside when his memory of the previous births revived, and he could see the events of his past lives as if on a canvass This rent his heart and he was shivering with tears in his eyes.
When the monks notice a pure devotion and simple query in his eyes, they gave him a connected account of his life as the Bhila king Pururava till his present birth adding, “Although as Marici you got a chance of being associated with Risabhadeva, you, entertained falsehood, did not understand the true nature of the soul and that was the reason why you had to pass through so many lives. Now there is no cause of anxiety, since your worldly career is soon drawing to its close, and in your tenth life from now, you are going to be the last Tirthankara Mahavira in the land of Bharata We have known all these from the divine words of Tirthankara Sridhara who is an omniscient personality"
When he heard all these, within a short while, his violence and restlessness cooled down He had the potentiality f his own self, and now his passions were tranquil When the monks saw that the lion would be a good recipient of their advice, the following words came out of their mouth:
"There is a conscious object who lives inside the body but who is apart from the body Although that conscious object experiences the perverted currents of delusion, attachment, greed, etc, yet that object which by nature enjoys the joy of knowledge and is an eternal reality is quite distinct from them, with whose support religion emerges This emergent religion consists of right knowledge, faith and conduct. Since right knowledge, faith and conduct may take time to take full shape, it is very

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necessary to feel the eternal truth whose very nature is enlightenment This very feeling has been called the realisation of self. One who has this realisation, one who has known the conscious soul as a distinct entity different from the rest, is soon to be liberated from this transmigration. The knowledge of the soul as a distinct entity different from the rest has been called the 'knowledge of difference' or bheda-jnäna This knowledge of difference and self realisation is possible even in the species of animals, and it occurs too. So, oh the king of the animals, you must strive to acquire this
Continued the monks,
"Oh the king of the animals ! You do not be bothered about your helplessness from your species, but look at the ability of your nature Like the liberated souls, you are also a lump of infinite knowledge and other merits It is by dint of the eternal elements in nature that one acquires ability in any species. Even in your present species, you have so much knowledge that you know the distinctiveness of the soul Just as a cub recognises its mother even though she may be mixed up with many and even when it does not know any one of her distinctive features, in the same manner, you may not be able to name the doctrines, but all the same, you may recognise the soul which 1S distinct from the rest. Right now, you have acquired purity of thought. You turn your thought inside and feel your soul We are sure, you will realise it, your time is now limited. We can clearly see that some good is about to happen to you. You appear to have acquired the necessary competence Once you make a serious effort to collect all your ability and realise that the soul is distinct from the rest .do strive..... do strive..... ye !"
As these inspiring words were emanating from the lips of the monks, the lion stood motionless in a trance He was now wholly immersed in self, with his gaze turned inside and he experienced an unprecedented joy and tranquility He was immersed in self, he was lost in self.
After sometime, as he regained his consciousness and came out of his self, the monks still stood in the posture ensuring

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freedom from fear. There was a superb tranquility on the face of the lion. The monks also perceived the change on the face of the lion They realised that the lion had acquired what was due to him He bowed low at the feet of the monks and remained like that for some time Then he stood erect, moved round the monks three times and humbly bowed at their feet. When the monks realised that the acquisitiveness of the lion had expanded, they tendered him advice about the vows
The lion nodded his agreement to fulfil them according to ability Now he was no longer a cruel lion, but a lion wholly harmless, like a lion in a picture.
The lion continued to fulfil the vow till his last moment. Then he courted death while he was in a trance and was born as a god named Singhaketu in the first heaven named Saudharma.
It is rare to come across an example like this where there has been the fullest use of the species along with a favourable situation at the time of the end of the life-span. It may appear that on the sermons of the exceptionally gifted Carana monks, the lion had reached the height of the ability of his species but it was some what unusual that when the lion had very limited time on this world, he had no obstruction of unfavourable karma and he could easily turn his gaze inward. Had sermon been enough in the realization of the soul, well, then, many who used to attend the congregations of Bhagavan Mahavira should have been the recipient of self-realisation But this did not just happen Had it been so, how is it that Marici became the victim of a false faith even though he was present at the congregations of Risabhadeva. Surprisingly enough he became the leader of the heretics and continued to propagate falsehood. So it is established that when the soil is ready, you may reap the harvest. At that time, instruments are not lacking, nor is it necessary to institute a search for them In the life of a cruel lion living in a dense forest, where was the chance, where was the possibility for such a metamorphosis; but when even as a lion he was in possession of the necessary maturity, to realise the self, the instrumentality came down through the sky

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So one who is in search of the soul need not be anxious about the instrument. The means is not an end, nor is the end lost in the absence of a means But the position is that when the end is ripe for realisation, the means comes itself, without any striving or seeking. It is because of their ignorance that living beings make an unsuccessful effort for collecting favourable means rejecting unfavourable ones.
Moreover, the end does not fructify as per means; the means arises as per the end. When the lion as a lion acquired the true religion, the monks became the means; but when Marici failed Risabhadeva did not. A means is a means only when justified by the end. Since the lion could see the right path, he developed a natural devotion for the monks; but since this did not happen in the case of Maricı, the latter did not acquire any respect for Risabhadeva
Again, it is not really the means which gives the end; when the end is attained, something is given the attribution of the means What a paradox that for the same soul which was in Marici, even such a competent teacher as Risabha became the means of his malice, and when the soul was encased in the lion, even two ordinary Carana monks became a means of his selfrealisation. So it is the preparation of the soil, the maturity of the recipient which is really important, and not the means which is no more than secondary.
In brief, it may be said that in the life of Maricı, there was a total lack of effort to look inside, immaturity in that species, non-attainment of time for liberation and the dominance of falsehood were the main factors for his rebirth again and again. All these factors had changed by now. The lion could take a look inside, he was perfectly mature now, the time was ripe for his ending the cycles of rebirth and karma binding the tie of falsehood were fast fading out, these were the main instruments now. In this gamut, the works of the monks took an appropriate position; but they were not by any means the main factor.
Although in the attainment of success in anything there are five contributing factors, the most outstanding of these is a

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vigorous and sincere exertion by self. In highlighting the importance of sincere self-exertion to attain the right path, a wellknown scholar, Pandit Todarmal writes:
"If any soul makes self-exertion to attain liberation as per the advice of the Jinas, he does so when his termination period is nearing its end or when the inevitable is going to happen, and when his karma has been tranquilised. So one who makes effort with his soul-force, he is sure to obtain the necessary means and ultimately to attain mokşa. When one does not use his soul force, this means that his termination time is not round the corner or that there is no inevitable involved, and his karma is yet to be tranquilised. So when the soulforce does not strive to attain moksa, one does not get the support of necessary means and hence does not attain moksa. And you say, there are many who hear the words of the Jinas, and some of them get the necessary means and some do not for attaining mokşa, what is the reason for this? The reason is that those who after listening the words can mobilise the soul force attain their goal, and those, who can-not, do not attain the goal. Words are meant for education; the rest depends on the exertion of self”1
After that he was born as king Kanakojval, a god in the seventh heaven Lantaka, as king Harisena and again as a god in the tenth heaven.
There was a country named Puskalavatı in the Purva-Videha region to the east of Mandaracala in Dhatakikhanda In that country, there was a beautiful city named Pundarikini. When he descended from the tenth heaven, he was born at Pundarikini as Priyamitra, a very powerful son unto king Sumitra by his queen Suvrata. When this powerful boy came of age, he acquired the cakraratna and became a world-monarch by conquering six segments of the world.
Emperor Priyamitra, who was the overlord over 32,000 crowned kings acquired nine treasures and fourteen gems. Emperor Priyamitra who was the master of 96 crores of villages
1 Mokşa-Mārg Prakaśak (Hindi), P, 311.

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had avaiable at his service 18 crore horses, 84 lakh elephants and 96 thousand most beautiful wives In the midst of such an affluence, he lived for a very long time, without even knowing how long he had lived. One day the Emperor had gone with his near and dear ones to pay homage to a great Jina Ksemankara by name Having paid his homage and obeisance, he took a suitable seat. Thus came out the flow of words form the lips of the great Jina:
"The nature of a thing is dharma. The nature of the soul is knowledge and happiness. The categories which reveal themselves with the help of the soul which by its nature is knowledge and happiness is dharma. It is an embodiment of right knowledge, right faith and right conduct. These three combined into one is the road to liberation Liberation means liberation from misery, from delusion, attachment and greed. If one desires to end misery, he must know himself, recognise himself and merge himself within self, lose himself within self So long as the soul does not know himself, recognise himself till then, by confusing self with others, it continues to be a victim of distortions like delusion, attachment, greed, etc
"Distortions like delusion, attachment, greed, etc, constitute the worldly life and are the cause of this life; they constitute misery and are the cause of misery. The soul which is eternal in all the three times is the embodiment of happiness, its cause. To be confused with others, with categories, is worldly life; it is misery. The best succour is that which is distinct from others, from constants and variable categories, which is by nature knowledge and joy, which is conscious and eternal That itself is the embodiment of dharma, and with the help of this, dharma appears in categories.
"So one who desires to have happiness, who desires the good of self, who is keen for liberation, he should know himself, get fully immersed within himself. It is not necessary to run about in search of happiness. Your own pleasure is within you, not within somebody else, not even in Paramesvara (God). So it is useless to look upon happiness as a grace from above. You are thy own master. You yourself are the eternal fund

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of joy, a sort of happiness, happiness itself. But why hanker after happiness ? For, hankering is misery. There is really no happiness in the objects coveted by the senses. This man, though commanding the wealth and affluence of a Cakravarti is not happy. In the eyes of the savants, all the treasures of a Cakravarti are useless. They throw them out as if a dry hay and are immersed within. In the presence of the great thing within which is erernal and full of joy, every external object grows dim.
“Dharma is not a word, but an application. So one covelous of self shouid not merely memorise the word but realise it in life; he must be all dharma."
On hearing these inspiring and soul-touching words of the Jina, the inner sense of Emperor Priyamitra woke up, as a lion awakes at the roar of another. His attachment for the empire, wealth, wives and progeny broke down. The earth which he had conquered over years, the women he had acquired through love, he gave up as if he had no relation with them, as if they were nothing to him. When the attachment for which he had conquered the world and acquired the wives, itself was gone, what use were they to him.
That mighty Emperor got initiated into the life of a nude monk in the presence of the great Jina. When he acquired the triple gems, his fourteen gems dropped out. When he acquired the great treasure of concentrating within, he had no more use of the material treasures When this great monk, who had discarded the six segments like a trifle ended his lifes he was born in the 12th heaven named Sahasrara as a god named Suryaprabha When he descended from there, he was born as Nanda, a son unto king Nandivardhana from his wife Viramatı in the city of Chatrapura in the land of Bharata in the isle of Jambu.
By birth king Nanda was an indifferent personality because of the samskāra of the previous birth. One day he had gone to a monk named Prosthila to pay his homage and obeisance when his inherent detachment suddenly flared up on hearing

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If the teachings of Bhagavan Mahavira were profound, serious and worthy of acceptance, his present life was equally simple, flat and unostentatious, and diversity had no place in it His present life was not full of events and any search of his personality in events would be futile This was so because there was hardly any worldly event which did not occur in his past lives
Events throw light only on one part of life. To look for life in events is virtually to divide life into parts. The personality of Bhagavan Mahavira is undivided and indivisible; it cannot be divided into parts To divide his personality into events is virtually to cripple it. In a mirror which is unbroken, the reflection of an object is also large and unbroken, but when the mirror is broken, the reflection becomes many and small, and their meaning gets lost The personality of Bhagavan Mahavira was as wide as the sky and as deep as the ocean If this vast personality is linked up with the events of his childhood, it does not get magnified, but loses a lot
He was a hero, a great hero, a very great hero in the field of religion, not in any battle field And the two are widely apart. You conquer your enemy in a battle field but what you conquer in a religious field is enmity In a battle field you win victory over others, in a religious field you win victory over yourself. In a battle field you kill others, but in a religious field you kill your own perversions.
In Mahavira's heroism, there was no running about, no jostling and jumping, no killing, no lamenting, it was non-ending eternal peace In his personality, it was not the vastness of treasure but that of knowledge and detachment that was available in abundance
Although, in brief, the story of his life is only this much that during the first thirty years he spent his life in the midst of

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affluence and luxury, living apart as the lotus does in the midst of water, during the next twelve years, he was devoted to severe penances in the midst of dense forests, and during the next thirty years, he was busy with the formation of the Sarvodaya order and propagation of its message far and wide But the details of his life as are available in the history and the Purānas may be stated as follows:
About 2572 years from now, in the land of Bharata, there was a prosperous city named Vaisalı which was the centre of the Gana-republics In his travel account, the Chinese traveller Hiuen Tsang has described Vaisali to be a beautiful city spread out several miles 1 The head of the republic was king Cetaka. In that republic, there was a beautiful city named Kundalapura
Siddhartha who belonged to the Licchavi clan was the ruling monarch in that city. The name of his wife was Trisala As she was highly beloved of the king. She was also called Priya karini. In fact, what to speak of the king, she was the beloved of all She was tender by nature, soft in speech, a very noble hearted lady She happened to be the eldest daughter of king Cetaka, the head of the confederacy King Siddhartha enjoyed a dignified place in the confederacy of the nine clans which constituted the Licchavi republic, one was the Natha or Jnatri clan King Siddhartha belonged to this clan of the Ksatriyas
One night as queen Priyakarını was sleeping in peace in the famous palace Nandyavarta in the city of Kundalapura, she dreamt
very fine dreams which were as follows:
(1) an infatuated elephant, (2) a white bull with high shoulders,
a roaring lion, (4) Goddess Laksmi seated on a lotus throne, (5) two fragrant garlands, the moon surrounded by stars, (7) the rising sun, (8) two golden jars covered by lotus leaves, (9) a pair of fish at play in water, (10) a pool of clean water, (11) a sea making a loud roar, (12) a throne studded with gems, (13) a heavenly abode shining with jewels, (14) Dharanendra's huge palace kissing the sky, (15) a heap of gems and (16) a smokeless fire.
1 Trayel Account of Hiuen Tsang (in Hindı), pp.262-65.

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Having performed her morning rites, when queen Trisala narrated the dreams to the king and expressed a desire to know their implication, the king who himself was an expert in astrology became highly delighted. The most auspicious results of the auspicious dreams were clearly printed on his jubilant face. He told her that she would give birth to a great child who would be the founder of the Dharmatartha, the last Tirthankara, who would reign over the hearts of people in the three worlds. Said he, “To-day your womb has been sanctified in the same manner as it happened to Marudevi when Risabhadevan entered into her womb."
Continued the king,
“Taking a total view of the years, your son will be powerful like an elephant, active like a bull, strong like a lion, upholder of four types of treasures, soft like flowers, cool like the moon, killing darkness like the sun, auspicious like the golden jars, submerged in the ocean of knowledge like the pair of fish at play, purified by right knowledge, calm like the ocean, reigning over the three worlds, a visitor from the 16th heaven, master of extra-sensory knowledge, shining like the pile of gems, and brilliant like the burning flame”
When she learnt the most auspicious results of the auspicious dreams, the queen was very much delighted. Could there be anyone who would not be delighted to learn of the future advent of a boy with a perfect frame who would be revered in all the three worlds ?
On the sixth day of the bright half of Asadba the soul of king Nanda, having thought of sixteen causes and who was destined to be a Tirthankara descended from the sixteenth heaven and entered into the womb of queen Trisala. With the growth of the boy in the mother's womb increased the wealth, happiness and enthusiasm of the king
After a happy waiting by the near and dear ones and the members of the royal household, the boy was born on the auspicious thirteenth day of the bright half of Caitra. As in the morning hour, the eastern direction gives birth to the s

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the same manner, mother Trisala gave birth to a powerful son Seeing him grow every day, a worthy name which suggested itself for him was Vardhamana
and
His birth ceremony was celebrated with great pomp grandeur not only by the near and dear ones and the members of the royal household but in all the states of the confederacy. On the occasion, Indra and other gods came down at the palace door to celebrate the birth which is called janma-kalyāṇaka Indra placed the child on his elephant and took him to the Sumeru Mountain There he was seated on a Panduka slab and anointed with water fetched from the Ksıra Ocean, of which an elaborated description is available in the Jaina Purāṇas
The boy Vardhamana was by birth healthy and graceful and had an attractive personality. As he grew up like the moon from the second day of the bright half of the month, he proved the worth of his name as Vardhamana. The golden tinge of his body which brightened the environment used to attract everybody To drink at his beauty, Indra, the king of the gods, took a thousand eyes
He had the knowledge of the self, he was considerate, with a developed conscience and fearless. He had never learnt to be afraid. He was the very embodiment of bravery So from his childhood, he was called Vira, Ativira, a hero, a great hero Since he had the knowledge of the self, he was also called Sanmati Famous were his five names, which are as follows: Vira, Ativira, Mahavira, Sanmati and Vardhamana
Once an elephant got infuriated and having broken the post to which he was tied, he started creating havoc in the whole city. The city was in turmoil and people started running amock. The roar of the elephant thundered at the sky Even the most highly trained elephant drivers failed to capture him and bring him under control Even the great heroes were unable to restrain him. So it was apparent that if he could not be checked soon, there would be a great loss of life and property But by his words and physical strength, prince Vardhamana soon tamed him and removed his fury. This surprised everybody They said, "Your bravery is praiseworthy."

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39
With a grave posture, Vardhamana looked at them and addressed them as follows: "Where is the heroism in winning over helpless creature. The greatest heroism lies in winning the self The conquest of self is another name for the conquest of delusion, attachment, greed, etc This soul has conquered many on innumerable occassions but it has never conquered itself In knowing and conquering others, the soul has wasted an infinite number of lives, and in consequence gone deeper and deeper in misery Had it known itself but once, conquered itself but once, it would have been full of knowledge and bliss It would have cut asunder rebirths and become a Bhagavan. What is the heroism in taming an elephant ? Had it really be an act of heroism, then every elephant-driver would be considered to be a hero, for, they always keep the elephant under control not a great thing to control others; to control the self is the highest heroism One who has controlled self has realised himself "
It is
The elderly members of the government could not be out amazed not only at the bravery of the prince, but also at the maturity of his thoughts
He had a ready wit and never lost his balance even in difficult situations. His heroism, fearlessness and patience were even matters of discussion by the gods So once a god Sangama by name decided to test Vardhamana One day when in a playing mood, the boy Vardhamana, who was a delight to his parents, relations and members of the royal household, while playing with other boys, climbed on a tree, the said god Sangama took the form of a cobra and coiled the trunk of the tree. The cobra who was the very personification of death was hissing severely which spread terror all around and everywhere there was a dreadful silence When other boys were trembling in fear, Sangama could not terrify the young Vardhamana, despite his multifarious efforts When he saw the boy undaunted and fearless descending torwards him, even the terrible cobra lost its anger. He came out in his original form and started praising his patience and fearlessness in the following words: "Indeed, you are really a hero, nay, a great hero Your heroism is beyond description"

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Vardhamana smiled and said, “Wherein lies the heroism in this ? Does heroism consist in remaining undaunted at the sight of a snake ? Is it now the only test of heroism in the world ? If the an swer is in the affirmative, then all the snake-charmers are great heroes And did you come to hold a test of me? And now you are offering me a certificate. But when did I need a certificate from you? Will bravery roll down in future through certificates ? If you desire to hold a test, test yourself, examine yourself, but why examine others ? Every one is anxious to test others, to know others but the nature of the soul is to throw light on self. Know yourself first and then you will know others.”
The god Sangama was just sweating on hearing the logical, inspiring and serious words of the boy and began to praise him profusely.
The courage and patience of the boy was discussed all over the city. People now started calling him a Vira, Ativira and Mahavira.
The prince was a brilliant boy. He could resolve most difficult of the problems in a moment. Vardhamana who was philosophical discussions used to make his companions swallow them while they were in the midst of an ordinary conversation.
Once he was seated at the fourth floor of the palace in a very thoughtful mood Some friends of his childhood days came to see him and enquired of mother Trisala where Vardhamana was She said, "He is upstairs." All the boys ran up at top speed and reached the seventh floor but Vardhamana was not there. There they asked king Siddhartha who was in his studies where Vardhamana was. The king said, "He is downstairs." On hearing the opposite words of the parents, the boys were in a confusion Then they started searching at each floor and discovered him at the fourth floor seated in a pensive mood. Accusing him, the boys said, “You are seated here in hiding in a pensive mood like a philosopher and we have been looking for you all over the seven floors.” “Why didn't you ask my mother ?”, said Vardhamana readily. Said the friends, “Our asking became a source of greater confusion. The mother said

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that he is upstairs and the father said that he is downstairs." Said Vardhamana, “Both are correct. Being at the fourth floor, I am upstairs as told by my mother and downstairs as told by my father. For my mother is at the first floor and my father at the seventh Don't you understand this ? Upor down is a relative position When relativity is not there, the whole question of being up or down loses significance. Although each object is independent of 'others', when it is spoken of, it is relative." In this way, young Mahavira explained in an intelligible way some of the philosophical riddles to his fellow companions.
He was gentle by nature, but when he entered his youth, his seriousness increased. He preferred to live in solitude in a pensive mood and think of deeper things. When he accepted anything, he did so only after a thorough argument and realisation. When intellectuals came to him to discuss things they were not clear about, he solved their difficulty through ordinary conversation and they went convinced. The difficulties of many people were resolved even on seeing his impressive figure This happened to many monks and group leaders In fact, he did not resolve the difficulties, but was himself the solution.
Once the difficulties of two Carana monks who were pretty advanced got resolved at his very sight and they addressed this prodigy as Sanmati.
When his friends discussed this matter with Vardhamana, he said, “One's own soul is the giver of all solutions because the soul by its nature is all knowledge. To see others or to talk with them is only an instrument. As the monks set their eyes on me, they found the solution within themselves, their seeing me was a mere instrument. Had they got the solution by talking with me, then the conversation would be the instrument. Knowledge arises from within, and never from an outside object.”
Continued he,
"Another thing, if I am a Sanmatı, it is because of my intellect which is right, because I can correctly interpret the funda

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mentals, 2 not because I resolved the difficulties of the two monks If on seeing a material object some one acquires knowledge, will you call that material object a Sanmati ? A material object may be an instrument of knowledge, and very often So The spectacles are a material object, but they are helpful to vision Well, the five objective senses are inanımate and so is speech, because speech is a category of matter (pudgala), and books consist of paper and ink, all these are considered to be the instruments of knowledge, but does that mean that all of them are Sanmatı I am a Sanmatı because of my right knowledge,
because I am instrumental in resolving the difficulty of some people. And what the monks had said is also correct, but it is an attribution which is particularly used in an expression of devotion, or even in addressing some one. But we must understand what is what, -and we must take it in a right spirit."
The fellow princes were deeply impressed by the logical and polite words of Vardhamana Likewise the other four names conferred on him from time to time were honorific titles, but he had no interest in them, nor had he accepted them, but does an affectionate world pay any heed to these ? People were addressing him by different names.
Prince Vardhamana was graceful by birth with proportionate limbs in a well-balanced body but as he completed his adolescence and entered into youth, each and every limb became remarkable in beauty. The story of his superhuman beauty, strength, valour, heroism, intellect and conscience was widely discussed all over the country
Being impressed by his superhuman grace and valour many a king approached king Siddhartha with a request to wed their daughters, more beautiful than the nymphs, with prince Vardhamana but the latter was not at all inclined to agree Even the parents made pressing request for his marriage but he was decided to conquer his senses. Many efforts were made to tie him in the household, but he was already determined with the help of his soul which by its nature is free to be rid of all the worldly ties
2 tatyartha nirnayatprāpya sanmatitvain subodha vak, Uttarapurana, 74/2.

