Yasastilaka and Indian Culture

SR No.: 001609
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Krishnakant Handiqui
Publisher: Jain Sanskruti Samrakshak Sangh Solapur
Publication Year: 1968
Total Pages: 566
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Story, Literature, & Culture
File Size: 16 MB

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YASASTILAKA AND INDIAN CULTURE
over by various deities; for example, the sun is the deity of the eye, Varuna that of the tongue, Fire that of speech and so on. Moreover, five deities are said to abide in the body composed of the five elements; Brahman in the earthy portion, Isvara in the airy portion, Vişņu in the watery portion, Rudra in the fiery portion, and Sadas va himself in the portion of the body composed of ether. For this reason the body, whether one's own or that of another, should be honoured as having a divine character (devatāmaya); no one should de despised even by mistake, and even a fool or a villain should be respected as possessing a body that is divine. Similar views are expressed in the S'ivapurana (Sanatkumāra samhita, Chap. 39).2
A passing reference to Tantric doctrine as Mantravāda dealing with the mystic diagrams or Yantras occurs in Book I.3
SAIVA DOCTRINES
Saiva doctrines are prominently dealt with in the episode of Canḍakarman in Yasastilaka, Book V (pp. 251, 254 ff,); and the discussion is of particular interest in view of the struggle of Jainism against the rising tide of Saivism in certain parts of India in the age of Somadeva and after. Haraprabodha, one of the companions of Canḍakarman, is a Śaiva and declares that Lord Siva has two ways of doing good to the world: the Dakṣiņa Märga or the Righthand Path and the Vamamarga or the Lefthand Path.* Of these the Righthand Path is meant for general usage, and two verses are quoted to illustrate its principles (Vol. II, p. 251):
प्रपञ्चरहितं शास्त्रं प्रपञ्चरहितो गुरुः । प्रपञ्चरहितं ज्ञानं प्रपञ्चरहितः शिवः ॥
शिवं शक्तिविनाशेन ये वान्छन्ति नराधमाः । ते भूमिरहिता द्वीजात् सन्तु नृनं फलोसमाः ॥
To these may be added another verse quoted in VI. 19 (Vol. II, p. 317): अद्वैताच परं सध्वं न देवः शंकरात् परः । शैवशास्त्रात् परं नास्ति भुक्तिमुक्तिप्रदं वचः ॥ The first verse declares that the Sastra, the Teacher, the true knowledge, and Siva himself are without any connection with prapanca or worldly phenomena. The second verse emphasizes the organic connection between Šiva and Sakti, and declares that to accept Śiva without accepting Sakti is like expecting a harvest from seeds without the intermediary of earth.
1 Yajnavaibhavakhanḍoparibhāga, Sütagītā 4. 22 ff. and 7. 3ff. Cf. a देवतामयम् । स्वकीयं परकीयं च पूजयेत्तु विशेषतः ॥ Ibid. 7. 28 ets.
2 ' इदं शरीरं विप्रेन्द्र सर्वदेवमयं शृणु' etc.
3 'मत्रवादोक्तिष्विव विविधयन्त्रश्लाघिनीपु'. Vol. I, p. 39.
4 'भगवतो हि भर्गस्य सकलजगदनुग्रहसर्गो दक्षिणो वामश्च । P. 251. 5:
For the Dakṣina Marga see also Chap. XIII.