Disclaimer: This translation does not guarantee complete accuracy, please confirm with the original page text.
[63
Third Class] It is common for thieves, kings, partners and death. It is of the nature of decay, falling and destruction. It is to be abandoned before or after (death). O parents! Who knows who will go first and who will go last? Therefore, I want to take initiation as long as I can.
Thereafter, when the parents of Gajasukumal were unable to convince, address and persuade him with words that are conducive to the subjects, with knowledge, with instructions, with announcements, then they spoke in this way with knowledge that is unfavorable and generates fear and anxiety towards restraint.
'O son! This Nirgranth discourse is true (beneficial for the virtuous), unsurpassed (the best), unique, spoken by the omniscient, perfect, i.e., full of qualities that lead to liberation, logical, i.e., just or leading to liberation, pure, i.e., completely flawless, surgical, i.e., destroying delusions and other afflictions, the path to perfection, the path to liberation (the means to destroy sins), the path to Nirvana (the realm of perfection), the path to Nirvana, and the path to completely destroy all suffering. Just as a serpent keeps its gaze steady while catching its prey, so too must one keep one's gaze steady in this discourse. It is sharp like a knife, i.e., it lacks exceptions like a second edge. To follow this discourse is like chewing iron barley. It is tasteless like a mouthful of sand - devoid of worldly pleasures. To follow it is as difficult as crossing the Ganges, a great river, in flood, crossing the ocean with one's arms, attacking a sharp sword, tying heavy stones like a great rock around one's neck, walking on the edge of a sword.
O son! It is not proper for Nirgranth ascetics to consume food that is half-cooked, intentionally bought, established (left for the ascetic), prepared (powder of sweets, etc., prepared again for the ascetic), famine-food (food made for the ascetic during a famine), forest-food (food made in the forest for the ascetic), rainy-season food (food made in a shelter during the rainy season), sick-food (food given by a sick householder hoping to be cured), etc., contaminated food.
Similarly, it is not proper to eat root food, tuber food, fruit food, seed food or green food. Moreover, O son! You are fit to enjoy pleasures, not to endure suffering. You are not able to endure cold, you are not able to endure heat. You cannot bear hunger, you cannot bear thirst, various diseases (like leprosy, etc.) caused by wind, bile, phlegm and fever, attacks (sudden death-inducing pain, etc.), unfavorable words from high and low, the twenty-two types of trials and tribulations that arise, properly. Therefore, O dear one! Enjoy the pleasures of human relationships. Later, after having enjoyed them, accept the vows in the presence of the Arhat Arishta-nemi.
Thereafter, when the parents said this, Gajasukumar said to his parents, "O parents! What you are saying to me is right, that - 'O son! The Nirgranth discourse is true,