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The world tried to win over him, but he was already won by the soul and so all the efforts of the world failed. The Call of Youth cast snares at him, but they went in vain The affection of the parents tried to prevent him but even the torrents of the mother's tears could not sweep him away Who can find one who has cut the tie of attachment ? Relations and household people tried to dissuade him, but he had no more attachment for the home
One day pensive Vardhamana tried to look into his past lives and he at once developed a long memory. Many of his past lives were revealed to him and he could see them as he could a berry on his palm This raised his detachment to its full. He decided to give up the household and go out as a nude monk in quest of the soul
When his parents, relations and members of the household came to know of this, they made many efforts to dissuade him, but the tie of his attachment was wholly gone without which to one could be tied to the household. His detachment had not been inspired by any outside agency, it was inherent and instinctive, because it came from within So it was not possible to stop him, and there was no reason for it.
He did not intend to become a monk to imitate others. In fact, he did not intend to become a monk at all, but monkhood had come to him His mind did not wake up to make him a worldly creature, but it woke for self realisation He did not suppress his desires to be in keeping with time and place In fact, he did not want to repress them at all, but they had already faded.
It is futile to look for the cause of his becoming a monk in the then situation His detachment was independent of any external factor A detachment which depends on the external factor comes to an end as soon as the external factor changes.
Having known his determination, the Lokantika gods arrived and congratulated him, paid him homage and expressed their devotion The whole arrangement of his initiation into monk

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hood (dikşā-kalyāṇaka) was arranged by no less a person than Indra, the king of the gods
The theme of this great occasion is exceedingly interesting. Though highly auspicious, this great exit became the cause of the greatest pain to his near and dear ones on account of their deep attachment There was a sharp cleavage between gods and men, as to who would lift his palanquin. But interestingly the victory was on the side of men, though the gods were gifted with a divine power For, in this case, the competition was not between physical strength, but between soul force of the two. Those who would be initiated with the master were the most competent to lift his palanquin The gods had failed, and so did Indra, and they could easily see the insignificance of the life of a god compared to that of a human being. But what could be done ? The palanquin was first lifted by men, and then by the gods
Thus while in the prime of youth, he was initiated by himself as a nude monk on the tenth day of the dark half of Margasirsa As all his attachment and greed were already gone, he had no more attachment for things which were still on his person So in full senses, he discarded his clothes and ornaments, and became a monk.
In becoming a monk, one changes robes to attain monkhood, but in his case, he had already attained it. He adopted the most natural posture which he was at the time of birth. The rest dropped.
Monk Mahavira left the city and entered into the forest But it would be wrong to suggest that he exchanged a sylvan life for an urban life. In fact, he did none What he did was that he went within himself
A person with attachment, even if he goes to a forest, will build a hut, will run a household. Whatever it may be made of, a house is a house and wherever it is, a house is nothing else than a house. A house never parts company from one who is under the clutches of attachment.
Now he applied full restraint on the tongue and did not

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speak Words link one with others, but he was not covetous of such a link Words convey thoughts. They are an instrument in the exchange of ideas Words help understanding, they help to explain But he had not to understand beyond what he had understood, and he merged deep into it He had nothing to explain so then where was the utility of words? He had the faculty of speech, but he had no need of it. For all the while, he was immersed within
He gave up his bath and did not clean his mouth Being alıke to friend and foe, he took shelter in the mountain caves. Friends and foes are a product of attachment When attachment had ended, there was no question of there being a friend or a foe Monk Vardhamana was perfectly detached. It was perfectly immaterial for him if somebody was favourably disposed towards him or its reverse He was perfectly unconcerned about the world
A favourable or an adverse natural situation did not cause him any pleasure or pain He was never perturbed by the excesses of summer, winter or rains. Even scenic beauties did not attract him; for his mind was wholly plugged against them. Nor could natural calamities disturb him, because he had fully conquered fear
Many a wild animal gave up its ferociousness at the sight of his tranquil stature, natural simplicity, a harmfree life and humility. Wherever he went, the environment turned into a peaceful one.
If at times the question of the intake of food came up, he would think of imposing some difficult conditions for acceptance before he entered into a nearby city. If some sravaka (follower of the Jaina path, strictly ‘listner') could perchance fulfil the conditions and offered him pure food with ninefold devotion, he would stop in full humility and with meticulous care, accept the food and take it and thereafter soon return to the forest After initiation, he took food for the first time in a city named Kulagram from the hands of king Kula Once he accepted food from the hands of a pious lady Candanbala who was at that time in great distress

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Candanbala was the youngest daughter of king Cetaka While at play in the palace garden, youthful Candanbala was stolen by a wicked Vidyadhara but on the instant return of his wife, the coward Vidyadhara discarded her in a forest There a Bhila (tribal) caught her and sold her to a merchant named Brisabhadatta The name of the merchant's wife was Subhadra When she saw this girl in her home, she was somewhat al at the thought that her husband might have fallen a prey to the dame's beauty Though of the age of her daughter, she looked on her as a co-wife So she started becoming rude to her and her rudeness went on increasing
Subhadra tied her with a chain and offered her the worst food in the household (Kudai rice mixed with a fermented stuff) in an earthen pot Taking it to be a misfortune which had come upon her, she was spending her days with perfect calm And in fact under the situation, this was all she could do
One day monk Vardhamana came to the city of Kausambi where Candana was to search for food as per his conditions. He was passing by the house where Candana lived like a prisoner This was a lucky turn of her fortune. When she saw the monk, she was thrilled. She ran out to the monk to pay him her homage and obeisance She did not feel even for a moment that she was in chains As she ran towards the monk, lo, behold, what did happen ? People saw to their surprise that the chains with which she was held captive had broken down, and she was free Her tonsured head had now an overgrowth of hairs As the people were busy witnessing the magic, Candana was paying her homage and obeisance and begging for the acceptance of her offer of food. She did not think for a moment what she had to offer is only the Kudai rice.
The monk accepted the offer of food, took it and turned his steps towards the forest The homage paid by her was a grand success Candana was now free At a later date, Candana found shelter in Mahavira's order of monks to be the head of the nuns.
People talked loudly of the great power of the monk and of good luck of Candana Everywhere on that day in cottages and

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on the highways, this was the only topic of discussion Someone was saying, “A bondage is a bondage so long as one feels it. Though outwardly the soul is in bondage inwardly it is free. From an infinite time, people have forgotten about the freedom of the soul, while they harp on its bondage. Thus people are tied by their feeling which is worse than the material bondage. If this bondage of feeling goes and if one feels that he is free. then even external bondage goes. The feeling of bondage, the remembrance of bondage, the thought of bondage makes one mean, lowly, their reverse makes one vigorous and powerful, and when one is conscious of his vigour, where does bondage stand ? The forgetfulness of Candana about her bondage became the cause of her liberation”
A second one said, "How is it possible to deny bondage when it is very much there and to say that one is free ?" Said a third one, “It is possible It is possible to declare oneself free Looked at objectively, things are also like that. The bondage is at the surface, inside the whole thing is free by nature There is no bondage in nature, and once this is admitted, the bondage on the categories start to drop The deepest feeling of freedom is possible in the midst of bondage because the being inside is free, and the freedom of this internal being is capable to cut the bondage of category"
In the course of his wanderings monk Vardhamana reached Ujjaini. There he assumed pratimā-yoga and went into a trance in a cremation ground called Atimuktaka Sthanurudra who was an exceedingly wicked fellow started creating great disturbances By dint of his power, he assumed fierce forms and made a futile effort to disturb him He started launching disturbances which are the habit of fierce animals, Bhilas and demons But in the monk's perseverance, Sthanurudra witnessed the real heroism He realised that heroism was freedom from fear and a state of firmness Heroism was not a category of violence, but non-violence itself His disturbances could not overwhelm the monk
In the case of the indifferent monks who are dedicated to the realisation of they self never experience favourable-adverse situa

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tions, because their thoughts are turned inward. Even if such situations arise, they leave no mark on them beyond being recorded in their knowledge It happens like that because they live on by knowing and seeing the destiny of self and of others When Sthanurudra saw the severe penance of the monk, when he saw his unperturbed frame in the midst of severe disturbances and his posture of detachment, he felt himself to be small With fear and surprise, he expressed regret and started singing in praise of the monk.
Even this change in Sthanurudra made no impact on MahaVira He was absorbed within He was fully minding his own business, as Sthanurudra was busy with his own
In this manner, the monk was steadily progressing on the road to detachment In practising penances, both internal and external, he had spent twelve years. One day at the age of
42, he came to a forest named Manohara on the bank of the river Rujukula near the village Jrimbhika There beneath a Sala tree, on a shining slab of stone, he assumed pratima-yoga and sat down in a trance It was evening on the tenth day of the bright half of Vaisakha The moon shone between the two stars named Hasta and Uttara. With the help of his soul, he experienced the purest states. By dint of a great vigour he rose to apratipāti ksapakasreni and entered into pure meditation With the deepest of concentration on the self, he erased the remnants of his attachment and became fully detached. No sooner did he attain the stage of detachment than he had the realisation of the supreme knowledge, kevalajnāna
Now he became wholly detached, all-knowing, a Bhagavan. He became a great hero, Mahavira by dint of his victory over delusion, attachment and greed. Right then, a great virtue named Tirthankara came up and he became a Tirthankara
Saudharmendra saw at once that Tirthankara Mahavira had come to acquire the supreme knowledge At once he came down and performed the kalyaṇaka ceremony befitting the occasion. He ordered Kuvera to erect a congregation hall where the Tirthankara could deliver his first sermon The congregation hall of a Tirthankara is called samavasarana.

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On receiving the order from Indra, Kuvera exhausted all his resources and skill in the construction of the congregation hall He erected a circular platform on which the Tırthankara was to take his seat. All around the platform there were seats for the members of the audience. In a Tirthankara's congregation all are seated alike, a king or a pauper, a well-to-do or a humble and it is open to all. Thus even animals, birds and beasts take their seat along with monks and nuns, men followers and women followers, even gods and goddesses. Such a motley audience is difficult to find on any other occassion.
The organisation of a Tirthankara's congregation is the most amazing thing, the more so when the speaker is no less a person than Tirthankara and its organiser is Indra himself. Words are not enough to describe this But still the Jaina texts contain an elaborate description of the occasion, and interested readers may refer to them.
All the districts on the two banks of Rijukula got the notification of the coming event with the beating of the heavenly drums. A huge crowd of people assembled to hear the divine voice of the Tirthankara The hall was full but the Tirthankara did not speak a word. When the scheduled time was up, the disappointed people departed. They had, however, seen the Tirthankara, though they could not hear his words.
All this was not over in a day; it was repeated for several days People assembled day after day, but the divine voice did not come out. After a few days, Bhagavan Mahavira moved out from that place. The people of that place remained insatiated They could not benefit from the divine sermon.
No sooner did the Tirthankara move out than the congregation here came to an end; but where he next stopped, a similar congregation came up. People came, saw the Tirthankara but did not hear his words This went on repeating from place to place, till, in the course of his wanderings, he reached a mountain named Vipula near Rajagriha Here also a vast congregation was held, a vast audience assembled, but the silence did not end Thus 65 days were over. Along with the other members of the audience, the patience of the principal organiser

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Indra too was exhausted Although he was pretty certain that the Tirthanakara would speak out at the right moment, but a time-span of 65 days was pretty long and this made him somewhat anxious So he applied his extra-sensory knowledge at once to resolve the mistery He could see that in the assembly there was not a single person who was fit enough to be his principal disciple, called Gangadhara So he extended the boundary of his knowledge to find such person and his vision fell on Indrabhuti who happened to be a great scholar, and there it became fixed.
Indrabhuti was a great Vedic scholar He had 500 disciples. When Indra realised that Indrabhuti was the right person to receive the divine words and to be his leading disciple, he guised himself as an old Brahmin and reached the hermitage of Indrabhuti.
Indra produced two couplets and appearing before Indrabhuti in the guise of a disciple of Mahavira, he requested him to explain the couplets which were as follows:
traikālyam dravyaaştkam navapada sahitam jīvaṣaṭkāya lesyah, pancānye castikāyā vratasamitigatirjnānacāritrabhedah, ityetanmokşamülam tribhuvanamahitaih proktamarhadbhirisaih, pratyeti sraddadhāti spṛśati ca matimān yah sa vai suddhadṛştıh.
On hearing these couplets, Indrabhuti, who was not conversant with the Arhat (Jina) way was full of thought Three time-periods, six-objects, nine fundamentals, six types of beings, six tinges, five astikayas (things that be), vows, disciplines, existences, knowledge, conduct-what was these ? What were their etimological implications, their differences? Indrabhuti did not know these A literal rendering would not serve the purpose In case the man asked what these were, what were three time-periods, six objects, etc etc what reply would he give? And yet he hesitated to confess total ignorance
Indra could read the ups and downs in his thoughts Touching his weakest chord, he said, "Shall I have to go away in disappointment from the doors of the great scholar Indrabhuti ?"

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This was a direct challenge to Indrabhuti's pride, but collecting himself somehow he said, “I shall discuss these with your Guru Let us go to him. Where is he ?" So they started, the old Brahmin leading, followed by Indrabhuti Gautama and his 500 disciples.
The time for Indrabhuti's attaining the right path was now near And the time for Bhagavan Mahavira's uttering the divine words was also ripe As he reached the proximity of the congregation hall, the hardness of his thought was replaced by tenderness As he looked at the pillar of pride at the gate of the hall, his pride melted away and his dark patches (tamah) were gone. He reached the hall in all humility, witnessed its pomp and grandeur and then saw inside seated the Tirthankara, Bhagavan Mahavira. He went on gazing at him without a break, and yet his eyes had no satiation Bhagavan Mahavira was seated in the vacuum, separated from the throne by a gap of two inches (four fingers) His calm and tranquil posture clearly reflected his inner state which was beyond any disturbance
As Bhagavan Mahavira sat wholly immersed in self, perhaps this posture might have suggested to Indrabhuti Gautama something like this; “Well, if you need bliss beyond the senses, and beatitude, why stare at me? Stare at thyself You yourself are a great soul (Paramatman) made of infinite knowledge and infinite bliss Till now, you have been busy in looking for these in others, so that you have never thought of turning to thy own self But now why look at me ? Look at thyself. One's own soul is the only object worth knowing, worth seeing Now, what this soul is cannot be explained it cannot be expressed in words This object, the soul, which is worth knowing, the only object worthy of knowledge, it can only be felt This soul which is worth feeling about is all knowledge and bliss So you take away your vision from all external objects, from their nature as also from disturbances in the soul, and fix this vision straight on thy soul Do it ! Do it ! Do it !
On receipt of this implicit inspiration, Indrabhuti Gautama also turned in ward, and when he came out, there was an unusual peace printed on his face Today he had realised something

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which he had never realised in the past He had just now felt the soul and tested the bliss which is beyond the sense organs He had a thrill all over the body. Now he was keen to live in that state of bliss for the greater part of the time. So in the presence of the Master he got initiated, and by dint of his great vigour he acquired upto the fourth type of knowledge, viz., knowledge of the psychology of others
He was internally overwhelmed because of the infinite gain he had from Bhagavan Mahavira. It was through his favour that he had known the right path which terminate the cycle of birth and death In his heart, he felt a great devotion for the Master and started singing hymn in praise of him which was as follows:
“Oh Holder of joy beyond sense organs and Master of knowledge! Oh Master of supreme detachment; Your personality is as vast as the sky and as deep as the ocean Oh Tirthankara Bhagavan Mahavira! Noble you are !
"Oh Indra among the Jinas! Your greatness does not consist in external grandeur In fact, you don't have it. You rejected it wholesale at the time of initiation Your greatness lies in your internal treasure
“Your magnanimity cannot be measured by this congregation or any other show, and you are great not because many mighty emperors, gods, even Indra touch your feet with their forehead I do not consider you great because you can fly through the sky or you can maintain your body without the intake of food. Such amazing excesses are based on virtue and could be found even in others.
“You are great because of your internal treasure, that treasure consists of omniscience and supreme detachment, no friend, no foe; equal treatment to all. Your internal treasure consists of your unqualified knowledge of all things in the universe including the sky over non-universe, their incessant transformation, what they had been, what they are, what they are going to be,-all these you clearly know as you know a berry on the palm of your hand, free from any other authority, only knowing, knowledge for the sake of knowledge, that is your real treasure.
“Oh Lord! I have been impressed by your omniscience and

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detachment. To know these is to know you. Those with attachment are known from their households, their parents, their children Oh Jinesvara; you have nothing to do with these. I am lucky to have seen you. My human life has been useful What I wanted to get out of it I have got. I have not only obtained you, Oh Master, I have obtained myself
"Oh Lord! Only those who know your treasure and recognise it know you; the rest are mere onlookers The king comes and he is followed by his retinue. They are overwhelmed by the external grandeur, they bow their head, they pray for worldly things, they consider you to be a donor of worldly objects, and overwhelmed with devotion they describe you to be the donor of worldly objects, of treasures external, a great master.
"Oh Bhagavan' they are not your real devotees, they are the devotees of worldly pleasures. To them, worldly pleasures are everything, their God They bow not only to you but to anyone who can gratify their hankering
“Oh Lord! How very amazing it is that the worldly pleasures of which you denied yourself they are running mad after them, they consider them to be useful and they are begging for them, and looking upon you as their donor Oh Lord! Infinite is the importance of your unlimited knowledge, but equally infinite is ignorance of the ignoramous How else could they behave like this ?
“Oh Lord! Anyone who knows and recognises your omniscience and detachment also knows and recognises himself, and his delusion (falsehood) wholly goes With his personality turned inward he can gradually end the delusion which enshrouds his conduct and over a period of time he himself acquires detachment His delusion, attachment, greed go out in totality He comes to know the universe, as well as the non-universe, he himself becomes omniscient and detached ”3
"Oh Lord! One who has acquired detachment and omniscience in his knowledge after the exhaustion and tranquilisation, over time
3 Pravacanasāra, Gatha, 80-81

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he masters full detachment and omniscience. The knowledge of the omniscience is indeed infinitely important, but one who has acquired in his knowledge the tint of omniscience, even his knowledge is by no means less important, because that is the seed of omniscience For, in the absence of a faith in omniscience, omniscience does not blossom in the category.
"Oh Lord! People call you by diverse names, but all of them really fall short of thy greatness, they cannot contain thy great personality
"Oh Bhagavan! We call you Vardhamana, but Vardhamana is one who is still growing But you have attained full growth So there is no question of your growing any further
"Likewise you are called Sanmati, but being omniscient, you are devoid of perceptual mati knowledge. Then how can you be called Sanmati? Right and wrong perceptions are the types of perception. Likewise with the names Vira, Atvira and Mahavira. But, oh Lord, even these cannot contain your superhuman personality There is no word in human vocabulary which can cover your superhuman personality. And this is right. Has there ever been a jar to contain the ocean? Your personality which is as great as the ocean cannot be put inside the jar of vocabulary.
"Oh Lord! You were named at a time when you were neither detached nor omniscient A dress tailored for a boy of 5 is of no use when he is 25; in the same manner, the names given to you when you were a child with little knowledge cannot adequately describe your great personality now with detachment and omniscience.
"Not only that the aforesaid names are not adequate to describe your infinite greatness, I too do not possess a word which may adequately describe you. Your greatness is beyond words It may be known but cannot be expressed
"Oh Lord! Some people say that omniscience and detachment are impossible to acquire. Then how can you have detachment

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and omniscience ? Without total omniscience how can there be the omniscience of categories? Oh Jinendra! Detachment and omniscience are not impossible states, for vices (like attachment) and covers (like enshrouding of knowledge) wax and wane, and anything that waxes and wanes may some day end This has happened to you, so that you are now fully detached and omniscient."
"Oh Jinendra! Minute objects, objects near and objects at a distance can surely be known by some sort of direct knowledge, for they can be known from inference And anything which can be inferred may be known by direct knowledge So omniscience is not impossible 5
"Oh Lord' That omniscience has taken shape in you All are anxiously waiting to receive the nectar-like shower of your words, in the same manner as the farmers wait for a rainfall after a dry Asadha. Now time has come for you to speak, and everyone expects it, so that people may understand the fundamentals and derive immense good for themselves from your words, unobstructed by sense perception and unambiguous."
The most pleasant surprise, however, was that as Indrabhuti Gautama was busy singing in praise, the divine words began to flow from the lips of the Lord. The Omkara sound was spreading out and the nature of the soul was getting revealed by that. It was virtually a shower of nectar The members of the audience were soaked in the joy It was the first day of the dark half of Sravana, the day on which the sermon by the Lord commenced That day is celebrated all over the country as the Vira Sasana Day upto this time.
Alongwith Indrabhuti Gautama, his disciples also joined the order of Mahavira
The desire of Indra was fulfilled The long expected divine words of the Lord had been tasted by everybody. As the greenery
4 Devāgama Stotra (Aptamīmānsā), śloka 4. 5 Ibid, sloka 5

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in the month of Sravana imparts joy to every body, so did the divine words of the Lord All were especially grateful to Gautama and gossip was afloat that the divine words had emerged only after his auspicious entry. Even Indra was grateful to him In singing in praise of him, said he, “My master! because of your auspicious grace, people got the chance of receiving the divine words"
Said Gautama, "Oh king of the gods! You are exaggerating, What grace could I shower ? Rather, grace has been showerd on this humble fellow from the Lord. Anything happens as per destiny on the arrival of the appropriate time, and at that time necessary endeavour is made and favourable factors rally That the Lord did not speak till my coming and that his words came out after my arrival—this is said in usage but the truism is that the moment had at last arrived for the Lord to speak and for
e to come on the right track which in fact coincided.
Taking his query a little further, Indra said, “How it is so ?”
Said the Ganadhaia, “Before Bhagavan Mahavira, from the first Tirthankara Risabhadeva till Parsva, for all the 23 Tirthankaras, there was hardly any time gap between their omniscience and their divine voice coming out, but in the case of Mahavira, he attained omniscience on the 10th day of the second half of Baisakha, and his divine voice came out on the first day of the first half of Sravana, a gap of 66 days, which was some what unprecedented When the cause was looked into, it was found that on the surface of it, three events, viz. my coming, the commencement of the divine voice and my appointment as a Ganadhar, took place more or less about the same time. So outwardly they were colinked, and it is being said like that ”
Said Indra, “Do you then think that to say like this is a false statement ?"
Said the Ganadhara, “Who says it is a false statement ? Relative to the cause people say like that but cause does not give rise to the action. Whatever happens to a thing is inherent in it

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and it fructifies itself so to say that someone else is the cause is nothing but a mare usuge."
Jaidhubala
On this event, Acarya Virasena writes in the commentary of Kasāya Pāhuda in part as follows:
Question-Why for 66 days after the attainment of omniscience did the divine voice not come forth ?
Answer-It was because there was no Ganadhara during this period.
Question-Why didn't Saudharmendra bring forth a Ganadhara immediately on the attainment of omniscience ?
Answer-Because he was unable to bring forth one till the arrival of an appropriate time. In fact, during this period did not have the faculty to do so
Question How is it that the divine voice comes out only on the appearance of one who has accepted the five Great Vows' at his feet, and not on the appearance of anyone else?
Answer-Such is the nature and nature cannot be questioned by others There will be chaos if the nature is questioned.
After this, due to the good luck of people at large. Bhagavan Mahavira wondered over Kası, Kasmir, Kuru, Magadha, Kosala, Kamarupa, Kaccha, Kalinga, Kurujungala, Kiskindha, Malladesa, Pancala, Kerala, Bhadra, Cedı, Dasarna, Banga, Anga, Andhra, Kusinagara, Malaya, Vidarbha, Gauda and many other places 7
6 Kasāya Pahuda, p 76. 7 kaśyām kaśmiradeśe kuruşu ca magadhe kausale kamarupe/
kacche kale kalınge janapadamahite jāngatante kuradau // kuskindhe malladeśe sukrtijanamanasto sade dharmayrstim / kurvan śāstā Jinendro viharatı niyatam tam yaje'hm trikālam // pancale kerale va'mytapadamıhırobhdra cedi daśarna | bangandhroliko sinagara malayavidarbhesu gaude Susahye // sitasuras mujālādamritamıya sabham dharmapīju sadhara Sincan yogavirāmah parinamayati ca svāntasudhim yananām //
--Pratisthāpaiha, 9/6 (Tirthankara, Vardhamana, p. 67).

