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PANADA DE 999
retire into seclusion outside (the village, etc.). In the secluded area he should look for a spot free of eggs of insects, creatures, seeds, greenery, dew, water, ant-holes, mildew, moss, marsh, and cobwebs. He should then thoroughly clean that spot and make a bed of straw there. Now he should occupy the straw-bed and observe Padapopagaman fast (fast unto death), and at the same time vow to dissociate himself from his body, its activities and movements.
That Padapopagaman fast is true (right activity). The ascetic who has taken that vow (and is steadfast in observing it) is truthful. He is free of attachment and aversion and is destined to cross the worldly ocean. He is free of ambiguities and knows all about fundamentals. He is free of all ambitions and is not influenced by circumstances. Considering this body to be destructible, winning over various types of afflictions and torments, having the awareness of dichotomy of body and soul, he should perform this ultimate fasting in accordance with the procedure prescribed in scriptures.
(If he follows this) his death is considered as normal death, in spite of being willfully embraced. With such a death he may become the terminator of cycles of rebirth.
Thus, such a death, following the Padapopagaman fast, is a blissful haven for the detached ascetics. It is beneficial, blissful, timely, source of beatitude, and advantageous in the next incarnation.
-So I say.
विवेचन - सूत्र २२५ में इंगिनीमरण की विधि बताई जा चुकी है। अब इस सूत्र में पादपोपगमन अनशन की विधि व मर्यादा बताई है।
जिस प्रकार पादप - वृक्ष सम या विषम अवस्था में निश्चेष्ट पड़ा रहता है, उसी प्रकार भिक्षु सम या विषम, जिस स्थिति में स्थित होकर पड़ जाता है; उसी स्थिति में आजीवन निश्चेष्ट पड़ा रहता है। पादपोपगमन अनशन का साधक दूसरे से सेवा नहीं लेता और न ही दूसरों की सेवा करता है।
आचारांग सूत्र
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