Jain Ramayana Part 2

SR No.: 002022
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Bhadraguptasuri
Publisher: Vishvakalyan Prakashan Trust Mehsana
Publication Year: 2000
Total Pages: 518
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Mythology, & Story
File Size: 23 MB

Page 157

The Upliftment of Sodas
145
“Sodas! If you pursue the path of dharma and if you seek the refuge of dharma the burden of your sinful karmas will partly decline".
“Oh Lord! Give me refuge and elevate me”.
"So be it. But you must make a determination that in future you will not cause violence knowingly to any jiva. You must vow that you will not speak falsehood. You must vow to give up stealing anything. You must vow to practise the principle of non-attachment. You must also vow that you will not seek pleasure from the company of other women".
"Oh Lord of compassion. I swear that I will carry out your commands".
After that, Sodas formally received the vows from the great muni. He explained to Sodas the nature of God, spiritual head and Dharma. Of course, Queen Simhika had taught him all these things even while he was a boy. Yet, when the great muni taught him the doctrines again his past spiritual qualities which were dormant and latent in him became patent. He saluted the muni with great devotion and then experiencing the satisfaction of having attained a new life he went away from there.
"Oh, how strange human life is ! Sodas who was a cruel and despicable cannibal a little while ago became within the twinkling of an eye kind and tender-hearted. He became again a caretaken and protector of men. Fall and rise, descent and ascent, spiritual ruin, spiritual degeneration and spiritual regeneration! As long as the jiva remains in the samsar these contradictions continue to exist”.
In the history of the ancestors of Shri Ram only the life of Sodas passed through such contradictory phases. In his life we see the depths of spiritual ruin. Of course the sublime line of Bhagwan Rishabhdev appears splendid when we see it against this background. Sodas rose from the depths of degeneration effecting a lasting transformation in his life. The river of his life began to flow on the sublime path of spiritual elevation,