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In this manner, Tirthankara Bhagavan Mahavira went on wondering and delivering sermons all over India for about 30 years As many of these wanderings took place in a certain region, it has come to be called Bihar, which is a State in the Indian Union. Quite a few cities in this legion took their names from him The districts of Vardhamana and Birbhum in West Bengal are also named after him. The town of Singhabhumi is named after his emblem.
Wherever he went, he delivered his sermons thrice-morning, midday and evening, for six hours at a time Just as with sunrise the darkness of the night goes, in the same manner, the perversions and darkness of ignorance began to disappear by his divine sermons.
Wherever he went and spoke, everybody, from the king to the commoner, was inspired, and thousands became his admirers or followers. Thousands acquired right knowledge everyday and hundreds accepted the vows so that the whole environment was charged with spirituality
On account of the influence of his sermons, the whole country acquired a non-violent environment. Violence, pomp, guru-dom and devilry were wiped out. Although he spoke on the serious things and explained their significance, yet everybody heard his words in his own language. His sermons were called the divine voice
The divine voice while announcing the inherent independence also propagated a path of self-reliance in the categories for acquiring full independence. Self-reliance means a concentration on one's pure soul as distinguished from others Independence can be acquired only through one's own effort. Eternal bliss and independence cannot be a gift, nor can these be acquired with another's strength
What came out in the words of Bhagavan Mahavira was no new truth Truth is truth, it cannot be old or new. What was said was permanent, eternally true He did not create truth, but simply revealed it.

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The truths which hold in the three time periods and which were now revealed, and the Sarvodaya Tirtha which was born in his words are the subject matter of the second part of this book They may be summarised as follows:
* Each soul is independent, and not under any other.
* All souls are equal, none being higher or lower
Happi
* Each soul has in it infinite knowledge and bliss
ness does not come from outside
* Not only soul, but each object is subject to transformation, and there is not, and cannot be, any interference in this process
* Each soul is unhappy due to its own mistake and may
be happy on rectifying the mistake
* The greatest mistake lies in not knowing one's own self,
and to know one's own true nature is the rectification of that mistake,
* God is not a separate entity, through right effort every
soul may become a God.
into
thyself
* Know thyself, recognise thyself, penetrate
and be a God
He
* God is not the creator-protector of the universe
only knows and sees the whole universe
* He who after knowing the entire universe may remain
detached or who without being involved into it knows the universe is a God.
Besides Indrabhuti Gautama, he had other Ganadharas whose names are as follows:
1 Agnibhuti,
2 Vayubhuti,
3. Sucidatta,
4. Sudharma,

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5. Manuvya, 6 Mauryaputra, 7 Akampana, 8 Acala, 9 Medarya, 10. Prayasa 8
Among the sravaka followers, the most important was Emperor Srenika Bimbisara of Magadha. Among his active followers, there were 14,000 monks, 36,000 nuns, 100,000 male sravakas and 300,000 female sravikas The number of devotees and admirers was beyond count
In the end, while wandering from place to place, Bhagavan Mahavira arrived at Pava There he stopped any further wandering and sermonising. ended all activities of body, mind and speech, reached the highest state of pure (white) meditation, exhausted all karma bondages including the four which stick till the final moment, fully discarded his mortal frame and entered into the final liberation, nirrāna
This event took place just two thousand five hundred years ago. It was the last day of the dark half of the month of Kartika, and the night was pitchy dark. The morning was soon to start Even before the rays of the morning sun could brighten the hill tops Lord Mahavira went into liberation
On receiving the news of his liberation, the gods came down to perform the last ceremony The city of Pava became illuminated with lights When black she-cobra bites some one and turns upside down, its white colour on the other side comes up and dark colour on the surface goes down, in the same manner, it appeared that the dark night which took away the Lord from our midst turned upside down so that its brightness on the other side had come up
Difficult to say whether the festival of light (dīpāvalī) should be called a festival of light or darkness, since it took away our Lord from us But since he had entered into libera
8 indrabhutirti proktah prathamo ganadharinam
agnibhütırdviti yaśca vāyubhutistytiyakah / 41. Sucidattasturīyastu sudharmah pancamastath / sastho mānubya it yukto mauryaputrastu saptamah // 42 astamohakampanākhyātıracalo navamo matah medaryo daśamohant pastu prabhāsah sai va eva te // 43
-Hariyamsa Purana, 3/41-43

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The Tirtha created by Mahavira is Sarvodaya Tirtha. He did not found it on the top of some mountain or on the bank of some river His sermon is his Tirtha, his word is his Tirtha, and by dint of these, he became the creator of the Tirtha, Tirthankara. In his revelation of the multi-facettedness of object, the most important thing that has come out is the independence of object. Through his divine words has come out not only the independence of beings, but also of the smallest particles
Everything in the universe is fully independent He is the sole architect of his own transformation In other words, there is not even the minutest interference from outside
He has clearly and succinctly ruled out creatorship This not only means that there is no creator-god of the universe; it also means that no object is the creator of another To accept the existence of a transcendental power as the author of the universe is what may be called one "kartāvāda, and to consider one object to be the author of another, it leads to many kartāvāda
This universe is without a beginning and infinite. No one has created it, no one can destroy it; it is there on its own merit. The universe can never be destroyed, but it changes; and the change does not take place once in a while, it is a continuous process
Though changing, the universe is eternal, and though eternal, it changes In other words, it may be called eternal-non-eternal Its eternality is axiomatic, change is its inherent nature Like eternality, non-eternality is also in the nature of objects. Each object is sat (to be) and sat is linked with genesis-corrotioneternality.1 Genesis and corrotion are words for change; eternality for permanence. An object is an object because it has genesis, corrotion and eternality An object has quality as well
1 utpadavyayadhrauvy ayuktam sat, Tattvartha Sutra, 5/30

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as category.2
That which exists in all parts and categories of an object is its quality; the transformation of the quality is its category.
Six Objects
This universe is nothing but a conglomeration of six objects3 which are soul (Java), matter (pudgala), motion (dharma), rest (adharma), space (ākāśa) and time (kāla). Leaving aside the soul, other five objects are non-souls
Thus this whole universe consists of souls and non-souls Souls are infinite in number; non-souls infinite-times more Motion, rest and space are each singular " Time is ennumerable.5
The soul has the capacity for knowledge and faith." Anything that has touch, taste, smell and colour is matter.7 All that is the visible universe coming within the purview of the organs of sense IS some form of matter, hence matter. Anything which helps the self-moving soul and matter to move IS motion. Anything which helps the self-moving and selfresting soul to stop is rest The space is instrumental in enveloping all objects, and time is instrumental in changing all objects &
usage,
the
The topics of motion and rest are elaborated only in the Jaina philosophy, and in no other philosophy. In popular terms dharma and adharma are used to signify philosophy, way (path), doctrine, usage, virtue and vice, etc, but these meanings are not relevant in the Jaina context. These two are independent objects which, like oil in the seed, pervades the whole universe In the Jaina philosophy, compared to soul and matter, other four objects, viz,
2 gunaparyayavad dravyam, Tattvartha Sutra, 5/38
3 Dvadaśanuprekṣā, Gāthā, 39.
4 a ākāśadekadravyanı, Tattvartha Sutra, 516.
5 te kalānu asamkhadavvāni, Dravya Samgraha, Gathā, 22
6 upayoga lakṣaṇam/sa dvividho'stacaturbheda, Tattvartha Sutra, 2/8-9
7 sparsarasagandhavarna vantah pudglah, Tattvartha Sutra, 5/23.
8 Dravya Samgraha, Gāthā, 17-21; Pravacanasāra, Gāthā, 133-34

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motion, rest, space and time, have received scant attention. For, the Jaina doctrines seek to establish, and such has been the tenor of their advice, the need to attain happiness and to eradicate misery
While defining the word dharma, the well-known Acarya Samantabhadra has said:
Jaina
“Religion is something which takes the living beings out of the worldly misery and establish them in the highest bliss."9
The Central Point of the Thesis
All the living beings in the universe want pleasure and are afraid of pain This is why the Tirthankaras have tendered advice on how to remove misery and how to attain pleasure. Even the purpose of the advice of Tirthankara Mahavira was to indicate the way to the suffering beings to attain liberation from misery, disease and suffering Even everything else in the words of the Jinas is directed to this same end. Even the discussion on the six objects, seven fundamentals and nine padārthas keeps the same in view, viz , misery and its cause, happiness and its cause
of the six objects, leaving aside the soul, the remaining five are non-soul matter, so that they have no consciousness and hence no occasion of ever being happy or miserable Happiness and misery are experienced by the conscious beings, as they are the feelings of the conscious beings The five non-soul objects have no feeling, and so there is no question of their having any understanding or being happy or unhappy The problem concerns only the living beings, for they are in misery and they intend to be happy This is the reason why they have been so little noticed in the Jaina texts
Pudgala or matter is of twenty three types, of which only five are relevant of the living beings called varganā, viz., food, speech, mind, taijas and karman. The Jaina Agamas have taken note of five body forms in which the worldly soul main
samsäraduhkatah sattyän yo dharatyuttame sukhe, Ratna Karanda Srāvakacara, sloka, 2

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tain relation with the world, viz, gross, fluid, caloric, taijas and kārman The first three are constituted from food, the fourth from energy and the last one from kārman matter. The mind is made from vargaṇā of the same name and language from vargana of the same name which takes the form of words. So in the description of the pudgala (matter) in the Jaina Agamas, highest attention is given to matter of these five varieties
The centre of attention in the words of Mahavira is the soul and everything else has been allowed to take a place only when and to what extent required. In other words, he has spoken about the soul in order to understand the soul, but he has spoken about the non-soul (matter) also to understand the soul.10 For, to provide welfare for the soul, it is necessary to know the soul. Every thing else which may be relevant are just to be known and used for the purpose They have to be discarded and thrown out when they have been used
This is the most crucial fact about Tirthankara Mahavira's technique If this is not borne in mind, it becomes difficult to understand him to the full.
Karma
Of the five forms of matter, the one is called karman. It is the outcome of the transformation into karma, matter (particles) which arise out of phychological distortions, like delusion, attachment, greed, etc, in the soul 11 This transform of kärman matter into karma is called dravya karma or objective karma. It has eight varieties, viz, karma obstructing knowledge, karma obstructing faith, karma giving experience, karma causing delusion, karma giving life-span, karma giving a name, karma giving lineage and karma causing obstruction 12 A further break-up of these eight would give 148 types, the details of which are available in Gommaṭasāra (Karmakāṇda), Tattvārtha Sūtra, etc
The sort of karma which arise out of psychological distortions
10 Quoted in Vrhad-nayacakra, Gatha, 284.
11 Jivakṛtam parināmam nimittamatram prapadya punaranye svayameva parinamante'tra pudgalah karmabhāvena
12 Gommațasara, Karmakāṇḍa, Gatha, 8.
-Puruşarthasiddhyupaya, Sloka, 12.

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69
like delusion, attachment, greed, etc, are called subjective (bhava) karma Thus karma has, in the main, two types, viz., objective and subjective
soul and matter (karma, 13 When the objective kart subiective
Soul and matter (karma, no-karma) have, from an infinite time, remained intei mingled as one 13 When the objective karma like the one obstructing knowledge, etc, come up, they generate subjective karma like delusion, attachment, greed, etc., and vice versa The objective karma are not only instrumental for subjective karma, they also become instrumental for the association of no-karma No-karma stands for the acquisition of gross body, etc
In this manner the subjective karma like delusion, attachment, greed, etc, the objective karma like obstruction to knowledge and no-karma like the acquision of the body, etc, continue to form combinations, causing misery to the soul The state of misery of the soul is called samsāra or worldly life Liberation from worldly life is mokşa and the means to it is called road to mokşa
This road to liberation is the only aim of the words of Mahavira To try to find anything else in his words is futile.
Dharma Tirtha
The words uttered by Mahavira constitule his religion, which in the words of Acarya Samantabhadra is Sarvodaya Tirtha 14 Sarvodaya stands for the upliftment of all. In other words, this is an order in which every one has an equal opportunity to rise, everyone may attain the highest position, everyone has full right to knowledge and happiness Such is the doctrine of Sarvodaya In this sense, the Jaina doctrines which have handed down from an infinite past and which have been restated by Tirthankara Mahavira are the true Sarvodaya Tirtha, for, in this Tirtha, the highest position has not been reserved for a single person (implying God) Any soul can attain this lofty stale and become Paramatman by treading the path of the Jinas.
13 Ibid Gatha, 2 14 sarväntavadtadguna mukhya kalpam
sarväntasun yam ca mitho'napek şanı sarva'' padamantakaram nirantam sarvodayanı tarthamıdan tavaiva-Yukt yanuśāsaue, Sloka, 61.

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The Jaina Agamas have propounded the idea of equal feeling to all in a manner which is not to be come across any where else. In the words of Mahavira equality has been given the pride of place by being treated at par with independence In fact, independence and equality are the two light towers of his teaching on which is placed the lamp of anekāntavāda (multifacettedness) in the style of syâd (may be) and wherefrom emanate other doctrines like non-violence, non-lie, non-sex, nonpossession and non-theft.
What is this Dharma Tirtha or road to liberation as enunciated by Mahariva ? This part of the book seeks to provide an answer to this question.
What is Dharma ?
Dharma stands for the nature of a thing Whatever is the nature of a thing may be called its dharma Etimologically, dharma stands for 'to hold together'. A thing is held together by its nature; or, to put it in a different way, every thing sticks fast to its own nature So that nature is the dharma of the
thing
The embodiment of knowledge, faith, conduct, devotion, etc., etc ,-an infinite number of things like this constitute the soul These hold together the soul or are held by the soul So these constitute the dharma of the soul Likewise, touch, taste, smell, colour, etc., are the qualities of matter These hold matter together, or are held by matter. So these constitute the dharma of matter.
It is also in the nature of things that qualities get transformed. This leads to two results. When this is favourable, it is called sva-bhāva paryāya, of favourable categories When the reverse, it is called bi-bhāva paryāya or unfavourable categories. Thus dharma not only connotes the nature of a thing, but also the sva-bhāva paryāya, which is a favourable transformation of qualities
Since here the topic under
consideration is dharma which

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gives happiness and peace to the soul, so the dharma propounded by Mahavira is not merely a dharma, but the dharma of the soul, which is a road to liberation, a means to end misery. The nature of objects spread over three time periods is already there. What is to gain or lose in these? These have simply to be known and understood But the soul veiled in ignorance has not understood these, never paid any heed to these, never felt these.
It is so only one duty to see the nature of this self On having seen it and with its help the favourable category type of dharma that emerges is the coveted dharma and this has to be attained. It is like the three jewels. The nature of the soul is primarily the dharma of the soul, and to see it face to face, to know it, to enter into it, to be rooted in it, to get mixed up with it, is the favourable category of dharma which is also called right knowledge, right faith and right conduct, the religion of triple jewels, the road to liberation
Acarya Umasvati writes in his monumental work Tattvārtha Sūtra: samyagdarśanajnānacāritrāņi mokşamārga, ie., right faith, right knowledge and right conduct, these three together are the road to liberation.
Declaring this to be the dharma, Acarya Samantabhadra wrote:
saddrstinānabrttānı dharmam dharmesvarā biduh yadiyapratyanikānı bhavanti bhavapadhatihts
The Tirthankara who is the Lord of the dharma has said, "Right faith, right knowledge and right conduct are religion, and reverse to them, wrong faith, wrong knowledge and wrong conduct, which augment the distress of the worldly life are adharma”
Faith, knowledge and conduct are the qualities of the soul. Their favourable fructification is respectively right faith, right knowledge and right conduct. When favourable to the self,
15 Ratnakaranda Sravakācāra, Sloka, 3

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they are dharma, cause of happiness, happiness itself Wrong faith, wrong knowledge and wrong conduct are respectively the unfavourable fructification of the same categories, hence adharma, cause of misery, misery itself A reverse faith in the soul and the seven fundamentals is wrong faith, a reversal of knowledge is wrong knowledge, and passions and inclinations to objects associated with wrong faith and wrong knowledge constitute wrong conduct
Be it remembered that right faith, right knowledge and right conduct are not three separate roads to liberation; together they constitute a single road to liberation. In other words, there are not three separate roads to liberation, but a single one in which all the three over-merged These three are in the nature of the self; for to determine the nature of the self is right faith, to know the nature of the self is right knowledge and to be absolved or lost in the nature of the self is right conduct 16
Right faith
A right understanding of the fundamentals, such as the soul etc, is right faith.17 Seven fundamentals called tattvärthas are: soul, matter, influx, bondage, check, exhaustion and liberation 18 These seven are also called tattva as well as artha, so called here tattvärtha Here the word tattva signifies cognition and artha object. As the understanding covers both cognition and object, so both the words have been used.
At times, virtue and vice are added to give nine fundamentals.19 When not separately mentioned, these two, virtue and vice, are included in influx and bondage.
In right faith, the word 'faith' stands for understanding and the word 'right' to forbid its reversal. So the understanding
16 darsanamatmavınıś citiratmaparijnanamı şyate bodhah sthitiratmanı caritram kuta etebhyo bhavati bandhah
-Puruşarthasiddhyupaya, Sloka, 216.
17 tattvarthasraddhānam samyagdarsanam-Tattvartha Sutra, 1/2 18 jiväjiväsravabandhasamvaranırjarāmokṣāstattvam, Ibid 1/4. 19 jīvājīvā bhāvā puṇyam pāvam ca asavam tesim samvaraṇijjarabandho mokkho ya havanti te attha
-Pancastıkaya, Gatha, 108.

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73
of the fundamentals like the soul, etc, without any reversal is right faith 20
The above definition apart, to elucidate the term 'right faith', we have also other definitions in the Jaina texts:
1 Respect for right gods, texts and spiritual master is
right faith.21
2 The science of differentiation between self and others is
right faith 22
3 Understanding the self is right faith 23
Though, at first sight, the above definitions seem to be separate, yet with a deeper understanding it will be found that they harp on the same chord. Their different expression in different places is partly due to the context they refer to and partly due to the difference in methodology or vocabulary The great writer Todarmal has considered these at length, and while recognising their utility, he has given with proper logic a synthesis between them 24
For the attainment of right faith, it is incumbent to have the proper correct knowledge and understanding of the seven or nine fundamentals and of the nature of the gods, canonical texts and the spiritual master At the same time, it is very essential to have mastery over the science of differentiation between self and others In highlighting the characteristic of right faith, one or other of these has been over-emphasized at the cost of the rest Although one characteristic has been over emphasized at a time, since all the characteristics are
20 jīvājīvādinam tattvārthānām sadaiva kartavyam śraddhānam viparitabhiniveśa viviktamātmarupam tat
-Purusārthasiddhyupāya, Sloka, 22 21 śraddhānam paramārthanamāptāgamatapobhitam trimudhāpodhamaştānga samyagdarśanamasmayam
---Ratnakaranda Sravakācāra, Sloka, 4. 22 Mok samārga Prakasaka, p 325. 23 Purusārthasıddh yupāya, Sloka, 216; Astapāhuda (Darśanapahuda), Gatha, 20. 24 Mokşamārga Prakāšaka, p 325-32

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alike, any other may be given the same importance. For instance, the seven fundamentals include gods, canonical texts and the spiritual master. For, the soul which knows the doctrine of liberation is god and the one which knows the doctrines of check and exhaustion is the spiritual master and the words of the god and the spiritual master are the texts So on knowing the seven fundamentals one acquires the knowledge of god, texts and the spiritual master. Likewise, the seven fundamentals include the knowledge of self, and so enter into them the science of differentiation between self and others as also the feeling of self.
Right faith occupies the most important place among the means to liberation This is in deed the first step without which neither knowledge nor conduct can be right Just as without a seed a tree does not sprout, exist, grow and yield fruit, likewise, without right faith, right knowledge and right conduct do not sprout, exist, grow and yield fruit 25 Right faith is the root of religion He who slips from this slips for good, and it is not possible for him to attain liberation.26
What more, those great souls who in the past have attained liberation or in future do so have done with the help of right faith,27 so it is rightly said, "For the souls, there is nothing more helpful in this world than right faith and more harmful than wrong faith."28
The Doctrine of the Soul
The soul which by nature is knowledge and faith is the subject matter of this section. The soul has innumerable qualities like knowledge, faith, happiness, energy, respect, conduct, The incessant change in the qualities is called paryaya
etc.
25 vidyabṛttasya sambhutisthitivṛddhiphalodayah na santyasati samyakt ve bijabhave taroriva -Ratnakaranda Sravakacara, Sloka, 32. 26 dansana bhatta bhatta dansaṇabhaṭṭassa natthi nivvānam -Astapahuda (Darśanapahuḍa), Gāthā, 3.
27 kim bahuna bhanninam je siddha naravara gaye kale Sijjhihahi je vi bhavia tamjanai sammamahappam
-Astapahuḍa (Mokṣapahuḍa), Gatha, 88.
28 na samyaktvasamam kimcittraikalye trijagatyapt śreyo'śreyasca mithyatvasamam nanyattanubhṛtam -Ratnakaranda Srāvakācārā, Sloka, 34.

