Pravachanasara

SR No.: 003289
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: A N Upadhye
Publisher: Shrimad Rajchandra Ashram
Publication Year: 1964
Total Pages: 612
Language: Hindi, Sanskrit
Classification: Book_Devnagari
File Size: 16 MB

Page 61

Pravacanasara
regard for and envies the natural condition of the monks (24). Virtues are no virtues, if they are not well founded on Right faith (27). In short Right faith means an attitude of pure manifestation of consciousness (28); and, when human birth is obtained, one should not lose the opportunity of achieving Right faith by devotion to Jinas (34 etc.).
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CĂRITTA-PAHUDA: It has 44 gåthäs. The main discussion is about the cultivation of Right conduct which is quite essential for the attainment of liberation (9); it is twofold: with reference to Right faith and Self-control (5). The first should be endowed with eight virtues nissamkiya etc. (7 ff.). A man of faith is on the path of knowledge and avoids sinful acts (14). He sees the reality, realises it in its twofold aspects and avoids the breach of conduct, and thus he becomes free from karmas (17-18). The second, namely self-control, is of two kinds: one for house-holders who have still some paraphernalia (parigraha), and the other for houseless monks who have no parigraha at all (20). The conduct of a layman. is divided into eleven stages damsaṇa-vaya etc., and consists in the practice of five anu-vratas, partial vows, three guna-vratas, virtual vows, and four sikṣā-vratas, disciplinary vows, which the author defines in detail (21-25). The conduct of a monk consists in curbing five senses, in observing five full vows, in cultivating 25 kiriyās (the same as bhāvanās, five attendant clauses of each vow) and in observing five samitis (i.e. the items of carefulness or regulation) and three guptis (i.e. the control of mind, speech and body) (27-36). He is a man of Right knowledge, discriminates Jiva from Ajiva; and he is on the path of liberation, if he rises above attachment and aversion (38).
[p. 30:] SUTTA-PAHUDA: It has 27 gäthās. The contents of the sutras are given by Arahantas, while for their proper textual form the Ganadharas are responsible; thus the contents are handed down from teacher to pupil (1-2). A needle with sūtra (i. e. thread) is not lost, so a man with (the knowledge of) sutra (i.e. the sacred text) is not lost in samsara (3-4). The purport of the sacred texts, as preached by the Jina, comprises various topics such as Jiva and Ajiva; of these the man of Right faith should discriminate which is acceptable (upädeya) and which is rejectable (heya); by studying this in its ordinary and realistic aspects, one attains happiness. after destroying karmic dirt (6). Being devoid of scriptural knowledge, if one leads a life without control (sacchamdam), sin is the only consequence (9). The unique path, leading to liberation, consists in giving up clothes and eating in the cavity of palms (10). The greatest regard (vandanā) is deserved by such monks who are self-controlled, free from sin, enduring 22 disturbances (parisaha) and capable of destroying karmas; while other monks, endowed with Faith and Knowledge but still using clothes, deserve only formal greeting (icchākāra) (11-13). Even a hairpoint of paraphernalia is harmful to a monk; he eats only once the food offered in the cavity of his palms; he is in the state in which he is born (jaha-jāya-rūva-sariso); and he never takes anything, not even the sesamum-husk, by his hands (17 ff.). The nirgrantha type is the best, then comes that of a house-holder who is spiritually advanced (20-21). The ascetic emblem prescribed for women is that she takes meals once and has a garment which she retains even when she takes meals. Women are forbidden from accepting severe types of asceticism such as nakedness, because