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

Page 298

10. JÄINA DOGMATICS AND MORAL AND SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINE
279
whence rises the sun of bliss. Overpowered by the fetters of ignorance, I am confined within the body. But when my mind shines under the influence of the contemplation of the higher Self, I will be the eye of the universe, like the sun free from darkness. All pleasures of the senses are sweet at the outset, but bitter at the end, like water in the winter, which at first proves warm to bathers at dawn. Death is ready to swallow even a creature afflicted with a fell disease: who can check his greed for one that is beautiful by nature ? If life, youth, association and the joys of creatures were permanent, what wise man would desire to avoid the cycle of births ? One should neither long for life nor invite death, but remain like a servant maintained with wages, not forgetting the limit of one's term. Paramount happiness is mine today, standing as I do on the farther shore of darkness, the in thoroughly purified by the light of faith in the fundamental truths. No pleasure or pain is there in the world which I have not experienced, but never have I tasted the nectar of Jaina lore even in a dream. No living creature ever becomes subject to the flames of rebirth if he takes, rightly and often, even a drop of that ocean of nectar !' .
The devotee should also contemplate the nature and glory of Jing, 'who appears to shine in person in the lights of meditation'. Somadeva describes in a series of verses the various aspects of the Exalted One's sacred majesty, as a guide to the devotee's own contemplation of the true character of Jina. Portions of the dhyāna are reproduced below (P. 397):
देव देवसभासीनं पञ्चकल्याणनायकम् । चतुस्त्रिंशद्गुणोपेतं प्रातिहार्योपशोभितम् ॥ निरञ्जनं जनाधीशं परमं रमयाश्रितम् । अच्युतं च्युतदोषौघमभवं भवभृद्गुरुम् ॥ प्रभवं सर्वविद्यानां सर्वलोकपितामहम् । सर्वसत्वहितारम्भं गतसर्वमसर्वगम् ॥' स्तूयमानमनूचानब्रह्मोथैर्ब्रह्मकामिभिः। अध्यात्मागमवेधोभियोगिमख्यैर्महर्द्धिभिः॥ निरूपं रूपिताशेषमशब्दं शब्दनिष्ठितम् । अस्पर्श योगसंस्पर्शमरसं सरसागमम् ॥ अतावकगुणं सर्व स्वं सर्वगुणभाजनः । त्वं सृष्टिः सर्वकामानां कामसृष्टिनिमीलनः॥ त्रयीमार्ग प्रयीरूपं त्रयीमुक्तं त्रयीपतिम् । त्रयीव्याप्तं त्रयीतत्त्वं त्रयीचूडामणिस्थितम् ॥ जगतां कौमुदीचन्द्रं कामकल्पावनीरुहम् । गुणचिन्तामणिक्षेनं कल्याणागमनाकरम् ॥ प्रणिधानप्रदीपेषु साक्षादिव चकासतम् । ध्यायेजगत्त्रयार्चाहमर्हन्तं सर्वतोमुखम् ॥
Somadeva then explains the Jaina view of gods. He tells us that the Jaina scriptures have imagined the existence of various deities for the protection of the faith, but whoever considers them equal in matters
1 न सर्व गच्छति इति शरीरप्रमाणमित्यर्थः-Ms. A. 2 यद् वस्तु तत् सर्वम् अतावकगुणं त्वत्स्वरूपं न-Ms. A. 3 According to Ms. A, त्रयी means successively (1) रत्नत्रय (2) सत्ता, सुख and चैतन्य (3) राग,
देष and मोह (4) the three forms of knowledge (मति श्रुत and अवधि) (5) अतीत, अनागत and वर्तमानकाल (6) उत्पाद, व्यय and ध्रौव्य (7) and the three worlds.