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or categories From the standpoint of categories, the soul has three types, viz , external soul, internal soul, great soul.
The soul which does not have right knowledge and faith in the nine fundamentals, who has no feeling about the self, and which identifies itself with matter like the physical body and the means of influx like attachment, etc., and conduct it self to be their master is the external soul.
The soul which by dint of the science of differentiation considers itself to be separate from physical body, etc, and attachment, etc., knows it, feels it, that knowing and seeing soul with right view is the internal soul
When this internal soul gives up the life of a householder, accepts the life of a monk to make right effort, becomes wholly detached by concentrating on the self as per its own nature and effort and attains the supreme knowledge, it becomes the great soul 29
In the external, internal and great souls, in these states of these, there is an ever changing, yet ever existing thing apart from the body which is consciousness. The ever-changing thing consists of influx, bondage, virtue, vice, check, exhaustion and liberation The soul is the ever existent
As a rule, it is right faith to look on this soul as something different from the rest This soul wrapped by its own merits and categories, collected and fixed in a unity by pure naya, is a complete lump of knowledge. This soul is full of right faith so that, parting company with the nine fundamentals it the only one worth attaining 30
Although because of the contact with nine fundamentals, the soul appears diversely, but it is at no time gives up its
29 for further information refer to Samadhisataka. Pujyapada; Astapahuda
(Moksapahuda) Kundakunda 30 ekatve ni yatasya śuddhanayato vyāpturyadasyāt manh
purnajnānaghanas ya darśanamıha drayyantarebhyah Pythak samyagdarśanametadeva niyamādātmā ca tatvāuayam tanmuktvā navatattvasantatimimamātmāyamekostu nah
-Samayasara, Kalaša, 6

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consciousness which it is 31
The doctrine of the soul is highly interesting In not knowing it, in not identifying with it, the soul remains an external soul in knowing it, in identifying with it, it becomes the internal soul When it is concentrated in self, in its purity, when it is absorbed in it, all the disturbing factors come to an end and the infinite, blissful state of liberation unfolds itself 32
The Doctrine of Non-soul (Matter)
Devoid of knowledge and faith and distinct from the soul is non-soul or matter, but since matter is linked up with the soul all the while, it is necessary to be very careful to understand it
Anything which does not have a soul is non-soul, eg, a table, a chair, a pen, ink, etc, but when matter is in touch with a soul, it is very often called a soul, eg, an elephant, a horse, a cow, a man Although in different species, they are a union of soul and matter. From the standpoint of the science of differentiation, the body of an elephant, a horse, a cow or a man, their touch, taste, smell and colour being made of matter is non-soul and the in-mate of that body which is in the nature of knowledge and faith is the soul It is virtually ignorance to consider the body and soul to be one; and to know the difference between the two is the right knowledge
On account of the ignorance of the difference between the body and the soul, the birth of the external soul or the body is taken to be one's own birth and the annihilation of the body is taken to be one's own death To acquire the right knowledge about the soul and non-soul, it is essential to know the difference between the two, to consider the soul as distinct from the body to be oneself, to lose the sense of ownership of the body, and to have a feel about the soul
31 atah suddhanayattam pratyagjyotiścakästi tat
navatattvagat at vepı yadekatvam na muncatı--Samayasara, Kalaša, 7 32 ahamikko khalu suddho nunmamao nānadansanasamaggo
tamhu thio taccitto savve ee khayam nem-Samayasara, Gatha, 73

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11
Influx and Bondage
Delusion, attachment, malice, etc, which arise in the soul and the self transformation of the kārman vargana of matter into karma enshrouding knowledge, etc, constitute what may be called karma-influx This influx may be objective as well as subjective. The aptitudes of the soul which attract karma obstructing knowledge, etc, which form karma, are delusion, attachment, greed, etc., and these constitute subjective influx, and the transformation of karma varganā into karma form is objective influx 33
When with the instrumentality of delusion, attachment, greed, etc., the karma particles mix up with the space points of the soul, like water mixing up with water, it is called bondage This also takes two forms, viz, objective and subjective. The beneficial and non-beneficial subjective factors of the soul which attract karma bondage enshrouding knowledge, etc, constitute subjective bondage and the bondage itself enshrouding knowledge, etc, is objective bondage 34
Influx and bondage are further divided into beneficial and non-beneficial, viz, beneficial influx and non-beneficial influx, beneficial bondage and non-beneficial bondage Although influx and bondage in general fall on the side of the inauspicious, ordinary people consider them inaupicious only when they are inauspicious, but not when on the surface of these, and at least to them, they appear to be auspicious So mainly the factors giving a sinful bondage are called inauspicious influx and the bondage itself is called inauspicious bondage, and the factors giving a pious bondage are called auspicious influx and the bondage itself is called pious bondage Those souls which have a taste and hankering for objects of pleasure obtained from pious deeds cannot cut themselves asunder from auspecious influx and auspicious bondage.
On this the following is worth quoting from Pandit Todarmal: “The sinful influx like violence is considered bad. The pious
33 āsavadı jena kammam parināmenappano sa vinneo bhāvāsayo inutto kammāsayanam paro hodi
-Dravyasamgraha, Gatha, 29. 34 Dravyasamgraha, Gatha, 32

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influx like non-violence is considered good But both, good as well as bad, lead to karma bondage, and to look for good influx in there is the outcome of a wrong outlook This has also been stated in Samayasāra (Bandhādhikāra).35
But lokale escogoo
"All the living beings have their birth and death, happiness and misery because of karma When one living being is instrumental for anyone of these on another living being, this wrong effort gives bondage Where the effort is directed to keep oti beings alive or to make them happy, that gives a pious bondage. Where it is directed to kill other living beings or to make them miserable, that gives a sinful bondage. In other words, nonviolence, etc., give pious bondage and violence, etc., give a sinful bondage All these are wrong efforts and hence should be discarded. So like violence, etc, non-violence, etc, should be discarded because they are equally a cause of bondage."36
Virtue and vice
Pious and sinful inclinations are the disturbing inner qualities of the soul. Worshipping gods, obeying the spiritual master, kindness, gift, vow, good conduct,—these are called pious inclinations because of their wholesome outcome and they bring forth wholesome opportunities. In contrast, violence, falsehood, theft, bad conduct, accumulation, etc., are called sinful, inclinations because of their unwholesome outcome. Pious inclinations give pious karma bondage and sinful inclinations give sinful karma bondage Each one may have two types, objective virtue and subjective virtue, objective vice and subjective vice
Virtue and vice are but two redundant forms of influx and bondage. The only purpose to highlight them separately is to draw attention to them For, common folks often make mistake
35 Samayasāra, Gatha, 254-56, also
saryam sadalya niyatam bhavati svakiya kar modayānmarana-jīvita duhkha sauklyam ajnanametadına yattu parah parasya kur yātpumān marana jīvitaduhkcha saukhyam 6 ajnanametadadhigamya paratparasya paśyantı ye marana jivita duhkha-saukhyam kammānyaham kytirasena cikirşavaste mithyadršo niyatamātmahano bhayantı 7
--Sama yasāra Kalasa, Bandhadhikara. 36 Mokşamarga Prakasaka, p 226

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in understanding them They mistake virtue for something good jand vice for something bad. For, virtue takes one to one of the heavens as a god whereas vice takes one to one of the hells as an infernal being
They do not realise that all the four existences give a worldly life and the worldly life is misery. Virtue and vice are both instrumental to these How can they be good when they give a worldly life ?37 Both virtue and vice lead to bondage and the interest of the soul lies in attaining a state of non-bondage. Though ordinarily virtue has been considered to be superior to vice, but on the road to liberation, even its place is negative.
In this context, Yogindudeva has written in Yogasāra in part as follows:
punņi pāvai sagga ju pāvayen naraya-ṇīvāsu ve chandivi appa munai to labhai siva vāsu
Virtue takes a soul to heaven and vice to hell One who keeps aside from either and knows the soul attains liberation.
How do virtue and vice enter into influx and bondage is indicated in the following Diagram:
pious influx
Virtue
79
pious bondage
sinful influx
influx
Vice
sinful bondage
bondage
Wholesome inclinations give rise to pious influx and pious bondage and unwholesome inclinations give rise to impious influx and impious bondage A bondage whether derived from virtue or from vice is bondage all the same It binds the soul and
37 kammamasuham kusilam suhakammam cavi jāṇaha susilam kaha tam hodi susi'am jam samsaram pavesedi-Samayasara, Gāthā, 145

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does not liberate it, virtue has been called a golden chain and vice an iron chain 38 In this context, Dr. Hiralal Jain writes:
"It is worthy of notice in this context that virtue and vice, both these inclinations lead to karma bondage Of course, of these two, the first type of bondage is favourable and pleasant for the soul to feel and the other one is unfavourable and unpleasant Hence the analogy of the two with fetters. The fetters of sin are made of iron, but the fetters of virtue are made of gold and hence are dear to put on The pious and sinful outcomes for the soul have also been called favourable and unfavourable. Both of these lead to wanderings through the world, no matter whether one takes the soul to a heaven and imparts to it pleasant experiences, or the other takes it to a hell to impart unpleasant experiences. Apart from these favourable and unfavourable outcomes is the pure state of the soul, and that pure state alone can free the soul from the karma bondage and lead to its liberation 39
Subjective influx, subjective bondage, subjective virtue and subjective vice-all these are the disturbing elements of the soul, and objective influx, objective bondage, objective virtue and objective vice-these are the transformation of matter (kārman varganā) Their total absence is liberation. So for the road to liberation, the place of these items is virtualy nil.
Doctrine of Check
The stopping of karma influx is asraya or the check 40 This also has two types, viz., subjective and objective. The pure attitude of the soul which checks karma influx is subjective check and the stoppage of karma influx itself is objective check 41 The doctrine of check is attained with the genesis of right faith Without the purification of the soul one does neither attain right faith nor can apply the check. The science of differentiation helps the purification of the soul, and with the purification of the soul passions like delusion, attachment, greed, etc., go
38 sovannı yam pı nıyalam bandhadı kalayasam pi jala putisam bandhadı eyam jīvam suhamasuham va kadam kammam
---Samayasara, Gatha, 146 39 Bharatīya Sahitya-me Jain Dharmka Yogdan, p 233 40 asravanırodhah samyarah, Tattyārtha Sutra, 9/1 41 Dravya Sangraha, Gatha, 34.

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out making room for the check 42 Thus the check is derived from controls, discipline, spirituality, anupreksa, conquest of hardships and conduct 43
81
Guptis or controls are of three types, viz, control of mind, speech and body
Samitis or disciplines are of five types, viz., discipline in movement, in speech, in begging, in receiving and throwing out and in depositing excreta.
Dharma or spirituality consists of ten items, viz, superior type of forgiveness, humility, simplicity, purity, truth, restraint, penance, renunciation, poverty and celibacy.
Anuprekṣā consists of twelve items, viz, transcience, nonsupport, worldly life, unity, differentiation, impurity, influx, check, exhaustion, universe, difficulty in enlightenment and spirituality.
Hardships are of twenty two types, viz., hunger, thirst, cold, heat, bite, nudity, restlessness, woman, carya, niṣadyā, bed, malice, homicide, begging, non-gain, disease, thorn, dirt, respect and gift, knowledge, ignorance, non-faith To conquer them is to conquer hardships.
Conduct is of five types, viz., sāmāyıka, chedopasthāpanā, parihāravisuddhi, sūkṣmasamparāya and yathākhyāta.
These have been described in details in the Jaina texts
The Doctrine of Exhaustion
The total absence of the bondage of subjective as well as objective karma is called nirjarā or exhaustion. This also has two types viz, subjective and objective. The pure attitudes of the soul which help the clearance of subjective karma constitute subjective exhaustion, and the clearance of objective karma like those enshrouding knowledge is objective exhaustion 44
42 Atmakhyatı Commentary of Samayasara, Gāthā, 183.
43 Tyttvärtha Sutra, 9/2
44 Dravya Samgraha, Gatha, 36

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The doctrine of exhaustion consists of the increase in the purity of attitudes, devoid of passions with the help of the doctrine of the soul which is all consciousness, which exists in all time periods and which is constant
On the attainment of appropriate time or on the softening of passions, karma start moving out. These two have been respectively called savipāka nirjarā and akāma nirjarā, but these are not relevant to the nirjarā or exhaustion which one comes across on the road to liberation; for, these do not help in the liberation of the soul.
Exhaustion of karma is the outcome of penance.5 Penance means the checking of desires 46 To state it in positive terms, "penance is the wave-free tranquility in the one which is consciousness”.47 If the two are combined, then we have it as follows: Penance is the wave-free tranquility in the one which is consciousness through the checking of hankerings and desires. It is of two types, viz , internal and external, and each has again six sub-types, total 12.
Fast, avamaudarya, Vrttiparisamkhyāna, avoidance of dainties and delicacies, uncomfortable bed and bodily hardship-these constitute external penance.18
Atonement, humility, begging, study, dedication of body and meditation these constitute internal penance 49
There is no scope for a detailed discussion of these at this place, but this must be clearly understood that whether it is an internal penance or an external one, it is necessary that desires must be stopped with the help of the pure aptitude of the soul.
45 tapasā nirjara ca, Tattvartha Sutra, 9/3. 46 icchanırodhastapah, quoted in Mokşamārga Prakāśaka, p. 230. 47 svaru pavıśrantanıstarangacaitanyapratapanät tapah
-Tattvapradipika Commentary of Pravacanasāra, Gatha, 14. 48 Tattvārtha Sutra, 9/19. 49 Ibid , 9120.

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Otherwise, it is no penance, for the etimological meaning of the word 'penance must be met
Penance stands for the pure state of the soul with full detachment to the extent that external penances like fasting and internal penances like atonement promote the state of detachment these become penance in that form Suppose one does not know the penance to attain detachment, but continues to perform external penance, he can never exhaust karmaso because exhaustion can be attained only through determination based on pure attitude. One with a right outlook is alone fit to practise penance
Even the ignorant people undergo fast but they do not know the right nature of penances like fast and mistake the avoidance of food intake to be a penance. For instance, fasting for the avoidance of passions, enjoyments and food,si and not for the avoidance of food alone, no matter howsoever pressing may be the desire for enjoyment and the burning of passions Their notice is not attracted to these. Depicting the situation, the great scholar Todarmal writes:
"There are many living beings who in the beginning take resolves, but within they are not free from desires and passions, so that some how they try to fulfil the desires In such cases, the end, result of the resolve is misery. For instance, some one may undergo many fasts because of which he falls ill and spends his life in illness, but does not practise religion.. .Some indulge in play when on fast, some spend the time in gambling or sleeping For, they feel that they have to spend their time somehow ... ... And when they break the fast, they take rich food and eat it voraciously "52
The fact is that those with a right outlook go on expanding
50 Mok samarga Prakāśaka, p 233. 51 kasāyavı sayāhāro tyāgo yatra vidhiyate upavasah sa vijne yah sesam langhanakam viduh
- Mok samārga Prakasaka, quoted at p 231. 52 Mokşamärga Prakāśaka, pp 238-39

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the domain of purity by steadily curbing the desires with the help of the soul, such persons alone can exhaust karma. The activities like fasting and good intention are called penance only in usage.
The Doctrine of Moksa
Moksa or liberation means to be fully free of all disturbing elements like delusion, attachment, passions, etc, of all karma enshrouding knowledge, etc, and no-karma starting with the body, etc. This also has two types, viz., subjective and objective. Those pure attitudes of the soul which are instrumental in liberating the soul from disturbing elements like delusion, passions, attachment and from karma bondage are subjective moksa. In other words, it stands for the full development of qualities like knowledge, etc, and full development of pure categories. And liberation from objective karma enshrounding knowledge, etc., and from no-karma starting with the body is objective
mokşa,53
The means to attain liberation consist of check and exhaustion (samvara-nırjarā) Thus check and exhaustion are the means and liberation is the goal Being the means, check and exhaustion constitute the road to liberation.
Check, exhaustion and liberation are useful doctrines Influx and bondage, virtue and vice, being the worldly way are non-useful doctrines For taking shelter in, the most useful doctrine is the soul which exists in all the three time periods, which is constant and pure, and the soul apart, everything else is neither useful nor non-useful. They are worth knowing, to be known, but nothing more.
On the acquisition of the knowledge of one's own self, on being absorbed in it and on having a firm conviction about it, the useful doctrines like check, exhaustion and liberation take shape one after another, and influx, bondage, virtue, vice, drop out one after another, and the universe becomes a thing worth knowing for the wise.
53 Dravya Samgraha, Gatha, 37

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In the attainment a right faith, a regular study, discussion and practice of the above doctrines occupy a pride of place. On this, Pandit Todarmal writes:
“Lo behold the importance of the analysis of doctrines ! One devoid of the analytical study of doctrines may have faith in the
ence of gods, study the canonical texts, fulfil vows, practise penances, has no right to be fixed in equanimity, and one with an analytical study of doctrines may acquire right faith even without these May be some one for some reason may acquire faith in gods, fulfil vows and penances before the mastery of doctrines, and then he comes to master the doctrines, but he becomes entitled to equanimity only after he has mastered them."54
Deva - God
Arhanta and Siddha Parameshis are the true gods The adjective 'true' has been used to differentiate them from the denigens of heavens. True gods are also called Paramatma, Bhagavan, Apta, and by similar other names. Although commonly these words are used as synonyms, the word Apta has some speciality of its own
One who is wholly detached and omniscient is a Paramatma, a Bhagavan. But Apta has some speciality which is not to be come across in the other two, viz., that apart from being detached and omniscient, he is also a wise counsellor.55 All Bhagavanas are not wise counsellors, and the Siddhas have no use of words. In the vocabulary of true gods, the adjective "wise counsellor', is used with reference to the word Apta. The adjectives detached' and 'omniscient apply to all the Arhantas and Siddhas.
It is highly essential to know the nature of a true god in order to attain right faith. According to Acarya Kundakunda, “One who knows the Arbanta by object, quality and category also knows his own soul His delusion of faith goes, and he attains right faith."56
54 Moksamārga Prakāšaka, p 260. 55 aptenocchinnado sena sarvajnenāgamesina bhavitavyam niyogena nānyatha hyāptata bhavet
-Ratnakaranda Sravakācāra, Sloka, 5 56 jo janadı arahantam davvattagunattapajayattehim So yanadı appānam moho khalu jad tassa layam
-Pravacanasāra, Jnanatattva Prajna pana Adhikara, Gatha, 80

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To know the true god, ie, to understand the implication of the three adjectives which describe the Apta, it is necessary to know their content.
The first adjective is Vitaraga or wholly detached, which refers to one who is free from delusion, attachment and greed, birth and death and 18 hardships
a elechamento che la present
The follower of the Paramatma with detachment is alone entitled to cultivate detachment. A follower of Paramatma who hankers after mundane pleasures is not a true follower of a detached and omniscient Bhagavan. Rather, he is a follower of pleasures.
The non-understanding of the true character of a Bhagavan with detachment has rendered possible many a distortion in the mode of worship. This is the reason why we look for in the images of gods, not detachment, but supernaturals. Consistent with the popular saying, 'bow we to the supernature', one comes across a crowd of worshippers in those temples where fabulous stories are tagged with the idols And where the idol is believed to help the worshipper with worldly wealth and progeny, it is even difficult to find a standing room. The rest of the temples dilapidate into ruins and none ever cleans the dust from the idols.
Bhagavan Mahavira alone has thousands of images through whom he is worshipped, but this does not make Mahavira many. He is one He is worshipped for his detachment, om and wise counselling, not because he can demonstrate magic or bestow progeny and worldly wealth. It is ridiculous to seek wealth from one who gave up his own wealth and household and went out in search of the self To call him a bestower of pleasures is to pollute his very image of detachment.
The Bhagavan who is all detachment neither helps when he is pleased nor hinders anyone when angry. And assuming with the
57 ksutpipasājarātankajanmāntakabhayasmayah na ragadve şamohaśca yasyāptah so prakırtyate
- Ratnakaranda Sravakacara, Sloka, 6.

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87
simpletons that he is the giver of joy and distress, then, how is it possible that a certain image can bestow and another cannot ? If it is said that he gives nothing but his devotees acquire virtue, then, how is it possible that this is acquired by worshipping a particular image or at a particular temple with burning of a lamp with clarified butter, and not any other image or at any other temple ?
Ignorant people have built up their Tirthankaras according to their own imagination According to them, Parsvanatha is a protector deity and Santinatha the deity of peace, Sitalnath deity of small-pox and the Siddha Bhagavan the deity of leprosy. They forget that Bhagavan is all detachment, omniscient, with infinite energy How can there be a division of work between one Bhagavan and another ?
Worldly situations, favourable and unfavourable, are the outcome of one's virtue or vice Bhagavan has nothing to do with them, for, he has exhausted all duties. He has attained fullness
Unless the Bhagavan is recognised in his true character, it is difficult to duly worship him Since Bhagavan is all detachment and omniscience, hence his devotee should also worship this. One addicted to objects and passions cannot be his follower When the desires for objects impose passions on devotion, they invariably lead to a bondage of sin, not even of virtue 58
Analysing the state of mind of the followers who are not acquainted with the character of a true god, Pandit Todarmal writes:
"They look on the Arhantas as the givers of heaven or liberation, helpers of the down-trodden, saviours of the lowly, succour of the fallen As a heretic looks upon god as the Supreme Lord, so they too look upon the Arhantas in the same manner. They forget that the outcome is that of one's own doing and the Arhantas' help is only an instrumentality,
58 Mokṣamarga Prakasaka, p 8

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for which the adjectives are attributed to him goal is purified, the Arhantas cannot bestow either liberation."59
Till one's own heaven or
"By repeating the names of the Arhantas and worshipping them, people intend to destroy evils and acquire useful things or have a cure or amass wealth. But they forget that the Arhantas are not the master of good and evil which appear only when some past karma comes up As the devotion to the Arhantas sometimes helps the fructification of previous sin, so this has at times been looked upon as the cause of the attainment of the coveted goal; but if somebody starts from the beginning to show devotion with a worldly gain in view, well, his very intention is sinful When he is adding fresh sins through hankerings and desires, how can his past sins come up for the purpose of his exit."60
The second adjective of a true god is that he is omniscient. One who knows all things and all categories fully in all the three worlds and three periods of time, alongwith non-space or the sky, is omniscient 61 In the universe, there is an infinite number of objects, each object has infinite qualities and each quality has an infinite number of categories spread over the three periods of time The omniscient personality knows all these objects, qualities and categories fully and at a time without the help of the sense organs. All that has happened in the past, all that happens in the present and all that is going to happen in the future are distinctly known to him as if they are currently happening
'One who knows all is omniscient' Although this doctrine is commonly accepted, still for want of sufficient knowledge of, and faith in, him, people become restless. As it is said, 'What the omniscient personality with supreme detachment has seen and known will take place; it cannot be otherwise. So there is no point in getting restless.'
59 Ibid., 221.
60 Mokşamarga Prakasaka, p 222.
61 sarvadravyaparyaye şu kevalasya, Tattvartha Sutra, 1/29.

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RO
On hearing this, people are taken aback. They think, 'whatever is going to happen to me is with the Lord, and I cannot do anything at my pleasure. I become dependent.' What they forget is that the Lord does not transform anything. The way things have themselves been transformed, the way they transform and the way in which they will undergo transformation is only known to the Lord, nothing more.
Knowledge only knows the other', it does not transform. Just as objects are not subservient to knowledge, so is knowledge not subservient to objects. Both are transformed due to some independent and separate causes In coming within the purview of knowledge, how is the independence of objects transgressed ? If independence is at all transgressed, it is not due to knowledge, but due to ignorance. Knowledge only knows without in anyway interfering in the process of transformation.
Such people do not have a true regard for omniscience, but since it is written in the texts that the Bhagavan is omniscient and all detachment, so they cannot but accept him as omniscient. This is why in explaining an omniscient person, they make a free use of their own imagination They say that what has happened and what is currently happening, the Bhagavan may know for certain but how can he be equally certain about things which are yet to happen They apprehend that to ac certain things which are yet to happen, the independence is violated They say that when future is uncertain, how can it be known for certain, and this makes omniscience not absolute, but somewhat diluted.
Knowledge is not uncertain, but very much certain If future is accepted to be uncertain, then, the sciences like astronomy will appear to be mere flight of imagination For instance, the eclipse of the sun is announced years before and they come out to be true The Jaina texts contain innumerable forecasts about things to happen after a gap of several hundred thousand years and these forecasts are emphatic. If the sure knowledge of the future is questioned, then all the texts will appear to be crumbling to the ground. So in the understanding of the nature of a true god, it is extremely important to determine what omniscience stands for; for this is the very root of religion.

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Regarding the spread of omniscience over three periods of time, Acarya Kundakunda writes:
jadi paccakkhamajāyam pajjāyam palaiyam ca ņānassa na havadı vā tam ņānam divvam ti hi ke parūvennti 62
Who will call it a divine knowledge if the categories of the time not yet come (future) and of the time which is lost (past) do not come within the purview of the omniscient ?
In his amplification of the knowledge of all the qualities and categories in a moment of all things worth knowing, Acarya Amritacandra writes :
“The faculty of knowledge when inclined to bring within the purview of knowledge things apriori, infinite, past-present-future, with diverse categories, the very depth of nature, the details of all the objects, no matter whether they have surpassed, got depicted, penetrated, nailed, drowned, absorbed, got reflected, like this, which (a pure soul) perceives in a moment..."-63
The nature of the soul is to know all things worth knowing all at a time. When with its full development the soul acquires the supreme knowledge, then the entire universe and vacant space are reflected in it The theme of omniscience has been elaborated by Acarya Samantabhadra in his Aptamīmānsā, Acarya Akalankadeva in his commentary to above, named Astašati and Acarya Vidyananda in his commentary on the same, named Astasahasrī Other Jaina texts on Nyaya have thrown light on this, to which the inquisitive readers may refer
The third adjective of Apta is that he is a worthy counsellor. The soul is served well only when it attained true happiness, which in its turn is attained only in not being too much restless Restlessness does not give liberation and yet to be on the road to liberation is the duty of everyone who is covetous of happiness. Advice about this road is right counsel. The divine words of the Arhantas give indications about this road to liberation,
62 Pravacanasāra, Gatha, 39. 63 Tattvapradipika Conimentary of Prayacanasāra, Gatha, 200.

