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samhanana (an arrangement of articulations of joints in which there is a joint resembling a markat-bandha, with a band of cartilage of over it, and a peg of bone passing through the joint) in Jaina literature, and they are unbreakable, and strong like adamant. Persons, with such bodily constitutions, possess, in the highest degree, the unlimited power of enduring terrible sufferings and of keeping their minds very steady under the circumstances.
2. Tirthankaras have Avadhi Jñana by birth. They possess knowledge about their previous lives. But because they may have taken highly delicious excellent food during their life as a god, they have not, in the least, any desire for better food or for such food-materials. Besides, they know that living beings suffer miseries without food during their lives as a denizen of of hell or as a brute, owing to their dependence on other individuals. In comparison with their misery of hunger and thirst, the self-imposed trouble of penance in very slight.
3. Taking of food is not a ustural attribute of atma! Its inner disposition is abstinence from food. Food is taken simply for the nourishment of body (composed of pudgala-matter). Tirthankaras are by birth, ātmānandi (rejoicing in elevation of the soul) and not pudgalānandî (rejoicing in the enjoyment of material objects), and therefore, they take food without any longings, with the object of keeping the body alive till the end of one's life-period.
4. Doing penance by fasting is a form of external tapa. The best method of speedily removing the Karmas previously attached to atma is a-vipaka-nirjarā (riddance without fruition). By its employment through ascetic practices, the particles of Karmic matter attached to the atma, become separated from regions of ātmā, and are removed without fruition and, so, the atmā (soul) is not obliged to suffer the evil consequences. The most tormenting evil Karmas accumulated from a number of previous lives must always be punished with sufferings. The soul cannot be free except by under-going the sufferings at the time of maturity.
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Jain Education International
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| SR No. | 008002 |
| Book Title | Shraman Bhagvana Mahavira Part 2 Vibhag 1 |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Ratnaprabhvijay, D P Thaker |
| Publisher | Parimal Publication |
| Publication Year | 1989 |
| Total Pages | 623 |
| Language | English, Sanskrit |
| Classification | Book_English, Biography, History, & Religion |
| File Size | 14 MB |