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XC : MAHĀPRATYĀKHYĀNA-PRAKĪRNAKA
Samādhimarana In Jaina Literature -
The concept of Samadhimarana is found in the Jaina canonical literature from the earliest times when the most ancient canonical text, the Ācārārga, was composed. The first part of the Acārariga not only motivates the aspirant to embrace Samadhimarana, but also clearly outlines the procedure for undertaking it.* The fifth chapter of the Uttarādhyayana contains a detailed description of the concepts of Bālamarana (Ignorant death) and Panditamarana (Enlightened death).” In the Jaina literature, many of the life-skeches of aspirants have also been drawn showing the Samadhimarana as the natural culmination of their spiritual practices. This work, too, as is clear from its name itself, points towards Samadhimarana or, in other words, it concerns Samādhimarana.
Samădhimarana means that when the death knocks at one's door, the aspirant practitioner must forsake his attempts towards undue preservation of the body and giving up the bodily attachment, welcome the inevitable and imminent death rather than hiding his face from it. Actually, death is the testing time for all living beings and Samadhimarana is taking that test boldly through a process of embracing it peacefully. We can look at it like this – if an aspirant has engaged himself in the practice of equanimity and detachment but if he gets disturbed when he faces death, his lifelong practice can only be considered a waste, just as the year-long study of a student cannot be said to be fruitful if he fails at the examination. Similarly, the death is the test of an aspirant's lifelong spiritual practices and Mahāpratvākhyāna
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Ācārānga, 1/8/6-8. Uttarādhyayana, 5/2-3.
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