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hence they constitute right counsel The Jaina texts have been written as per his words. The implication of the words “righf counsel' is to have a right knowledge of these texts.
Sastra — Texts
The knowledge for which the words of the Aptas provide the inspiration is called Agama or Texts,64 The right propagation of doctrines, which never conflict with one another and which are covered by the auspicious words of the Arhantas is called Agamas 65
All the Jaina texts have been prepared on the basis of the words of the omniscient who are all detachment, which have been codified by the monks with right knowledge who tread on the road leading to detachment and so the original authorship of all these texts is attributed to the omniscient Among subsequent writers, worthy of note are the Ganadharas, Acaryas, Preceptors, monks, even Srayakas, with right outlook.66 But the authenticity of the Jaina texts is derived from the omniscient who are all detachment. Texts written by others become authentic only in so far as they coincide with the words of the omniscient.
Since the texts are the words of the Jinas, each line of these is saturated with detachment. The words which prescribe attachment and greed to be the spiritual path can never be the words of the Jinas (texts) All words of the Jinas have the same end which is detachment.67 Detachment is the supreme religion, and all the four anuyogas have lent support to it
At some places, the advice is for complete detachment, and
64 aptavacanādınıbandhanamarthajnanamagamah, Pariksāmukha, 3/95 65 tassa muhaggadavayanam puyvāvarado savirahıyam suddham agamamıdı parıkahıyam tena du kahıyā havantı taccattha
-Niyamasara, Jivadhıkāra, Gatha, 8 66 Before reading a jaina text, the following words are chanted which will
show the importance attached to these : ......midam sastram (name of the text) namadheyam asya mulagranthakartarah sri sarvajna devastaduttara grantha kartarah sri ganadharadevah pratiganadharadevāste sām vacanānusāramāsādya kundakundämnāye (name
of the author) viracıtam śrotarah sāvadhānataya srinvantu. 67 Samayayyakyā Commentary of Pancāstıkāya, Samgraha Garha, 172

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at other places, when complete detachment is not possible, the advice is to cut down steadily the area of attachment, but at no place has it been suggested to increase attachment 68 Any text which supports attachment is no Jaina text
Side by side with acquiring the knowledge of the texts, it is very necessary to know their true implication If this is not done, then there may be more harm than good. Medicines cure disease but any one medicine does not cure any disease For a particular disease of a particular person, a particular medicine is useful in a particular dose The same applies to the prescriptions of the spiritual texts.
The Jaina canonical texts contain a methodology to determine the true nature of objects called naya which has two types, viz. niscaya and vyavahāra. Since these have been widely used in the Jaina texts, it is necessary to know these. Other Jaina texts have been written after being divided into four anuyogas and each anuyoga has its own methodology.
Unless we know the methodology, we cannot get the implication of the Jina's words. Interested reader is required to refer to seventh and eighth adhikāras of Moksamärga Prakāşaka for these, the former for the nayas and the latter for the anuyogas.
The context of the spiritual texts is to be understood with precedents and antecedents. The texts do not speak, we have to grasp their implication ourselves or with the help of the wise.
Through the medium of the texts, we come into contact with the Acaryas who had lived centuries back. We derive the benefit of their presence. A direct knowledge of the universe and the vacant space we can acquire only when we become the Bhagavan ourselves, but we get an indirect knowledge of these from the words of the Jinas. Since omniscient personalities have been extinct now and people with the knowledge of self have become rare, the words of the Jinas may be our only inspiration and succour.
68 Mok samarga Prakasaka, p 303.

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Guru—the Spiritual Master
Those people who have become sublime by dint of right knowledge, faith and conduct have been called Gurus. They may be the Acarya who is the head of the organisation, the preceptors and the monks. A Guru is also said to be one who is devoid of hankering for objects of senses, who is free from endeavour and accumulation, and who is always absorbed in study, meditation and penance.70
On the characteristic of the monks, Pandit Todarmal writes:
"A monk is one who having been indifferent and giving up all accumulation accepts the life of a mendicant, feels his self through purification of instrument, who has no mine-ness in other things, but thinks the qualities of soul only to be his own, who has no mineness in other attitudes, who knows through knowledge other objects and their nature, but who neither has attachment nor greed for these considering them to be evils, who neither feels happiness or misery in diverse states of body or in change in environment, and is always the same in his external behaviour and does not stretch it, who does not extend his effort, who remains indifferent and calm, who if attacked with mild attachment carefully weeds it out, who has wiped clean even the last trace of violence because he is never disturbed by passions, who on attaining such a state becomes nude with a calm posture, who has stopped taking care of the body, who lives in forest-strips, who fulfils 28 mūlagunas with meticulous care, who bears 22 hardships, practises 12 vows, who sometimes enters into trance in an idol-like motionless posture, who at other times indulges in studies and other external activities, and who at still other times move out on a begging mission for the maintenance of the body which is a permitted activity of a monk."71
Ordinarily, even parents and teachers are called guru, but where the subject under consideration is the road to liberation,
69 Bhagavati Aradhana, p 511 70 visayaśāvasarīto nirarambho'parigrahah jnanadhyānataporaktastapasvi sa prašasyate
-Ratnakaranda Sravakācāra, Sloka, 10. 71 Moksamārga Prakasaka, p 3.

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the clear indication is about Jina Gurus Acarya, Upadhyaya and monk. They can only be the nude monks clad in subjectivity and upholders of right knowledge, right faith and right conduct.
To attain right faith, it is very necessary to know the Guru along with the true gods and the canonical texts, the more so because the Guru is the most visible person who shows the way If perchance one accepts a wrong person as his Guru, then the clear possibility is that he enlongens his cycles of birth and death
Acarya Kundakunda has written at length on the Guru in his Asta Pāhuda Thus on the one hand, according to him, deviationists are they from the road to liberation who put on clothes, and in the same group, according to him, are the nudes whose delusion, attachment and greed are still fresh To quote:
je pancacelasattā granthaggāhıya jāyanāsīlā adhākammammi rayā te cattā mokkhamaggammi 72
Those who are addicted to five types of clothes, select some one from them, beg, indulge in sinful deeds (ādhākamma), accept food which is impure, they slip from the road to liberation.
Though the monks are nude, but nudity alone does not make a monk. In his words,
davvena sayala naggā ņārayatırıyā ya sayalasanghāyā parināmena aśuddhā na bhāvasavanattanam pattā naggo pāvai dukkham naggo samsāra sāyare bhantai naggo na lahai bohim jiņabhāvanavajjio suiram bhāveņa hoi naggo micchattāim ya dosa caiūnam pacchã davvena muni payadadı lingam jiņārāe73
From the standpoint of object, every living being is outwardly naked. The infernal beings and lower animals are all the while naked, without clothes. On certain occasions, even human beings become naked, but then their aptitude is impure, and so subjectively they do not become Sramanas
72 Astapāhuda (Mokşapāhuda), Gatha, 79 73 Ibid, (Bhavapāhuda), Gathā, 67, 68, 73

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A nude Sramana without right faith suffers all the time, continues to pass through the worldly ocean, and he does not find enlightenment or the road to liberation consisting of the three gems and that for good
The prescription given by the Jinas is that in the first place one gives up falsehood and becomes nude from within, 1.e. one acquires knowledge, faith and conduct in pure soul, and then takes care of the external mark,-such is the path, the prescription of the Jinas.
If the true god is an embodiment of liberation, the Guru are the visible road to it. They are in a sense the mobile Siddhas or perfected beings. Like a true god and the canonical texts, they are also worthy of worship with eight objects. They are one of our five beneficial beings (Paramesthis) whom as one in the namokāra, the Jaina mantra, we recall and repeat 108 times every morning, and to whom we pay our obeisance.
If about such ones, the Gurus, the upholders of the three gems, embodied detachment, nude, clad in subjectivity, we entertain even the slightest of disrespect in our heart, we remain far apart from the road to liberation; and if we worship such men as Guru who come nowhere near the description contained in the Jaina texts, even then we cannot come near the road to liberation 74 So it has been said,
je vi padanti ca tesim jānantā lajjāgäravabhayena tesim pi natthi bohi pāvam aņumoyamāņāņams
Those who knowing the monks to be devoid of right faith worship them out of bashfulness, pride and fear, even such ones are devoid of right outlook because of the approval they give to sin
74 bhayaśāsnehalobhacca kudevāgamalıngınām pranāmam yınayam caiva na kuryuh fuddhadyşuaya
-Ratnakaranda Sravakācāra, Sloka, 30. 75 Asta Pahuda (Darśanapahuda), Gatha, 13

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The Science of Differentiation
In the attainment of right faith, apart from the seven fundamentals and respect for the true gods, texts and gurus, the third essential ingradient is the science of differentiation. In the Jaina texts, its importance has been said to be inconceivable. It has been said that so far all those who have attained perfection have done so with the help of this science; and those who have allowed themselves to be condemned to non-ending movements have done so because of ignorance of this science.76 The understanding about the purity of the soul helps to check the influx of karma, and the understanding about the purity of the same is derived from the science of differentiation, because of which this science acquires exceptional significance. This science has to be mastered and cultivated till one is fully separated from the rest and concentrated in self.78
The doctrine of differentiation is a sharp weapon which helps one to know the difference between the animate and the inanımate, between own nature and nature of the rest One who has this awakened in his heart never relishes the company of others. They have a feel of the soul which gives them prepetual joy and they very well know the nature of the great soul, Paramatman
The science of differentiation stands for a knowledge of the self as distinct from the rest. The distinction is between self and others and so it is also called the science of differentiation between self and others, or it may also be called the science of self, and in this it is essential to know one's own soul as distinct from the rest
The main emphasis in the science of differentiation is not to know the two to be similar, nor to know them separately, but to know the self as distinct from the rest. It is essential to know others in order to reject them and to know the self to
76 bhedavijnanatah siddhah siddha ye kila kecana
as yaivabhavato baddha baddha ye kila kecana 77 Ibid, Kalaša, 129 78 Ibid , Kalaša, 130
-Samayasara, Kalaša, 131

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stick to it Thus while the others have to be known, the self has to be known and then captured so that one is absorbed in it The idea is not to get entangled in their differences, and subdifferences, but to know the self, the soul, in which all differences are lost, so that it is an undivided soul, without division or difference, which has to be known as one and a single entity.
Relative to vision, this is the doctrine of one's own self which pervades the three time periods, which is by nature knowledge and bliss, eternal and conscious All matter, inanimate objects, their qualities, their categories are other than the self. Likewise, the disturbances in the soul, influx, bondage, virtue, vice are other than the self. Even such non-disturbing categories like check, exhaustion and liberation are distinctly separate from the self, and so they also find a place in the group called non-self.
Another definition of the science of differentiation may be to remove one's vision and knowledge from all other souls, matter, influx, bondage, check, exhaustion and liberation and concentrate it on one's own soul, ever constant
One who knows the soul also knows others, not to recognise them or get them, but to know the self as distinct from the rest
In this way, the knowledge of others turns out to be the knowledge of self. The purpose here is not to know others, but this is just a safeguard so that there is no mistake in knowing the self
Others are to be known not with a covetous, but with a noncovetous outlook A child who has lost his mother looks at many women but does not fix his gaze on them, till he does so and holds her in embrace when he sees his mother. In the same manner, a wise soul knows others, but he knows them as no more than superficials
Although the work of research or use of research may be called the science of differentiation, in reality, it is something in which one is lost in what he is searching for, 1 e., in his own self.

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One who has mastered the science acquires an undistorted outlook He does neither feel the soul as attachment and greed nor does he feel with differences like right outlook or wrong outlook In his feeling, there is neither impurity nor difference.
“How does your mother look like?” A boy who has lost his mother will readily say, "My mother is like my mother.” “What is her name?” “Why? Mummy!” he will say at once "Is she white-skinned or darkskinned, tall or short, fat or slim ?” To these questions perhaps he can give no reply; for, he has never seen or known his mother in these forms He has known her only as his mother.
Naturally, these questions about his mother are relative to other women, but he has never cared to bother about these. For, to him, his mother is un-compared and uncomparable He did not choose her out of many.
His mother may be white-skinned or dark-skinned, tall or short, fat or slim; but he has heard these adjectives for the first time How can he then give a reply ? May be many others have seen her mother in these lights, but he has never felt it necessary to do so.
The police man may say that the boy does not know his mother, how she looks like or what her name is. Then what do we do? How do we search for her and find her ?
Is it necessary for the boy to know her name, to know how she looks like ? Is it not enough that she is the 'Mummy' as he has called her every day ? Does he then not know his mother, as the policeman says ? Does his mother come before him, will he not recognise her ? Well, definitely he will
May be he is unable to describe his mother in so many words, but then it is wrong, wholly wrong, to say that he does not recognise her To know one is something different from to describe one. May be who knows her village, ability, beauty, colour, size, etc, does not know her correctly; but none else knows her motherliness in the same manner and to the same extent as he himself does. Is it not enough for him ? Is it necessary

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for him even to know that his mother is his father's woman? Well, he has nothing to do with this point
In the same manner, one who has the knowledge of the soul, if asked about it, will say, "The soul is like the soul.' Has it attachment, greed, delusion, anger, right outlook, wrong outlook ? he may be asked, and to these, may be, he is unable to give any reply For, he has not seen the soul in the light of these He has seen it, known it and felt it to be something pure, enlightened, free from delusion, attachment and greed
May be the ignoramous has known the soul as delusion, etc, seen it like these; but that is the outcome of his perverted outlook A wise man does not know the soul like that; so how can he describe it in terms of these ?
Looked at from the standpoint of category, attachment, greed, etc, are noticeable in the soul, but looked at as an object, particularly in a state where one has a feel of it, no distortion or perversion is visible in the soul So what does he care about it? If it is there, it is immaterial for him.
People may say, when one does not recognise attachment, greed, etc, in the soul, he does not know the soul. But we may ask, for knowing the soul, is it necessary to recognise attachment, greed, etc., in the soul? A wiseman does not know the soul through attachment, greed, etc, he knows that the soul is the eternal principle which contains knowledge and faith, and that passions like attachment, greed, etc., cannot enter in it May be a man who has realised the self cannot express it in so many words. But expression is not important, what is important is that he has realised it, and there the matter ends
Just as a boy who has recovered his mother does not remove his gaze from her, in the same manner when one has regained his knowledge of self forget about the true gods, texts and guru. He is lost in his self Objects and categories become inseparable Such a person has been described by a poet to be the 'minor son' (laghunandana) of a Jina

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The Feeling of Self
The acquisition of the feeling of Sef is indispensible for right faith In the absence of this feeling, all other efforts are useless 79 To be precise, this is not the feeling of other souls; it IS the feeling of one's own soul.
niyataccuvaladdhi vină sammattuvaladdhi natthi niyamena sammattuvaladdhi viņā ņivvānam natthi jinudittham so
In the absence of the feeling of self, one does not acquire right faith, and in the absence of equanimity, one does not attain liberation
alamalamatijalpairdurvikalpairanalpai rayamiha paramārthascetyatām nityamekah svarasavisarapürnajnānavisphurtimātrā nna khalu samayasārāduttaram kincidastı. 81
Needless to add more, the point is, feel thyself which is the very embodiment of Paramatman. There is nothing more important than this in this world Cf
edamhı rado niccam santuţtho hohi niccamedamhi edeno hohı tutto hohadı tuha uttamam sokkham 82
So oh worldly beings concentrate exclussively on your own soul, be happy with it, be gratified. You are sure to get the highest bliss For,
acintyasaktih svayameva devas cinmātracıntāmanıreşa jasmāt sarvārthasıddhātmatayā vidhatte jnāni kimanyasya parigrahena 83
This very soul is a god with inconceivable power, is an animate cintämani gem. For such enlightened souls who have
79 Pancadhya, 2/415. 80 Rayaņasāra, Gatha, 90. 81 Samayasara, Kalasa 244. 82 Samayasära, Gatha, 206 83 Sarnayasara, Kalasa, 144

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got everything, what else do they need ? The wise does not expect any post.
The feeling of self is the highest of all religions Religion starts with this and attains fulfilment with this It is difficult to conceive of any other religion apart from this. The feeling of self is the religion of the soul
To turn one's gaze inward to see the soul is the samething as the feeling of the self And one can see the soul if one diverts his developed knowledge from everything else and concentrates it on the soul. A methodology for this may be incessant culture of it. But even this may not be enough, for there is nothing, which may itself generate the feeling of the soul in one
To acquire this feeling, one must remove his gaze from everything else in the universe, 'everything else including not only the body as distinct from the soul, matter like karma, etc., but even disturbances within the soul as well as other souls Beyond all these, there is one, and only one fundamental, the soul, single, undivided, pervading all the three time periods, animate and constant, which alone is deserving of attention, and this generates the feeling of self, or what has been called religion.
Right faith has eight limbs which are as follows:
(1) undaunted (nihzankita), (2) indifference to objects (nihkānksita), (3) equanimity to all states of objects (nırvicikitsa), (4) infallible outlook (amüdhadystı), (5) overlooking others' faults (upagūhana), (6) attainment of a stable position (sthitikaraṇa), (7) attachment for merit and the meritorious (vātsalya) and (8) concentration and right counselling (prabhāvanā)
On the attainment of right faith, these things easily appear in a person In consequence, compared to common people, many specialities appear in his life, and he becomes different from the rest.
For one covetous of liberation, right faith isia, must
The

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one,
programme of right faith is, "When I am accepted by even if he does not so desire, I have to take him by force to liberation. If after accepting me, he changes his mind and does not want to be liberated, he is just helpless. Once accepted, I must take him to liberation.
"Even if after accepting me one becomes slack, still I have to take him to liberation in that very life, or, at the most, within the next fifteen lives
"If per chance he gives me up and changes his attitude or acquires deep attachment, still within half a pudgala-paravartana, I must take him to liberation. Such is my programme."84
Right Knowledge
Knowledge is a quality of the soul. To know is within its purview. Knowledge with right faith is right knowledge and knowledge with wrong faith is wrong knowledge. The rightness of knowledge is to be measured not on the basis of worldly standards but against right and wrong faith
or
Whatever the standard of redundant worldly knowledge, right wrong, the entire knowledge, the knowledge of one who knows the soul is invariably the right knowledge, and the knowledge of one, apparently the worldly knowledge, right or wrong, is wrong knowledge The word 'right' in right knowledge indicates the existence of right faith and the word 'wrong' indicates the existence of wrong faith.85
Knowledge is of five types, perceptual, scriptural, extrasensory, knowledge of the mind of others and supreme In the case of one with right outlook, the first three, perceptual, scriptural and extra-sensory, are good perceptual, good scriptural and good extra-sensory, and in the case of one with wrong outlook, they are bad perceptual, bad scriptural and bad extra-sensory. Knowledge of the psychology of others and supreme knowledge come only to those with right outlook, and hence these have no
84 Srimad Rajchandra, Samyagdarsan, pp. 9-10 85 Sarvartha Siddhi, Commentary on 1/31-32

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divisions Thus one with right outlook may have five types of knowledge and men with wrong outlook three types—total eight 86 The first five constitute right knowledge and the last three wrong knowledge They have been considered in details in the Jaina texts
Right knowledge has been diversely defined in the Jaina texts,
1. To know the souls and others in exactly the same form
in which they exist is right knowledge 87
2. To know the nature of things, not less, not more.
the reverse, and without doubt is right knowledge 88
3
To know the soul as well as the non-soul without doubt, distortion and non-effort is right knowledge 89
4. To know the nature of the soul is right knowledge.
According to Byhannayacakra, “The Jinendra Bhagavan has spoken of six other things in order to know own thing (soul), but to know the six other things only is no right knowledge.990
Many popular songs have sung the importance of right knowledge and are sung by many a devotee Likewise, there are many popular songs which describe the futility of knowledge in which the soul does not figure, the futility of worldly knowledge and restraint Cf
86 nānam afthaviyappam madisudaohı anananānānı manapajiaya kevalamavi paccakkhaparokkhabheyam ca
-Dravya Samgraha, Gatha, 5 also Gommațasara Javakānda, Gatha, 300-1 87 Sarvārtha Siddhi, 1/1. 88 anyūnamanatırıktam yathatathyam vină ca viparitat nilisandeham veda yadāhustajjnanamagaminah
- Ratnakaranda Sravakācāra, Sloka, 42. 89 sansayavimohavibbhamavivajztwam appaparasarūvassa gahanam samman nānam sāyāramaneyabheyam tu
-Dravya Samgraha, Gatha, 42 90 niya davva jana nattham ı yaram kahıyam jinehim chaddavvam
tamha para chaddave Jānaga bhāvo na hoi sannanan

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jo navi jānadı appam ņānasarūvam sarīrado vinnam so navi jānadı sattham āgainapādhan kunanto vz91
One who does not know the soul which is knowledge by its nature does not know the Aganias even though he reads them
jadi padhadi bahusudānı ya jadi kāhıdı bahuviham ya cãrittam tam bālasudam caranam havei appassa vivarīdamo2
The reading of texts and the practice of conduct which are contrary to the nature of the soul are bad texts and bad conduct.
ātmadhyāna ratırjneyam vidvattāyāh param phalam aśeşašāstrajnātặtvam samsāro' bhāşi dhādhanaiho
Aptitude for concentration in the soul is the best fruit of wisdom. In the absence of love for self, the reading of many texts is just as mundane.
yihitāšeşaśāstro'pi na jāgradapı mucyate dehātmadr sţirinātātmā suptonmatto'pi mucyate94
One who looks on the body as soul cannot be liberated even though he is versed in texts; and one who looks on the soul as distinct and separate from the body is liberated even though he is sleeping or intoxicated
The fundamental things to be known from right knowledge is
ng different from others, and something identical with 'Self'. This is the reason why Acarya Kundakunda tried to present the single-divided soul in its own splendour.95 This great treasure of his called right faith had been derived, in the words of syādvāda (doctrine of ‘may be), from the cultivation of the express Jaina texts, with the help of infallible logic to meet the adversaries, and from the words of the Arhantas and
91 Kartikeyanuprek sā, Gatha, 464 92 A sta Pahuda (Moksapahuda), Gatha, 100 93 Yogasara, 7/43. 94 Samādhı Sataka, Sloka, 94. 95 Samayasara, Gatha, 5

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Ganadharas 96 He has tried to convey this treasure to others requesting his audience to transmit these further onwards.
It is apparent from the above words that the basis of right knowledge is, in the words of syādyāda, the many facetedness of objects Although this has to be acquired from the texts and the guru who is in line, still this has no place for blind faith. For, this has to be accepted after a rigorous test. And even after that, till it is really felt in one's life, it does not become one's own property So the long way to right knowledge has four gates, víz, canonical texts, sermons, rigorous logic and realisation in life.
Discussions have already been given on the texts and gurus. The feeling of self or realisation has also been discussed. It now remains to throw some light on the multifaceted nature of objects (anekāntavāda) and the doctrime of 'may be (syādvāda). Some discussion on pramāna and naya is also relevant in this context; for actual testing can be done on the basis of logic (nyāya) and logic has its root in pramāṇa and naya
Anekanta and Syadvada
Object has many facets. It has many qualities and properties. This has been called anekānta and the method or language of expressing this multifacetedness of reality has been called syādvāda.97 The two are thus closely interlinked as expressible and expression
In the appendix to the Atmakhyāti, commentary of Samayasāra, Acarya Amrita Candra writes on this, in part, as follows:
“Syadvāda is the uninterrupted prescription of the Arhantas to establish the nature of all objects According to this, b their being multifaceted in nature, all objects are multifaceted .. What is that may be not that, what is one may be many, what is existent may be non-existent, what is eternal may be transcient, In this manner, the manifestation of two contradictory qualities
96 Atmakhyātı Commentary of Samayasära, Gatha, 5 97 anekantātmakārya kathanam syadvadah
-Laghiyastraya Commentary, p 22.

