Unknown Pilgrims

SR No.: 007014
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: N Shanta
Publisher: Sri Satguru Publications Delhi
Publication Year: 1997
Total Pages: 820
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 19 MB

Page 589

Chapter 5.
Antimâ Suddhi: The final purification
An unavoidable halt by the way: The atman withdraws from the bodily sheath
As long as he the ascetic]is not weighed down by old age, as long as sickness does not increase,
as long as his senses do not lose their keenness, he must follow the dharma.1
One of the conditions for receiving dikṣā is good health, a wellbalanced physique, the physical resistance necessary if one is to lead a hard ascetic life, void of all comforts, in which fasts are frequent, and which demands constant interior disicipline. The sadhvis, in the same way as all human beings, must face illness, old age, the decline of strength and powers of endurance, until finally they leave this world.
Given their type of itinerant life and the rules that derive from it, the sadhvis find themselves impelled by sickness and old age to adopt certain modifications and adaptations which vary according to the requirements of the case and the decision of each sampradaya. At the same time they make every endeavour to safeguard fidelity to the spirit of the mahāvratas.
A-Roga: Illness
The Agamas contain little that is explicit on this subject. The few references, gleaned from here and there, indicate briefly that physical ills and pains are in all likehood due to excesses - too lengthy vigils, too much sleep, too long distances covered to failures in attention
J
1
jarā jāva na pilei vähi jāva na viḍdhai
jāvimdiyā na hayaṁti tāva dhammaṁ samāyare. DS VIII,35.