Mahavira and his Teaching

SR No.: 008019
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: C C Shah, Rishabhdas Ranka, Dalsukh Malvania
Publisher: Bhagwan Mahavir 2500th Nirvan Mahotsava Samiti
Publication Year: 1977
Total Pages: 509
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Biography, Religion, & Principle
File Size: 12 MB

Page 45

38
DR. Miss. V. MUTHUCCUMARU
which he regained and goes to his spiritual guide, Srivartamāna swāmikal, and performs, penance.
The life of renunciation and the attainment of liberation are explained by the poet using a different literary technique. The process is explained through the answer of the ascetic, Cutanmar to the questions put to him by king Cēņikan about Jivaka. Alongwith this there is also a discussion of Cāraṇa with Jivaka about the rules an ascetic should observe in his ascetic life. These two discussions well depict the nine stages through which a soul ascends to liberation. When Jivaka reaches the sixth gunasthāna viz. the Pramatta samyata, at the beginning of his ascetic life, he observes the five mahāvratas.
In the process of ascending towards salvation in his eighth gunasthāna, Jivaka selects the K șapakaśrēni, with which he can climb up to the highest goal, mokşa, by annihilating all his Karmas. Though the author does not mention the names of different gunasthānas in the text, the order in which the Karmas are eradicated by Jivaka strictly follows the order of the eradication of the Karmas by the soul which follows the Kșapakaśrēni. The whole process is described in the last chapter of Jivakacintamani, the Muttiyılambakam, as a war between Jivaka and his karmas.
Jivaka starts the war against his foes, the karmas, having right knowledge as his chariot, the idea of saving his soul as his horse, right faith as his elephant, kindness as his infantry, right conduct as the support for his body and truth as his sword and shield. When he with his army surrounded the walls of the city of his enemies, the Kaimas, they came out ready for a war, having sleep as their elephant, food as their chariot, forgetfulness as their horses and disease with Vāta, Pitta and śleşma as their infantry.3 The army of these karmas is described as an ocean full of sharks. In this fight Jivaka kills the karmas and ascends towards 1. Jivakacıntāmaņi verse 3074. 2. Ibid. verse 3075. 3. Ibid. verse 3076.