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in an object which imparts to it its objectivity is anekānta."98
Anekanta is a compound of two words, aneaka (many) and anta (end). Many may be from two to infinity. Anta also means nature or quality. In every object, there are infinite qualities. In this case, it should mean that any object which has an infinite number of qualities is anekanta But where qualities are only two, they should mean nature, signifying the existence of two contradictory forces.
99
The word syat invariably applies to nature, not qualities, and this is universally so Although nature and quality are used as interchangeable terms, there is a very subtle difference between the two Every object is the repository of infinite qualities, but when two contradictory qualities exist simultaniously, such as, permanence and transcience, existence and non-existence, unity and difference, singularity and multiplicity it becomes nature (dharma) as distinct from quality (guna)
Those qualities in an object which do not clash are accepted by all without raising any controversy but the simultaneous existence of contradictory qualities is accepted only by one who IS the follower of syadvāda Any other person will support either one or the other of the two and be partisan. This anekānta emphasizes the simultaneous existence of contradictory qualities
Each object has many such pairs of contradictory qualities. Thus each object is not only a lump of many qualities but also a many pairs of contradictory qualities. In syadvāda, these have been propunded in its own style
Each object has an infinite qualities. But since the capacity of words is limited, they cannot be simultaneously expressed. These infinite qualities has some one which is the main, so that others become secondary and are not expressly stated. Now,
98 syadvado hi samastavastutattvasadhakamekamaskhalitam śāsanamarhatṣarvajnasya sa tu sarvamanekantatmakamityanusasti ....... tatra yadeva tattadevā atat yadevaikam tadevanekam yadeva sattadevāsat yadeva nityam tadevanityamityekavastuvastutvani spa iakaparasparaviruddha saktidvayaprakāśanamanekantah-Samayasara, pp 571-2
99 Jainendra Siddhanta Ko sa, Part 4, p 501

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being main or secondary is not relative to the extant qualities but to the discretion of the speaker. What the speaker will speak or not speak is his discretion; it makes no difference in the qualities of objects which exist in their own right, none being primary or secondary, even the contradictory ones, because the objects have the necessary capacity to hold them, and they are there for an infinite time and will continue to be there for an infinite time The discretion of the speaker assumes importance because he has to express himself under severe constraint.
An object is independent of the rest It is never tired of harbouring its qualities and nature Simultaneously it harbours permanence and transcience, etc. As an object, it is permanent, but as a category, it is ever-changing Now, when we say that an object is permanent, we cannot simultaneously say, it transcient and the listner understands that it is permanent. But if we say that 'an object is permanent relative to, etc.', then the understanding definitely becomes clearer Hence the use of the term syād is useful which makes the implicit qualities secondary, but not non-existent all the same
Jainendra Siddhānta Koşa syädyāda:
gives the following meaning of
“Syādvāda is the method of expressing multifacetedness of objects This cannot be done with a single word or sentence and so one quality is highlighted at the cost of the rest While listening about one quality which is highlighted, they should not get the impression that others are denied for which one who is anekānta-vādî qualifies all his sentences with the word syād."100
According to some, syādyāda makes use of "also' (bhi), not emphatic 'so' (hi). Because emphatic alone has the smell of arrogance
Some people have suggested a compromise When it is intended to express relativity, then the word used is also', but in case of emphasis, it is necessary to use the word "so' e.g.:
100 lbid , p. 497

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Every object is permanent, also transcient As object it is so ie, permanent and as category, it is so, ie, transcient.
When we use the preposition also, it signifies that there is something more; but the preposition so tells that so far as it
this much is correct, and no further. Hence the two prepositions do not contradict each other ; rather they supplement. The preposition so is an emphasis in its own favour; the preposition also while remaining silent about the existence of something also is a clean hint about it
The preposition also does not envisage something contradictory to it Such a possibility is virtually ignorance. But svadvāda is not a doctrine of probability, it is very much a certainty, and hence a pramāna or proof. The preposition also does not signify that the speaker is ignorant about it, he is just not mentioning it because he does not feel it incumbent to come out with it. The preposition is also used so that one may not be the victim of a pitfall that it is full when it is really not full. In other words, the word is used so that what is stated as part is not accepted as full. Nor is the preposition used to assemble or dissemble a few one-faceted falsehoods.
In the same way, the use of the preposition so signifies that what has been said of the part is wholly correct From that angle, it is exactly so, and not otherwise
Some Acaryas like Samantabhadra have made a frequent use of the preposition so 101 This has been supported in Ślokavārtika as follows:
vakye vadhāranam tavadanı stārtham nivyttaye kartavyamanyathānuktasaniaträttasya kuti acıt
The preposition so has to be used in a sentence to wipe clean the wrong and for the sake of emphasis; otherwise, the sentence, is often said to be unsaid.102 In Yuktyanušāsana, Slokas 41-2,
101 sadeva sarvam necchet svarupadı catustyat
asdeva viparya sānna cenna vyavatısthate-Aptamimansa, Sloka, 15 102 Ślokavārtika, 1/6/53.

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In this context,
Acarya Samantabhadra has implied some such thing Siddhantacarya Pandit Kailash Chandra writes:
"Even if the preposition so is not specifically used in a sentence, then it must be accepted to be one facetted. For in that case the refutation of anekānta is inevitable For instance, take a sentence like this: Upayoga is sign of a living being alone, which means that this sign is not to be come across in others. If from the line the preposition is taken out, then upayoga may be a feature even of non-soul.”103
In a pramāna sentence, only the term syād is used but in a
ecessary to supplement it with so (hi).104 Hi stands for correct one facet; bhi for correct many facets
Although the Jaina philosophy is said to be based on anekānta, still to call it wholly SC 1s virtually its denial. I neither wholly based on ekānta nor wholly on anekānta, but inpart, it is both, anekānta within anekānta Cf
anekānto apyanekāntah pramānanayasādhanah anekāntah pramānätte tadekānto'rpitānnayāt 105
The anekānta of which pramāna and naya are the means is by nature many facetted Relative to pramāna which engulfs all parts, it is many facetted, while relative to naya, which covers only a part, it is one-faceted
rong ekanta, right anekanta
In Jaina philosophy, each one, ekānta as well as anekānta has two types, viz. right ekānta and wrong ekanta, right anekānta and wrong anekānta Absolute naya is wrong ekānta and relative naya is right ekānta; a bunch of relative nayas, ie, śruta-pramāna is right anekānta and a bunch of absolute nayas, ie, pramānabhāsa is wrong anekānta
jam vatthu aneyantam eyantam tam pi hodi savipekkham suyanānena naehi ya, niravekkham dîsade neva106
103 Jaina Nyāya, p. 300. 104 Nayacakra, p. 129 105 Svayambhu Stotra, Sloka 103 (Aranatha Stuti, Sloka, 18) 106 Kartikeyanuprek sā, Gatha, 261.

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A thing which is anekanta is relatively viewed also as ekānta; what is anekanta relatively to śruta knowledge is ekanta relative to naya.
The nature of a thing can be viewed only in relation to something else
In establishing anekanta in anekanta, Akalanka writes:
"If anekanta is wholly viewed as anekanta from which ekānta is wholly rooted out, then it looks like a tree whose branches have been chopped off And if ekanta alone is accepted, this will not only end the heretical views and ultimately may end all."107
Right ekanta is naya and anekanta is pramāṇa.108 Anekānta covers all nayas. Just as scattered pearls placed on a thread gives a beautiful necklace, in the same manner, diverse nayas placed on the thread of syadvada becomes a complete naya or śrutapramāṇa
109
As the seed of the great Agamas, all the nayas (1.e right ekāntas) are contained in anekānta which has the capacity to end their mutual conflict.110 For, conflict is not in things, but in ignorance The example of several blind men 'seeing an elephant with their organ of touch is classic Some felt it to be a pillar, some a wall, some a winnow, some a post, but none of these is a correct description of the animal. For each person felt a part and considered it to be the whole.
When a part is felt and a part is expressed, there is nothing wrong about it If it is said that the leg of an elephant is like a pillar, then it is all right, for the statement is relative, and relative naya tantamounts to truth. But no single limb is the whole elephant.
107 Rajavartika, Commentary on 1/6, p. 35 108 Ibid.
109 Syadvadamanjari, Commentary on Sloka, 30 110 Puruşa thasiddhyupāya, Śloka, 2

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111
The use of the term syād makes it clear that the statement relates to a part, not the whole To illustrate this with reference to the aforesaid example of the elephant :
‘Relative to some thing', the elephant is like a wall, and so
at the 'something is not expressed, so the use of also (bhi) is imperative; but if this something is stated, then we have to make use of so (hi) without which the meaning will not be clear, and the statement will not be categorical, e.g , the leg of the elephant is so i e., like a pillar only
In other words, when a statement is wholly correct about a part, the use of so (hi) is imperative and when a statement is partly correct in the context of the whole, the use of also (bhi) is imperative.
Even if the word syāt is not expressly used, it has to be taken as understood. Kasāya Pāhuda is very specific on this:
“Suppose the speaker intends to use the word syāt but does not expressly state it; still the meaning is clear, and this is not
a lapse "111
Although every object contains many qualities which are contradictory, the extent of permissible contradiction must be within the range of permissibility, and not beyond For instance, in the context of the soul, when we talk of permanence and transcience, the question of its simultaneously being animate and inanimate may come up Dhabalā contains some discussion on it. Thus:
Question: Those qualities which are not inconsistent with the soul may stay on, but then do all qualities rest in the soul ?
Answer: Who says that all qualities, consistent and inconsistent may rest in the soul ? If the simultaneous existence of all qualities in the soul is accepted, then this will raise the issue of simultaneous existence of consciousness and its absence, of the state of being and of non-being, will come up. Anekānta does not say that all reverse qualities may simultane
111 Jainendra Siddhanta Kosa, Part 4, p 501

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ously exist in the soul; but it accepts that some qualities which are not inconsistent but all the same reverse may co-exit at some time and at some place."112
While applying syadvada and anakantavada it is necessary to bear in mind that when reverse qualities are being attributed in an object, they need be permissible. For, else, we may fall in the error of sometimes saying that the soul is animate and sometimes saying that the soul is inanimate The soul is never inanimate While applying anekanta, cases like this have to be qualified as 'is' or 'is not' For instance, the soul is animate (embodiment of knowledge and faith), never inanimate
Being animate and inanimate are truly contrary, but not transcience and permanence which are only apparently so. They simultaneously co-exist in an object Anekanta expresses qualities which appear to be contrary to each other.
Syadvāda is an extremely dangerous instrument which has to be used with exceptional caution; otherwise it may crush the head of the user 113 Before one acquires the capability to use it, he has to be properly trained under the teachers of naya
114
Anekanta and syadvāda are very intricate doctrines whose understanding must be thorough and deep On the surface of these, they appear to be wholly wrong. On this, Phanibhusan Adhikari, a former Professor at the Banaras Hindu University writes:
"In Jainism, syadvāda is the most misunderstood doctrine. Even Sankaracarya is no exception to this. He has been unkind to this doctrine This may be pardonable for a lesser person, but not surely for him who has been a leading scholar of this country, even though otherwise I hold him in the highest esteem."115
112 Dhabala, Book 1/1/1/11, p. 167
113 atyantanısıtadharam darasadam jinavarasva nayacakram khandayatı dharyamāṇam murdhanam jhatiti durvidagdhānām -Puruşarthasiddhyupaya, Śloka, 59.
114 guravo bhavantı śaraṇam prabuddhanayacakrasancarah-Ibid, Śloka, 58 115 Tirthankara Vardhamana, p 92

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A well-known Hindi critic Mahavir Prasad Dvivedi writes:
“Even great scholars of Hinduism do not know even now what the syādvāda of the Jainas is "116
Pandit Swami Ramamishra, MM, head of the Satya Sampradaya, Professor, Sanskrit College, Varanasi, writes:
“How much do I say, even leading most Acaryas have refused the Jaina view in a way which cannot but make one laugh Syādvāda is the most invincible fortress of Jainism The powerful bombshells of the heretics and adversaries do not penetrate into it.
“The Jaina doctrines are of immense value for the acquisition of the knowledge of fundamentals and of spiritual methodology in ancient India. It is a key to all true views"
The great Sanskrit Scholar, Pandit Ganganath Jha writes:
“When I read the refutation of the Jaina doctrine by Sankaracarya, I was convinced that the Jaina doctrine contains many things which the great Vedantist could not comprehend From whatever I have known of Jainism so far, I am firmly convinced that if he had taken the trouble of reading the Jaina canonical texts, he would have found nothing in them worth refuting "118
It is necessary to understand the exact meaning of the word syāt. Because of ignorance some have taken it synonymous with doubt, some with possibility or probability There is no scope for anyone of these. It is a term which has positive implication. Read what Samantabhadra writes on this:
vākyeşvanekāntadyoti gamyam prati višeşaņain syānnipato'arthayogitvāt tavakevalināmapi119
116 Ibid.,p 92. 117 Ibid ,p 92 118 Ibid., p. 94. 119 Aptamimānsā, śloka, 103.

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Syāt is a nipāta, a leading term implying manifacettedness, an adjective about the nature of an object.
Professor Ananda Sankar Babu Bhai Dhruva writes:
“Syädyāda in the doctrine of Mahavira has been misconstrued by some as a doctrine of doubt, which it is not. It makes us realise a viewpoint. It teaches as how we should look at the world It is certain that unless a thing is viewed from diverse points, one does not get a full view of a thing. Hence any attack on syādvāda is wholly uncalled for."120
Acarya Samantabhadra has elevated syādvāda to the level of supreme knowledge (kevalajnāna) as revealing all doctrines.121
The doctrines of anekānta and syādvāda help to reveal the true nature of objects and as such they give peace to the soul and also help the attainment of universal peace. On this, Rastrakavi Ramdharisingh ‘Dinkar' writes:
“There is no doubt that anekānta is the highest epitome of ahimsā, and the sooner the world accepts it, the quicker the chance of world peace "122
Pramana and Naya
In amplifying anekānta and syādvāda we have used the terms pramāna and naya on several occasions, since the true nature of an object can be known with their help 123 So now it is necesary to consider these two
That which helps us to determine a thing, to know it correctly is called pramāna. In consequence, right knowledge is pramāna. 124 Right knowledge has already been considered at length It has been said that it has five types, perception till supreme knowledge
120 Tirthankara Vardhamana, p. 94. 121 syadvadakevalajnāne sarvatattvaprakasane bhedahsākṣādasāk sācc hyavastvanyatamam bhavet
-Aptamimanša, Sloka, 105. 122 Sanskyti-ke Car Adhyāy, p 137. 123 pramānanayairadhigamah, Tattyärtha Sutra, 1/6. 124 samyakyuānam pramānam, Nyayadipika

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115
which is fully direct.125 Smrti (memory), pratyabhijāna, tarka (logic) and anumāna inference are the four forms of pramāna under perceptual knowledge These have been considered at length in Jaina Nyāya.
The Jaina Agamas based on syādvāda constitute scriptural knowledge, of which the naya signifies division Scriptural knowledge as a whole is pramāņa Pramāṇa is all engrossing, while naya covers a part Although naya is covered in pramāna it is usual to treat it separately; for it accepts only a part of a thing which has been taken from pramāna
Containing many qualities, an object is a complex affair It may be known but is difficult to express Hence each one of its qualities is determined in order There is however, no rigid order about what precedes and what follows When a wise speaker highlights one quality, others become just secondary, not absent. Hence the intention of the wise may be called naya. 126 It has been said in Tiloya pannattı,
ņānam hodi pamānam nao vi ņādussa hidayabhāvatho
Right knowledge is pramāna and the intention of the wise is naya 127 In some cases, even the intention of the speaker has been called naya.128
speaker has become
Naya may be of three types, viz , knowledge naya, word naya and meaning naya 129 Where knowledge is important, the intention of the hearer becomes naya but where word is important, the intention of the speaker becomes naya
Nayas may be infinite in number. There may be as many nayas as alternative speeches 130 This is so because the qualities of objects are infinite, and so nayas which express their differ
125 adye parok sam pratyakşam anyat, Tattvārtha Sutra, 1/11-12 126 jāturabhiprāyo nayah, Alapapaddhati, Commentary on Sloka, 9. 127 Tiloyapannattı, 1/83. 128 Syadvadamanjarz, Commentary on Sloka 28, p. 243. 129 Kartikeyanupreksa, Gatha, 265. 130 jāvadiyā vayanavaha tavadıya ceba hontı nayavada
-Gommațasara, Karmakānda, Gatha, 894

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ences must also be infinite 131 Besides, they vary depending on whether a quality is primary, secondary and also on the intention of the speaker.
The naya-cycle is as much complex as its subject, viz., the infinite qualities of an object. Details are non-ending but two important works have expressed it as follows:
nicchayavavahāranayā mūlima bheyānayāna savyānanı nicchayasāhanaheü davvayapajjatthiyā muraha132
Two nayas are fundamental and at the root of all, viz , niscaya and vyavahāra. Two are the causes or instruments of niscaya naya, viz , one implying object, and another implying category.
Or the couplet may be interpreted as follows:
Two nayas have been considered to be fundamental, viz , niscaya and vyavahāra, of which it should be understood that ni-caya naya is object based and vyavahāra naya is category based. 133
To the author of the Pancădhyāyī, vyavahāra naya and categorybased naya are somewhat similar, meaning the same thing for howsoever much this naya may be used, that is only a usage. 134
In the above statement, while on the one hand, niscaya and vyavahāra have been considered to be fundamental on the other, nayas based on objects and based on categories have been stated to be fundamental, the rest being their variants. Cf:
do ceva ya mülanayā bhaniyā davvatha pajjayatthagayā anne asamkhasamkhā te tavbheyā muneyavyā135
131 Sarvārthasıddhi. Commentary on 1/13, p. 102. 132 Alapapaddhati, Gatha, 3, also Nayacakra, Gatha, 182. 133 Acārya Sivasāgar Commemoration Volume, p. 561. 134 paryayarthika naya iti yadı va vyavahara eva nameti ekārtho yasmadiha sarva'pyupacaramätrah syat
-Pancadhyayt, 521. 135 Nayacakra, Gatha, 183

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Reconciling the two, we have four nayas, viz., (1) niscaya and (2) vyavahāra, (3) object based and (4) category based. While details about all the nayas may not be relevant here, the more important of them need consideration. Without them, the words of the Jinas become difficult to understand. It is said in Nayacakra:
"One who does not possess the naya vision, he cannot know the nature of things, and if the nature of things be not known, how do we acquire right faith ?"136
117
137
Objects subject to pramāna may be universal or special (samanyaviseṣa) The universal portion is covered by object-based naya and special portion by category-based naya Thus Nayacakra
states:
pajjaya gaunam kiccā davvampi ya jo hu ginhai loe so davvatthiya bhanio vivario pajjayatthiṇayo138
One which subdues category and accepts object is objectbased naya and one which subdues object and accepts category is category-based naya
139
To determine a thing without differentiation or without analogy is niscaya naya and to determine it with differentiation or analogy is vyavahāra naya There are other definitions of the two. A statement based, on self 15, niscaya, one based on others is vyavahāra,140 non-differentiation is niscaya and differentiation is vyavahara,141 bhutartha is niscaya and abhutartha is vyavahāra,1 142 primary is niscaya and secondary is vyavahāra 143
136 Ibid, Gatha, 181
137 samanyaviseṣātmā tadartho viṣayah, Parikṣamukha, 4/1 138 Nayacakra, Gatha, 189
139 Alapapaddhati (Nayacakra, p 227)
140 atmaśrito niscayanayah parafrito vyavaharanayahAtmakhyatı Commentary of Samayasara, Gatha, 272
141 tatra miścayo abhedavışayah, Nayacakra, Devasena, p 25, Nayacakra Mailla Dhavala, p. 132
142 Samayasara, Gatha, 11, also Puruşarthasiddhyupaya, Sloka, 5 143 Paruşarthasiddhyupaya, Stoka, 4

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A detailed study of this has been made by Pandit Todarmal which is highlighted below:
1. Right determination is niscaya and determination with
upacāra is vyavahāra.
To state the nature of a thing in its own term is niscaya and in term of another, by upacāra, is vyavahāra.
3. When the transformation of an object is stated to be
the transformation of that object, it is niscaya; and when stated in terms of another is vyavahāra.
4. Niscaya naya considers own object, another's object and
their respective nature without mixing them up, while vyavahāra naya considers them by mixing up.144
Hence, niscaya naya gives the true meaning and vyavahāra naya untrue meaning. Samayasära Gāthā, its commentary and Puruşārthasıddhyupāya, śloka 5, state as follows:
Niscaya naya gives the true meaning because it reveals the true nature of things; vyavahara naya is its reverse For instance, the former would say: The soul and the body are different, while the latter would say, they are the same 14
Vyavahāra naya stands for prohibited; Niscaya naya is prohibitor Cf. Pancādhyāyī:146
“Vyavahāra naya tenders a wrong advice and hence is untrue, worthy to take precaution against. Hence one who depends on vyavahāra naya is considıred to be a man with false outlook. In contrast, niscaya naya is itself the bhūtārtha, hence without alternative, which can be rightly felt or seen; it is the right outlook and hence effective. Hence niscaya naya is wholesome
144 Mok samārga Prakasaka, p. 248-57. 145 vavaharanayo bhāsadı jibo deho ya havadı khalu ikko na du nicchayassa jīvo deho ya kadavı ekattho
--Samayasāra, Gatha, 27. 146 evam vavahäranao padısıddho jāna nicchayanayena
-Samayasara, Gatha, 272.

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119
and any other un-wholesome 147
According to Acarya Kundakunda, the seven fundamentals like soul, etc, known on the basis of niscaya naya give right faith.148 He has further said that those monks who take shelter with it are sure to enter into liberation.149 Vyavahāra naya is used to explain the greatest good to the ignorant being. 150
Just as a non-believer can be made to understand only in his own tongue, in the same manner, without vyavahāra niscaya cannot be explained Hence the use of vyavahāra in the words of the Jinas The use of the language of the non-believer is permitted but not permitted is, the conversion of the speaker into a non-believer, likewise, the theme of niscaya naya may be explained in terms of vyavahāra naya, but the latter should not replace the former 151
Vyavahāra naya is false and unwholesome, but still it has been given a place in the Jaina texts because it helps one to feel and understand the truth.
For a preliminary knowledge of the highest good (Paramārtha), vyāvahāra naya is a good key to help one to know what is niscaya. You know the river Ganga, its genesis, its length over hundreds of miles, its breadth, its confluence with the Bay of Bengal from a map; you cannot see the whole picture at a time But when you have to sip water from the Ganga, you have to come to its bank Vyavahāra naya is like knowing the Ganga from a map It helps understanding, but, it cannot give the knowledge of self
147 vyavaharah kıla mithyā svayamapı mithyopadeśakaśca yatah
prati sedhyastasmadıha mithyadrsgustadarthadystréca svayamapı bhutarthatvadbhavatı sa niscaya nayo hi samyakatvam avikalpavadatıbāgiva syādanubhavaikagamyavācyārthah yadı vā samvagdystistaddrstih karyakari syat
tasmāt sa upadeyo nopādeyastadanya nayavādah--Pancadhyāyī, 1/628-30. 148 bhūyatthenabhigada jivājiva ya punnapavam ca asavasamvaranijarabandho mohkho ya samm attam
---Samayasara, Gatha, 13. 149 nicchayanayasıda puna munino pavanti nivvānam-Samayasara, Gatha, 272. 150 abudhasya bodhanartham munisvarah desayantyabhutartham vyavaharameva kevalabhavaitı yastasya de sana nastı
-Puruşārthasıddhyupāya, Sloka, 6 151 Atmakhyāti Commentary of Samay sara, Gatha, 8

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To have it, one must come to niscaya naya
Vyavahāra naya is not only useful in helping others to understand; it is useful for one's own understanding as well till one acquires the competence to use niscaya naya. Vyavahāra is just a key to understand the fundamental, but to take it as truth is a misnomer. 152
Niscaya naya can be used only at the quest or establishment of truth about the pure soul, not in the preliminary stage. Compare,
taccānesanakāle samayam bujjhehi juttimaggeņā no āhāraṇasamaye paccakkho anuhavo jahmtāl53
Only at the time of enquiry, the soul may be known with the help of logic or niscaya naya, but beyond that there is no alternative, for at that stage, the soul is visible itself
In a sense, all nayas are unwholesome because the true nature of things is beyond their respective points.
kammam baddhamabaddnam jāve evam tu jāna nayapakkham pakkhātıkkanto puna bhannadı jo so samayasāro154
According to the vyavahāra naya, the soul is bound by karma, but according to niscaya naya, it is free, so both the nayas have a point each; anything beyond these is samayasāra.
The commentary on this states that any one who is free from the points made by the nayas is really free from alternatives, and be alone can have a feel of samayasāra.
It is to be carefully noted that what is to be discarded is the point made by the nayas, but not surely the intrinsic matter of niscaya naya. In the case of vyavahāra naya, both have to be discarded, not only the point but also the content.
152 Mok samārga Prakasaka, p. 253. 153 Nayacakra, Gatha, 268. 154 Samayasāra, Gatha, 142.

