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 70

Introduction
Realisation
and must be distinguished from the real nature of the self (137-40). of the self is liberation; to achieve this end jñänäbhуäsa is a great means; for the house-holder, however, 53 duties are prescribed (156-57ff). The three jewels stand for gana and gaccha, the various virtues mean sangha, and samaya is the pure soul; the great monk should not be attached to gana etc., but he should cultivate three jewels with its attendant virtues, so that he will soon attain liberation. (161 etc.). CRITICAL REMARKS ON RAYANASARA.-The text of Rayaṇasara, as a whole, is very badly handed down; from the footnotes which contain the results of the comparison of two MSS., it is clear that the number and the sequence of gathās are not definite; and they might further vary, if more MSS. are collated. There are repetitions of ideas, and the arrangement is not quite satisfactory; and this might be due to the disturbance of the text by additional gath&s. It is conspicuous and not usual in the works of Kundakunda that in the middle we have a doha and about half a dozen verses in Apabhramsa dialect. So far as the present shape of Rayaṇasära stands, it cannot be, as whole, attributed to Kundakunda. It is just possible that the ground-work may be his; even then some evidences to that effect must be produced. There are certain points which are not quite favourable for the authorship of Kundakunda: his name is not mentioned in the colophon; some verses are in Apabhramsa which is abnormal in his works; no doubt there are many common ideas, but there are certain social touches which are not met with in his other works; gana, gaccha, sangha etc. are referred to and a cryptic explanation is attempted; similes are found in his works, but the number of similes is very great here. That Kundakunda is the author of Rayaṇasära should remain, I think, a point sub judice, until some more evidences, one way or the other, are coming forth.
BARASA-ANUVEKKHA: It contains 91 gäthäs. This work deals with 12 reflections which should necessarily be cultivated for the stoppage [p. 40:] of karmic influx. The following are the topics on which the monk is to reflect constantly. 1. Various paraphernalia, relatives, physical strength and beauty etc., are all tran
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1 The twelve Anuprekṣas, for various reasons the foremost being that the reflection thereon is a cause of stopping the karmic influx and that a discussion about them includes many topics of Jainism, have proved a fascinating subject with Jaina authors that much space is devoted to them in many works; and besides even independent works have been written. To note only a few: Mülācāra of Vaṭṭakera has its 8th chapter devoted to this; then Kundakunda composed or compiled his Bārasa-Aņuvekkha which has much, even some gathãs, common with the above chapter; about 150 gathās are devoted to this topic in Bhagavatī Ārādhanā of Śivakoti (the text mentions his name as Śivārya); in the Svetambara canon, for instance, some 70 verses cover these topics in Maranasamadhi Painna; Barasa Anuvekkha of Kumāra or Karttikeya (circa 8th century A.D.) contains 489 gāthās and is solely devoted to 12 anuprekṣās; Śubhacandra in his Sanskrit Jñānārnava, devotes about 195 verses to Anuprekṣās. Digambara authors like Amitagati, Somadeva and Padmanandi have discussed these anuprekṣas in their works; among the Svetambaras, too, works like Dvādaśabhāvanā, (Jaina Granthavali p. 180), Bhavanāsamdhi-prakarana (Annals of the B. O. R. I. vol. XI i.) are current. Dhavala, in his Harivamsapurāna (Apabhramsa) refers to some work on Anuprekṣa by one Simhanandi which is not discovered, so far as I know, anywhere. In Kanarese, Hindi and other vernaculars, too, works devoted to Anuprekṣa are composed both by early and modern authors.