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idamevätra tatparyam heyah śuddhanayo na hi nāsti bandhastadatyāgāttattyāgātbandha eva hi155
The implication here is that pure naya is not to be discarded. To stick to it leads to no bondage; to discard it is bondage
Calling niscaya naya worthy of reverence, Nayacakra writes:
121
"Niscaya naya while imparting unity, it settles one in consciousness which is knowledge It gives bliss and makes one wholly detached. After this it ceases itself. Thus it takes the soul beyond naya points Hence it is worthy of reverence."
156
To know the real nature of things, it is necessary that we accept the content of niscaya naya and respect it and knowing the content of vyavahara naya as a helpful key only, we do not respect it 157 If still some one raises the question that the Jaina texts contain both the nayas, to that here is the reply given by Pandit Todarmal:
"In the Jaina texts, at some places, niscaya naya has been emphasized to establish, 'such is the truth'. In the same texts, at other places, vyavahāra naya has been stressed to establish, 'such is not the truth'. To know these is the acceptance of nayas But it is nowhere said that the content of both the nayas is correct. "158
To have a comprehensive knowledge of anekanta, syadvāda and nayas, an extensive study of the Jaina Nyaya is called for.
For guiding a traveller on the road to liberation, many illustrations have been given in the Jaina texts regarding the seven or nine fundamentals, anekanta and syadvada; niscaya and vyavahāra, wholesome and unwholesome, pramāna and naya which help the acquisition of right faith and right knowledge
155 Samayasara Kalasa, 122.
156 Nayacakra Devasena, p. 32.
157 Mokşamarga Prakasaka, p. 250. 158 Ibid., p. 251
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To save
For instance, karma influx, etc, in the seven fundamentals have been illustrated by the example of a boat. If the boat has a leak, water enters into it and the boat sinks this situation from occuring, it is necessary to repair the leak and then to remove the water which is already in. Till the last drop of water is removed, the boat is not safe. When the soul has a leak caused by delusion, attachment, greed, the inflow of matter Is karma influx, the filling up with matter is bondage, repair is check, and removal of the last drop of water is liberation
Likewise, anekānta and syādvāda, niscaya and vyavahāra have been illustrated by the example, of father and son, maternal uncle and nephew, etc, of a jar full of water and a jar full of clarified butter (Ghee) Although illustrations help understanding, it is necessary here to caution that ultimately the objective of all this is to understand the nature of the soul, and till this is understood, they have no utility.
The illustrations are not an end in themselves; they are the means to the understanding of the soul and that is the goal for which the Jaina texts had been prepared To acquire right faith and right knowledge, it is essential to know the soul, and when the soul has been fully known, everything else comes within the purview of that knowledge. Only when one has known the soul and has been fully absorbed in it, both right faith and right knowledge have fulfilled purpose.
Right Conduct
Right conduct is of the highest importance for the road to liberation. Conduct is the most visible dharma because without conduct, even a Tirthankara cannot be perfected; in the absence of conduct, all the souls pass through innumerable cycles of life and death and suffer from misery, when the soul is liberated from delusion, attachment, greed, etc., and attains a state of equanimity, it is called conduct.159
Conduct which is like this can be acquired only when one leans towards the soul, get mixed with it and is wholly absorbed.
159 carittam khalu dhammo dhammo jo so samo tti nidittho
mohakkhoha vihino parināmo appano hu samo-Pravacanasara, Gatha, 7.

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123
In fact, to be absorbed in the soul is conduct Being in the nature of things, it is also dharma.160 Equanimity, intermediacy, right application, detachment, conduct, dharma, propitiation of one's own nature are synonyms 161
The term right preceding conduct signifies the need to avoid conduct through ignorance 162 For,
na hi samagvyapadeśam caritramajnānapūrvakam labhate jnānānantaramuktam cāritrārādhanam tasmāt163
Conduct under the influence of ignorance is not right conduct. So it has been suggested that right conduct should be cultivated only on the attainment of right knowledge Conduct without right faith and right knowledge is not at all effective. Just as if a blind man runs, it becomes the cause of his fall, in the same way conduct under the spell of ignorance becomes the cause of one's fall 164 Compare,
tattrādau samyaktvam samupāśrayanīyamakhilayatnena tasmin satyeva yato bhavatı jnānam caritram cal65
At first, one must strive to acquire equanimity only after this knowledge and conduct become right. Elsewhere,
sammattam viņa sannānam saccărittam na hoi niyamena166
In the absence of right faith, as a rule, right knowledge and right conduct are not possible, so only after the dark shadow of ignorance is cleared does a monk equipped with right faith and
160 svarūpe caranam caritram tadeva vastusvabhavatvaddharmah
-Pravacanasāra, Commentory on Gatha, 7. 161 Nayacakra, Gatha, 347; also Jaina Dharma Sara, P52. 162 ajnanapürvakacarananırvatyartham samayag visesanam
-Sarvarthasıddhi, 1/1. 163 Purusārthasıddhyupāya, Sloka 38. 164 caritram darśanajnanavıkalam nārthakynmatam
pramataaiva taddhi syat andhasyeva vivalgitam-Mahapurāna, 24/122 165 Purusārthasıddhyupāya, Sloka, 21 166 Rayanasāra, Gatha, 47.

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knowledge cultivates conduct to get rid of passions. When subjective passions are got rid of, it becomes easier to get rid of objective passions. Just as a man who has no hankering for money does not serve the king, in the same manner, an indifferent person does not get involved in sin.167
Five channels to sin are violence, falsehood, theft, sex and accumulation. To be indifferent to those is conduct.168 When the indifference is total it is full conduct, and when it is partial, it is part conduct.
The religion of a monk and of a follower has its emphasis on non-violence, etc not only external but internal too For all passions cut across right conduct. To kill right conduct, there is a karma called karma deluding conduct and its nature covers twenty passions five as follows:
anantānubandhi four: anger, pride, attachment and greed apratyākhyānāvarana four: as above pratyākhyānāvarana four: as above samjvalana four: as above
plus laughter, restlessness, grief, fear, hankering, strī-veda, rati, puruşaveda, napumsaka veda. In short, they are called attachment-malice. Four types of anger, four types of pride and fear, grief, hankering and restlessness total twelve, fall under malice and so the rest are attachment. Their absence means absence of attachment and malice. Absence of passions is the same as the state of detachment
Of the above, anantānubandhi kills svarūpācarana or practice as per one's own nature, apratyakhyānāvarana kills part conduct, pratyākhyānāvarana the whole conduct and samjvalana kills the yathākhyāta conduct, or conduct as stated.169 With increasing absorption in the soul, as these passions wane, conduct starts becoming purer.
167 Ratnakaranda Sravakācāra, Sloka, 48. 168 himsanytacauryebhyo marthunasevaparigrahabhyam ca pāpapranlıkabhyo viratih sanjnasya caritram
---Ratna Karanda Sravahācāra, SI, 49. 169 G D Baraiya, Jaina Siddhanta Pravesika, p. 61.

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Anantānubandhi passions end with the attainment of right faith and in consequence one is in full possession of and able to perform, practices as per one's nature With an increase in the purity of attitude, apratyākhyānāvarana goes so that part conduct takes shape. With the exit of pratyākhyānāvarana passions,
Il conduct comes to shape and with the exit of samjyalana passions, conduct as stated (yathākhyāta) is in full form.
At the fourth guṇasthāna (stage of ascent for the soul), along with right faith appears svarūpācarana type of conduct, 170 because at this stage, restraint is not wholly absent 171 The cause of self-feeling of power (labdhı) as a rule, on the attainment of equanimity is that at the time of acquisition of equanimity, karma covering self-feeling (syānubhūtı) is either exhausted or tranquilised automatically 172
In Cārıtrapāhuda, Acarya Kundakunda has distinguished between conduct practising equanimity and conduct practising restraint and has stated that one who has slipped from the former but is still practising the latter cannot be liberated 173
Conduct practising restraint has two types viz , with home and without home, the former being the householders and the latter the monks 174 The texts of Caraṇānuyoga discuss at length the conduct of the householders and the monks as their principal theme Both part-conduct and full-conduct have been discussed in great details in these texts
Since the religion of the Jaina monks and followers starts with the avoidance of five sins starting with violence, hence these five in both positive and negative forms, viz , non-violence-violence, truth-non-truth, non-theft-theft, celibacy-sex, non-accumulation-accumulation should first be understood.
Kasāyapāhuda gives the following definition of non-violenceviolence:
170 Jainendra Siddhanta Koşā, Part I, p. 86 171 Yukt yanuśāsana, Commentary on Sloka, 51, p 70 172 Pancadhyāyt, 2/407 173 Aşf?pāhuļa (Caritrapāhuda), Gatha, 10 174 Ibid, Gatha, 21; also Ratnakaranda Srāvakacara, Sloka, 50

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rāgādinamaruppā ahimsagattam tti desidam samaye tesim ce uppatti himsetti jinehi niddittha175
The genesis of attachment, etc, in the soul is violence and their non-genesis is non-violence. Even Puruşārthasıdd śloka 44,176 states like this. Attachment, etc, are inclusive of all the twentyfive passions and hence are alike violence.177
Violence may be subjective or objective. The genesis of attachment, etc , is subjective violence and their application on some object like slaughter is objective violence Keeping both these in view Acarya Umaswami has defined non-violence as:
pramattayogāt prānavyaparopanam lumsā"78
The killing of self or another out of delusion is violence
The Jaina texts have discussed non-violence-violence in great details Specially interested reader should look up the appendix.
Non-violence is the highest religion; state of detachment is religion and absence of violence, etc, is detachment. The other four vows viz., truth, non-theft, celibacy and non-accumulation, definitely stands for detachment and hence are alike non-violence In contrast, falsehood, theft, sex and accumulation, being attachment-based are all alıke violence
ātniaparıņāmahimsanahetutvātsarrameva humsaitat anstavacanādıkevalamudāhrtam şişyabodhāya179
All these, untruth, theft, etc,, causing pain to the pure effort of souls, are in themselves violence These have been given different names for the under-standing of the disciples
In falsehood, theft, etc, there is an element of violence; and
175 Jainendra Siddhanta Kosa, Part I, p. 225 176 apradurbhavah khalu rāgadinām bhavaty ahimseti
te samevotpattırimseti jinagamasya sama sepah 177 Puru şarthasıddhyupaya, Sloka, 64 178 Tattvārtha Sutra, 7/13. 179 Purusärthasıddhyupaya, Sloka, 42

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these are not possible in the absence of passions. Hence they invariably strain other living beings.
Accumulation may be internal as well as external, internal fourteen and external ten, total twenty four. The internal fourteen are falsehood, anger, pride, attachment, greed and nine passions starting with laughter Being passions themselves, they virtually stand for violence.
External accumulation includes grains, wealth, etcetra, in all ten, which are not possible to have without passion and hence without strain on other living beings Hence they too are violence.
This violence where all channels flow in is the greatest sacrilege, the reverse of non-violence which contains all religion, indeed, the greatest religion So one comes across non-violence everywhere at the root of Jaina behaviour Jaina behaviour is based on total absence of violence or at least minimum violence
Non-violence includes avoidance of meal at night, use of water after passing it through cloth, avoidance of wine, meat and honey and certain fruits, avoidance of the intake of prohibited objects, even disciplines and controls,--all are non-violence.
These cannot be discussed here at length, but it is necessary to understand that having clearly understood the meaning of subjective and objective non-violence, each behaviour should be placed in one category or the other
Every wise soul considers violence, whether subjective or objective, to be unwholesome in all respects, no matter whether due to certain weakness he may not be able to keep himself wholly apart from it. Gradually it reduces the area of violence but in no case does he consider it useful to torture others or to entertain attachment and malice
There may be innumerable stages of giving up violence and cultivating non-violence in one's own life and these may have, and infact have, innumerable variants, but all these cannot be

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stated in so many words Hence these are sought to be conveyed by part conduct and whole conduct
Part conduct does not consist of subject existence of 'lesser vows' and external activities, but it is one in which a part of pure detachment shines in proportion to the reduction of anantănubandhi and apratyākhyānā varana passions. That indeed is conduct. The accompanying pure devotion and external activity are called conduct as a matter of usage
Because of the absence of conscience, an unwise soul does not understand the main point and fixes his vision on external activity Highlighting this, Pandit Todarmal writes:
"Their vision is fixed on external activity but they do not bother whether the outcome is improvement or deterioration If they have their eyes on the outcome, then, as the outcome happens to them, they have their eyes turned to it But in considering the chain of those outcomes, they fail to consider the intention underlying their desire, and the result that occures to them is that of the intention underlying the desire "180
Of the outcome, he has drawn the picture as follows:
"Being indifferent, he accepts the 'lesser vows' and the 'greater vows', as described in the texts, and gives up violence in part or in full, and establishes pious deeds like non-violence in their place. And as formerly he considered himself the doer of sinful activities based on categories, so now he considers himself the doer of pious activities based on categories. Thus there is the parity of ego in both types of category based activities, e.g, I kill living beings, or I have accumulation then, and now I protect, I am nude without possession This ego in either type of category based activity is itself the wrong outlook. Samayasāra Kalasa states:
ye tu kartaramātmānam pasyanti tamasa tatah sāmānyajanavatteṣām na mok so'pi mumuksutām 199
180 Mokşamarga Prakasaka, 237-38

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A soul enveloped in the darkness of falsehood who considers itself to be the doer of category-based activities cannot, like other ordinary souls, attain liberation. For, there is a parity of ego Thus by being the doer, he applies his mind, words and body, to the discipline of a monk or of a follower all the while, so that there may be no break or lapse in the said discipline, but all the same he is still in the grip of attachment, conduct, in contrast, is detachment Thus the consideration of the aforesaid practice as the road leading to liberation is a wrong one
Question-Conduct is stated to be of two types, viz., with attachment and attachment free How is that?
Answer-Just as rice is of two types, viz., with or without husk. When it has the cover of husk, it is not the true shape of rice It is faulty. Suppose a wise man is collecting rice with husk. Now, if on seeing this, one collects only husk, he will have to repent Likewise, conduct is of two types, viz , with attachment and attachment free In that case, conduct with attachment is not the true shape of conduct It is faulty Now there may be some wise people who cultivate conduct with wholesome attachment On seeing this, if some other mistake the wholesome attachment for conduct and accumulates it, well, he will have to repent.181
Truly speaking, conduct is a state of detachment Although a distinction has been made between conduct with attachment and without attachment, still on the exhaustion of karma what remains is conduct with detachment. In Tattvapradāpikā of Pravacanasāra, Acarya Amritacandra has clearly stated:
"A conduct which has the equipment of faith and knowledge, if with detachment, is entitled to liberation, and if with attachment, is entitled to kingship (Indra) of the gods, asuras and men with accompaning pain due to the bondage of treasure, for one covetous of liberation worthy of acceptance is the conduct with detachment and worthy of rejection is the conduct
181 Mok samārga Prakašika, p 244-45

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with attachment which gives unwholesome fruit "182
The above has been elaborated as follows:
“When this soul is spiritually ripe in its nature, and holds pure attidude, and maintains it consistently, then being free from hostile forces, he is able to carry on his work and is entitled straight to liberation. But when, though other conditions are fulfilled, the soul is not free from hostile forces because of which he cannot carry on his work and some times indulges in somewhat contrary work, then, like a person on whom is sprinkeed clarified butter warmed on fire and who is pained thereby, it is afflicted by heavenly joys Hence pure attitude is wholesome and good attitude is unwholesome."183
Wrothy of note are the following ślokas from Pancadhyāyī:
rūdheh subhopayogo'pi khyātascāritrasanjaayā svārthakriyāmakurvānah sārthanāmā ma niscayāt 759 kintu bandhasya hetuh syādarthättatprat yanīkavat nāsau varam varam yah sa nāpakāropakārakrt 760 viruddhakāryakäritvam nāsyāsiddham vicārasāt bandhasyaikāntato hetoh suddhādanyatra sambhayāt 761 nohyam prajnāparādhatvannırjarā heturanjasā asti nābandhaheturvā śubho nāpyasubhābahah 762 karmadänakriyārodhah svarūpācaranam ca jat dharmah suddhopayogah syāt saişa căritra sanjnaka 763
Although by usage even a good attitude is called conduct, still it is unable to carry on its work; hence it is not really worth while.
Like unwholesome endeavour, it is really a cause of bondage, and hence it is not the best. The best is one which harms not, benefits not.
A good attitude is conducive to contrary work—when this statement is considered, it does not stand refuted. For, when
182 Prayacanasāra, Commentary on Garha, 6 183 Ibid, Commentary on Gatha, 11.

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good attitude leads to bondage, it may exist only in the absence of pure attitude
It should not be argued due to ill wit that a good attitude is the cause of part exhaustion, hence neither a good attitude nor a bad one is the cause of the absence of bondage.
Svarūpācarana stands for a total check on the influx of karma This is dharma, this is pure attitude and this is conduct
Lesser vows and greater vows are pure things: their use is conduct. Real conduct is the same as detachment
In this context, Pandit Todarmal writes:
“Conduct stands for the rejection of activities like violence The greater vows due to their wholesomeness are considered to be palatable But in the Tattvārtha Sūtra, the author, while discussing the influx of karma, has placed both the greater and lesser vows in the same category. Now, influx leads to bondage and conduct to liberationHence conduct is not possible when there is influx of karma due to the greater vows. Conduct stands for that state of detachment which is devoid of all passions When due to the delusion of conduct there arises, may be largely mild, but widespread attachment, that is virtually an excreta of conduct. Considering it to be impartable, it is not removed, but what is removed is sãvadyayoga. Just some person discards many a green vegetables, roots and trunks with many demerits and each others but does not consider it to be spirituality, in the same manner, a monk may give up extreme types of passions like violence and still continues to practise the great vows which may shelter mild vows, he does not consider it to be the path of liberation."
Question-If this be so; then how is it that the thirteen types of conduct include the greater vows and so on?
Answer-That is only vyavahāra conduct and vyavahāra is only the name of a key So accepting that only the fulfilment of the great vows, etc., is the conduct of the detached person,

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the great vows, etc, has been attributed the position of the key to the conduct For certain true conduct stands for a total absence of passions 184
We have as follows in the Malacāra.
akasāyam tu carittam kasāyavasio asamdajo hodi uvasamadi jamhi kāle takkāle samjado hodi 185
A passion free state is called conduct A state in the grip of passions is an uncontrolled state. When passions are no more, it is a controlled state.
Acarya Pajyapada has gone to the extent of writing as follows Samadhisataka:
in
apun yamavrataih punyam vratairmok sastayoryyayah avratānīva moksārthi vratänyapı tatastyajet
Five non-vows like violence, etc, give impious bondage while five vows like non-violence, etc, give pious bondage, exhaustion of both leads to mokşa So one covetous of mokşa should not only give up non-vows but also vows
Worthy of attention in the above is the need to give up vows and non-vows, and to give them up in the same manner. In fact, these are like two boundaries. Thus, first no one need feel that non-vows are inferior to a greater degree than vows; both are equally bad and unwholesome. And, second, while giving up vows, one should not enter the territory of non-vows, but enter into a state of detachment. For advice is tendered to help one to climb up, not to slip down. If one gives up vows and enter the territory of non-vows, it is still wrose.
Hence those who want to be liberated from the misery of worldly life or who desire to rise up in all respects and be fully happy should acquire right faith and knowledge and get their conduct fixed in detachment. This is the only way of liberation
184 Mok samärgaprakasaka, pp. 229-30 185 Mulācāra, Gatha, 982.

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from the misery of worldly life, of the uplift of all beingstruly Sarvodaya Tirtha
To conclude in the words of Pandit Todarmal:
“What more, the faith that ends attachment is right fatti the knowledge that ends attachment is right knowledge and the behaviour that ends attachment is right conduct; suđI N_Phe road to liberation worthy of pursuit.”:186
Sarvodaya becomes a reality when liberation
all are on this board
to
186 Mok samarga Prakasaka, p. 213

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CONCLUSION
Although eternal truths have been revealed in the words of Bhagavan Mahavira, still, the doctrines that have taken shape from his words also give solutions to contemporary problems. Indeed the problem is only one, and that is how to be happy. The only task is to get happiness and terminate misery. This is not merely a modern problem; it is a problem for all times and in all regions.
Hence there is not much of a difference between problems of today and problems of all the three time periods. Hence there cannot be any basic difference in their solutions.
How problem
to establish peace and happiness that is the main today.
The importance of religion, faith in it and spiritual ideals in our life is no less than that of air, water and food; but the amount of urgency that we feel for the latter is not to be usually come across for the former.
All living beings desire to be happy and are afraid of misery and try to avoid the latter all the time. But what is true happiness? And what is the true road to it? Since this is not known all their efforts fail.
Air, water and food can meet our material wants, but the causes of misery are to be found, not in the material world, but in the mental world. So long as the flame of delusion, attachment, greed, etc, is burning within, it is not possible to be fully happy. To pacify the flame of delusion, etc., it is highly necessary to have religion, faith and ideal.
The spiritual ideals must be such that they have a link with the realities of life The ideals which cannot successfully descend in life, which cannot be successfully applied in life, they may be

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pleasant dreams in imagination but their utility and significance in life is doubtful.
When we measure the ideals of Tirthankara Bhagavan Mahavira against the realisms in life, they are found to be hundered percent right.
We succinctly feel that his ideals are not the outcome of a flight of imagination, but are based on the hard realities of the ground, and their observance in life is not only possible, but is easy and effective to give peace, happiness and prosperity to life.
The doctrine and philosophy about the nature of things as propounded by Bhagavan Mahavira has been discussed at len in part two of this work. Here it will not be out of place to consider certain external items of behaviour
To make life pure, honest and happy, Bhagavan Mahavira have held up five great ideals, which are non-violence, truth, nontheft, celibacy and non-accumulation
Keeping in view their effective application in life both for the monks and the followers, he has drawn a distinction between greater and lesser versions of these ideals.
Those who make a full use of these five are called monks and those who use these according to capacity and ability are called followers Keeping in view the capacity and ability of the followers, they have been placed into eleven categories called pratimās.
The behavioral aspects of Jainism in doctrinnaire form may be known from the Caraṇānuyoga texts and their application from the careful reading of the Jaina Pnrānas
The whole universe is divided into two currents, one material and the other spiritual The material current is flowing in all its furiousness which alarms the entire universe The spiritual light in contrast is burning low, emitting a poor flicker.

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Not their state, but their respective outcome is more important The question is not, which of the two is more powerful and which less; the question is about their nature.
timeless. The spiritual cu
The material current is full of worldly experiences -infinite and timeless. The spiritual current is all renunciation, renunciation of 'others' and exclusive cultivation of self. Thus the two are inverse.
no-senunciation
According to one, there should be no limit to joys and pleasures. If there is a limit, there is no satiation, and when there is no satiation, there is no pleasure. According to the other, what is the pleasure in worldly joys Real pleasure is a prerogative of the soul. So there is no place for worldly joys on the road to real pleasure.
In other words, the material, current does not tolerate even the slightest of resraint and the spiritual current does not tolerate the presence of even the slightest worldly joy. One stands for unqualified hedonism and the other has no place even for an iota of it. For the one, the master is the reckless pleasure seeker, for the other, a yogi with complete detachment.
The two currents have been compromised in the life of a Sravaka, who has not wholly renounced worldly pleasrues but gives them a due place. It is a passing compromise in which are sheltered, the five "lesser' vows and seven vows governing conduct.
The material current says, "To attain objects of pleasure, I may indulge in any amount of violence; it is immaterial.'
The spiritual current says, 'I do not want to have pleasures derived from violence, or when pleasure itself is violence, I need it not. I have joy within, I search it not outside.
Then starts a compromise. They say 'Really we do not need pleasures; but we need minimum subsistence for life, which is due to our present weakness.' Since non-ending desires can never be fulfilled, so it is not possible to allow a limitless indulgence in violence. But in the life of a householder certain forms of

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violence are inevitable, viz, violence despite utmost care, violence in business activity and violence in defence. These are the permitted forms of violence; the rest are to be discarded, especially determined violence. So the four forms are as follows:
(1) Determined violence
(2) Business violence
(3) Violence despite carefulness
(4) Violence in defence
The first is prohibited and the other three permitted because they are inseparable from the householders' life, the content of the 'lesser' vow of non-violence The householder does not consider them worthwhile or palatable; but still they are there.
Likewise about the other four vows of truth, non-theft, celibacy and non-accumulation For running the household, if necessary, the householder is permitted to utter minor falsewords, but he is not permitted to make a wide use of false statements and even to think of using them Such is the content of the 'lesser' vow of truth
Leaving aside earth and water, the non-acceptance of anything else, not even in mind, without the express permissions of its earthly master is the content of the 'lesser' vow of non-theft. Non-indulgence in sex except with one's own wife in the case of a man, and except with her man in the case of a woman is the content of the 'lesser' vow of celibacy.
In the same way, leaving aside the accumulation for the present which may be essential, giving up any other, accumulation or the idea of it is the content of the 'lesser' vow of nonaccumulation.
If we can court these five ideals given by Bhagavan Mahavira in our life according to our ability and capacity and make use of them, we can ensure peace not only for ourselves, but also for the world at large

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impos
It is often said that to practise these in life is next to sible, since they are so very hard and intricate.
Although according to Bhagavan Mahavira, these five must be free from all blemish or touch of violence, etc., but to bring them in life, their degrees have been recognised so that they may not be difficult to adopt and practise.
While the life of a monk is wholly devoid of violence, till accumulation of any sort, a householder practises these according to his ability and situation whereas for no sufficient reason, he does not disturb or kill an ant, when there comes a call from the country, the society, the household, the religion, where the honour and dignity of women are at stake, he does not even hesitate to apply the sword.
Thus we see that the above allegation is made without understanding Bhagavan Mahavira's prescription as per need and his outlook based on anekānta.
Bhagavan Mahavira has always emphasized upon thought based on anekānta, speech based on syādvāda and behaviour based on non-violence. The Jaina behaviour does not bother about untochability but it must be wholly or largely free from violence Other items of behaviour are, not to drink water without passing it through a piece of cloth, not to take food at night, not to take wine or meat, etc., the broad contents of non-violence.
Bhagavan Mahavira has declared non-violence to be the great religion. But non-violence cannot flourish so long as there is wide disparity in social life. So in social life there must be tolerance, fellow-feeling and co-existence He has given emphasis on these in order to reduce the area of violence.
Tolerance and fraternity connot be the achieved goals so long as aspiration does not end. Aspiration gives rise to dissension and makes a living being restless. Religious in tolerance has been a cause of many acts of violence and bloodshed in the history of mankind. History has many records of this. When religious aspiration exceeds a limit of tolerance and becomes restless for its own propagation, it has to take shelter with violence

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It is ill-luck of religion that it has instigated many a bloodshed because of which it has often been looked down upon as something base and vile
Any spiritual doctrine which has made use of violence has limited its own propagation. The human mind cannot be changed by the sharp edge of the sword. Ignorance can be wiped by knowledge, but effort has been made to wipe it by sword. This has only helped the spread of agnosticism.
Bhagavan Mahavira understood this well and so he emphasized the purity of means as much as the purity of the end.
Co-existence is not possible in the absence of tolerance. In this world an infinite number of living beings have to live together If we cannot live without challenging one another, then we shall clash all the while
Clash is the cause of absence of peace and the latter inevitably leads to violence Violence gives rise to counter violence, and thus to a non-ending cycle of violence-counter-violence If we want to live in peace, we have to be tolerant of others.
Today in human society we have erected many walls between man and man. They are not natural but man-made based on colour, greed, caste, line, region, country and what not.
This has created a tension all the world over One country Is afraid of another, one region of another. Not only man, even animals have started looking on one another with suspicion. Even when they are wholly separated from one another, they are never free of tension. This has vitiated the whole atmosphere of the world and created a sense of suffocation.
A true religion is one which can end or reduce this tension and suffocation Tension poisons the atmosphere and a poisoned atmosphere destroys the peace of mind.
On this, Shri Anantasayanam Iyenger, foamer Speaker of the Lok Sabha wrote:

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"We should read the advice of Tirthankara Risabhadeva and Bhagavan Mahavira contained in Jainism. Today is the most appropriate time to bring them in life The fundamental doctrines of Jainism are based on anekanta and the conduct in Jainism is based on non-violence. Jainism is not based on a blind faith in traditions and accepted norms in this life or in the life to come; basically it is a purely scientific religion."
A doctrine is accepted when it comes out right in application. Religion is no terminology, but application. Life is the sphere of its application. Tirthankara Bhagavan Mahavira did not memorise the terminology of religion. He understood it, felt it and then made its application.
The path of external bliss or liberation-the path he himself treaded he recommended for all, not by precepts, but through practice According to him, the only way to attain true peace and happiness is contained in what is expressed in the syādvada style the many-faceted nature of reality, the nine reals, true nature of the devas, texts and guru, the science of differenciation-to understand these, to have respect for these, to feel these, and then to get lost in these, fully absorbed, wholly immersed
On treading this path, he attained, eternal bliss and became wholly detached and omniscient, Mahavira the great hero and he bequeathed this right path to the world at large His advice is meant not to become a devotee but a Bhagavan.
1 Tirthankara Vavdhamana, pp. 94-95.

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Ahimsa
APPENDIX
Ahimsa has been declared to be the greatest religion-ahimsa paramo dharmah; and this is done even to this day. This much is accepted; but what is the meaning of ahimsa. In plain language, it means not to indulge in violence. When some discussion on violence-non-violence is afoot, we usually imply not to kill others, not to harm others, or, positively, to help and protect others Thus the topic of violence-non-violence is related to others. But such a view is one sided
not very
Violence may be directed to self, but people are conscious of it Even those who are conscious mean by violence to self the act of committing suicide, and do not go to its depth. Delusion, attachment, malice within is the worst form of violence to self, but people are not very much aware of it.
Keeping all this in view, a famous Jaina Acarya, Amrita Candra has defined himsa-ahimsa in Puruşārthasiddhypāya as follows.
apradurbhavah khalu rāgādinām bhavatyahımseti teşamevotpattirhimseti jināgamasya samksepah 44
The genesis of attachment, malice, delusion in the soul is humsā and their total absence is ahimsa Such is the gist of the Jaina Agamas.
A natural question that may arise here is, is it then not himsa that living being die or are killed or not ahimsa if they are protected ? The answer to this question depends on the nature of life and of death
Maranam prakṛtirśarīrīṇām-As per this dictum death is a certainty for all living beings someday or other. Anyone with a body does not eternally live At appropriate time, he is either killed by some other being or dies himself.
If death is taken to be synonymous with himsa, then it will end, and in that case, life becomes synonymous with
never

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ahimsa. But such is not the interpretation given in life. A timely death without any external cause is not called himsā nor is normally life called ahımsā Many living beings die from natural calamities, like earth-quake, flood, etc., but that is not called himsā. I hus 18 refuted the above, viz death is himsā and life ahimsā.
So far as it is a question of killing or saving, Acarya Kundakunda draws our attention to the following in Santayasāra:
248
249
jo mannadı hinsāmı ya himsijjāmi ya parehim sattelin so müdho anņāņi ņānī eto du vivarīdo 247 āukkhayena maranam jīvānam jinavarehim pannattam äum na haresi tumam kaha te maranam kayam tesim āukkhayena maranam jīvānam jinavarehim pannattam āum na harantı tuham kaha te maranam kayam tehim jo mannadı jāvemi ya jīvijāmi ya parehim sattehim So müdho annānī nānī eto du vivarzdo 250 äüdayena jīvadi jīvo evam bhananti savyanhū āum ca no desi tumam kaham taye jīviyanı kayam tesim āūdayeņa jīvadi jīvo evam bhaṇantı savvanhū āum ca na deiti tuham kaham ņu te jīviyam kayam tehim
251
252
One who accepts that he kills others and others kill him is foolish and ignorant The wise accepts the reverse of it.
When karma giving life-span ends, the living being dies—this has been ordained by the leading most Jina You cannot deprive others of their karma giving life-span. Then how do you cause them death ?
When karma giving life span ends, the living being dies_this has been ordained by the leading most Jina. Others do not deprive you of your span of life. Then how do they cause you death ?
The living being who thinks that he keeps others alive and others keep him alive is a fool and ignorant. The wise accept the reverse of it

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AHINSA
143
According to the omniscient, the living being takes life when karma giving life-span to it comes up You cannot give this karma to others; then how do you save their life?
According to the omniscient, the living being takes life when karma giving life-span to it comes up. Others cannot give this karma to you. Then how do they save your life ?
Concluding, the aforesaid text states,
jo marai jo ya duhido jāyadı kammodayeņa sosavvo tamhā du marido de duhāvido cedł na hu micchā 257 jo na maradi na ya duhido so vi ya kammodayeņa ceva khalu tamhā na mārido no duhāvido cedi na hu micchā 258
Death and misery are caused when relevant karma comes up. Then is it not incorrect when you state, 'I have killed; I have caused pain ? And when one dies not, nor suffers pain, that is also due to the rise of relevant karma. Then is it not incorrect when you claim, 'I have not killed, I have not caused pain ? Verily such claims are incorrect
The whole of the above has been summarised by Acarya Amrita Candra in the following couplets
sarvam sadaiva niyatam bhavati svakiya karmodayānmaranajāvitaduhkha saukhyam aiņānāmetadiha yattu parah parasya kuryātpumānmaraṇajāvitaduhkhasaukhyam ainānametaddhigamya parātparasya paśyantı ye maranajūvitaduhkhasaukhyam karmānyahamkrtivasena cikīrşavaste mithyadyśo niyatamātmāhano bhavanti
In this world life and death, happiness and misery come to the living beings always and as a rule by the coming up of karma acquired by themselves It is utter ignorance to state that some other being is responsible for others' life and death, and happiness and misery
1 Samayasāra Kalaśa, p. 168-9

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Those people who consider a third person to be responsible for another's life and death, and happiness and misery, such people, desirous of helping karma come up because of sheer ego, suffer from a false outlook, and they kill their own soul
On the basis of above, it may be said that the Jaina Acaryas never accept a claim that one person can kill or save another, or cause happiness or misery Since no one can kill another nor save another from death, then how do we say that to kill is violence and to save non-violence ?
By the nature of things the soul is death-free and categories change themselves as well as because of the rise of karmawhen this much is accepted, it makes one think how much the claim stands that one living being can save or kill another. So it may be said that killing or dying is not himsā nor living or saving ahımsā
Violence-non-violence are connected straight with the attitude to the soul. The two are the disturbing and non-disturbing attitudes They have no other material base. If the dropping of a slab of stone kills some one, the violence cannot be attributed to the soul. But if one living being decides to kill another, then the former is responsible for the violence, no matter whether the other is killed or not Violence or non-violence is not sheltered in the inanimate; the origin and cause of these is the animate, the conscious with a perversion of mind, even falsehood, theft, ill-behaviour and collection become alternative forms of violence. In the words of Acarya Amrita Candra,
ātmaparināma hinsanahetutvāt sarvameva hinsaitat amstavacanādıkevalamudah,tam $i$yabodhāya 2
When the pure attitude of the soul is destroyed, then falsehood, theft, etc, become forms of violence. They have been separately named to help the disciples to understand.
In fact, violence and non-violence, instead of being related to the life and death, happiness and misery of others, are related
2 Purusarthasıddhyupāya, Sloka, 42.

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AHIMSA
145
to attachment, malice, delusion, etc., the attitudes of the soul. Violence does not crop up in the soul on account of others.
sükşmāpi na khalu hinsă paravastunivandhanā bhavatı pumsah, hinsāyatananivettih parināmavisuddhaye tadapi kāryā?
Though violence is not the outcome of other objects, it is necessary to give up accumulation, etc., for the purification of attitude for whether one dies or does not die, unrestrained people invariably acquire bondage. Hence,
maradu va jiyadu jīvo ayadācārasya nicchida hinsā payadassa natthi bandho hinsāmettena samidassa
Violence may be of two types, viz., subjective and objective. When the pure attitudes of the soul get defiled by the rise of subjective factors like attachment, etc., it is subjective violence, and the fact of killing of objects and beings in which subjective violence is the instrument is objective violence
In ordinary language, violence means chastising someone, giving him pain, etc, Indeed, these are forms of violence, but they are the outcome of carelessness. Hence according to Acarya Umasvami.
pramatta yogāt prāņavyaparopanam himsā
This carelessness is rooted in attachment, malice, delusion, etc. Thus in the above statement, two types of violence enter into objective violence But normally our vision is fixed on external (visible) acts of violence, and does not reach the internal one, the subjective form of violence. Hence special effort has been made here to draw the attention to subjective type of violence which is caused by attachment, malice, etc.
A question may be asked here Well, deep attachment may be called violence but why the mild attachment ? The anewer is
3 Ibid., Sloka, 49. 4 Pravacanasāra, Gathā, 217.

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simply, Viz, mild attachment is also a form of attachment. Of course, when attachment is deep, it is a greater act of violence as against a mild attachment; but when there is no way to get rid of it altogether, at least its intensity should be reduced. All the same, this is not dharma Dharma stands for a total absence of attachment, malice, greed, etc, and that is another name for non-violence
A second question may be, complete non-violence is not possible even for the monks Then for lay men (followers), it should be enough if they practise kindness (the attitude to help save others). In his discussion on the Followers, Acarya Amrita Candra has established that non-violence is one and takes no types Of course, there may be degrees of non violence when it is adopted in life; but violence is always violence.
If one cannot fully give up violence, he should give up at least a part, but then that does not become non-violence. If we cannot fully give up violence, we should give up at least a part, and when we cannot do even that, we should not at least say that less violence is dharma. Even good attachment is a form of violence and cannot be called dharma,
Here may arise an important question If killing is violence, then why not saving non-violence? Since the latter shelters a mild passion and pure attitude, even the texts have considered it to be non-violence in practice. But this is not correctly so and the Jaina texts have discussed this in all its minuteness which needs be properly understood. According to the philosophy of the Jainas, killing is indeed violence, but saving is also violence, being the outcome of attachment, whatever its actual form. Already it has been stated that the very genesis of attachment is a form of violence.
Indeed the attitude to save is superior to the other one, the attitude to kill, but it is attachment all the same. Fire may be lit with neem wood or sandal wood, but it must burn. The same with attachment. Non-violence stands for complete detachment, not for good or bad forms of attachment.
Though the act of slaughter causes sinful bondage and act

Page #151

The Hindi edition of this book * in the eyes of the reviewers and scholars
Rajasthan Patrika (Daily), Jaipur, dated February 16, 1975, Sunday edition.
This year is being celebrated the 2500th nirvana anniversary of Bhagavan Mahavira On this occasion it is not only fit but also necessary that his learned teachings are brought to the notice of a wider public In my view, it is not very important to know when and where Mahavira was born, when he attained perfection or what superhuman powers did he display More important are his great teachnigs, bus interpretation of religion and of the philosophy of life. From this angle, I read the book Tirthankar Mahāvīr aur Unkā Sarvodaya Törth by Dr. Hukumchand Bharıll and I felt highly delighted.
The light that has been thrown in the first part of the book may not go deep down well through the throat of the nonJaina friends but in the second part where he discusses at length the Jaina doctrines, especially syādyāda, with enor
S competence is worth reading and understanding by everybody. It gives insight in the depth of knowledge, study and scholarship of Dr Bharıll and it gives one a competent and authoritative knowledge about Jainism. In fact, in the book of about 200 pages Dr. Bharill has, so to say, put an ocean into a jar, for which the author and the publishers the Todarmal Smarak Trust are deserving of hearty congratulations.
For the Jaina readers, it is like the essence of Jainism, but even for others interested in comparative religion, this book will be immensely readable
Chandragupta Varsneya
Jain Sandesh (the Weekly organ of the Bharatiya Digambar Jain Sangh) Mathura, dated January 2, 1975, Vol 45, No. 36
* In pocket Book Size
This book is available for Rs 21

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I accord a hearty welcome to this work of Dr. Bharill. This is a work which may be given to anyone to impart the knowledge about Bhagavan Mahavira and his teachings. It contains nothing which may lead to difference or dissension ... It is highly readable and for this, the writer and the publishers deserve our thanks I find this book to be the first one of its kind of which 10,000 copies have been printed in the first instance Siddhantacarya Kailash Chandra Sastri
Chief Editor
Vär-vani (Fortnightly), Jaipur, January 18, 1975, Vol. 27, No. 8.
The Book written by Pandit Hukamchand Bharill is a beautiful and competent production on Bhagavan Mahavira, his life and teachings and on the earlier Jaina Tirthankaras. This can safely be placed in the hands of any one, Jaina or non-Jaina The learned author has inserted an ocean into a jar Even those who consider the author to be a supporter of Sonagarh and hesitate to attend his lectures will als acquire a good knowledge about Mahavira and his Tirtha on reading this book Rising above discussions and dissensions, the present work is really deserving of praise and congratulation During this year of Mahavira, this book is expected to be a best seller. The first edition of this work numbering 10,000 copies was printed in November 1974, and within two months its second edition had to be rushed to the Press This fact shows how much the public have welcomed it. For such a publication, the author as well as the publishers deserve to be thanked
Bhanwarlal Nyayatirtha
Sanmatı Sandesh (Monthly), Delhi, December 1974, Vol. 19, No. 12.
The present work is an important ring in a chain of publications on the occasion of nirvana anniversary on Bhagavan Mahavira and his philosophical doctrines. It contains very thoughtful material on all items, spiritual as well as mundane. Depcted in this work is the long Tirthankara tradition preceding Bhagavan Mahavira, his past lives till all the events of his present life in a very interesting and readable style.

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In this spiritual doctrines which have received attention, most important are the Science of Differentiation, Sarvodaya Tırtha, Anekanta, Triple Gems, and the Feeling of Self, all well illustrated, logical and in the light of the canonical texts. The thoughts and expression being natural and spontaneous, the whole things reads like a novel. At no stage does one feel tired For a work of about 200 pages, wellbound, the price is cheap Printing is clear and readable without difficulty
Sanmatı Vani (Monthly), Indore, February, 1975, Vol. 4, No. 8.
Beautiful printing, are an all-round reatly produced work. In the first part, the learned author has presented in a simple and interesting manner the past Tırthankara tradition preceding Bhagavan Mahavira, his previous lives and the events of his present life The 'second part gives a penetrating and authentic account of Bhagavan Mahavira's Sarvodaya Tirtha, Sıx objects, Seven fundamentals, Triple Gems, Karma and Anekanta An appendix contains an exhaustive discussion on Ahimsa in the light of the Jaina Agamas. This is a highly useful work which gives an insight into the extraordinary presentation given by the author. In this work, the author has nowhere lost the spiritual viewpoint which is the very soul of Jaina fundamental doctrines.
Sanmati (Monthly), Bahubali (Kumbhoja), January, 1975, Vol. 25, Number 6.
The book under review is one of the best published work on the occasion of nirvana anniversary of Bhagavan Mahavira and is an admirable and regular reader for the Jains and nonJains alike. It is an authentic account of the life and doctrines of Tirthankara Bhagavan Mahavira ........
In the new generation of Scholars and Writers, Dr. Bharill is a serious, analytical and expert writer. He is dedicated to the propagation of right religion and through day and night he is devoted to this work.

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Both from inside and outside, the book is beautiful, interesting and worth-reading by the inquisitive. Its importance and success are indicated by the fact that 10,000 copies of this work have been bought and distributed by different organisations.
Ballabh Sandesh (Monthly), Jaipur, February, 1975.
Dr. Bharill is renowned for his profound scholarship, exceptional oration and deep thinking. - In this work under review, these qualities have taken shape ....... The printing, paper and binding are excellent. I request the readers to read this book at least once.
Jinavanı (Monthly organ of Samyak Jnan Pracharak Mandal), Jaipur, December, 1974, Vol. 31, No. 12.
Dr. Bharill is famous as a speaker on spiritual themes. He has figured here in this book as a writer ..... (In Part one), the author has established in understandable language that on the basis of penances even the soul of a Bhila may attain perfection in the life of Mahavira .... Part Two discusses in depth the Sarvodaya Tirtha which is the outcome of Bhagavan Mahavira's profound thinking.... An appendix gives at length an analytical discussion on violence-non-violence from the spiritual angle. .. The book is worth reading and thinking
Dr Narendra Bhanavat Prof., Rajasthan University, Jaipur
Sri Agarchand Nahta, Bikaner,
Received a copy of Tirthankar Mahavir aur Unkā Sarvodaya
Tirtha. The book is an excellent production and has been kell written. I think it is the best among the works on Mahavira produced by the Digambara Jainas.... .....I congratulate you and your organisation for the work of spiritual propagation which you have been doing ...... Fam happy to note that your work is selling out in a large áumber.

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Dr HUKAMCHAND BHARILLAge 45 years Education MA, PhD, Shastri, Nyayatirtha, Sahitya-Ratna Birth Place Barodaswami (Lalitpur), U P, India, Activities : Presently controlling Pandit Todarmal Smarak Trust, Registrar of Shri Vitarag Vijnan Vidyapith, Director of Shri Todarmal Digamber Jain Siddhant Mahavidyalaya, Editor of Atmadharma (Hindi, Marathi, Kannad, Tamil). Previously, Headmaster at Shri Chanwaleshwar Parshwanath Digamber Jain Middle School, Paroli (Rajasthan) and teacher at Government Higher Secondary School, Ashoknagar (MP) and also at Trilokchand Jain Inter College, Indore Works The books written and edited by him have been mentioned at the back of this page It is a clear indication of his popularity that in a short span of 9 years more than 8) lac copies of his books have been sold out and some of the books have been translated in Gujarati, Marathi, Kannad, Telegu, Asami and English too Interest Spiritual Thinking, Writing and Oratory Specialities Easily understandable, attractive, argumentative and miraculous style of spiritual oratory, distinguished writer and lucid exponent of Jain Philosophy