Some Jaina Canonical Sutras

SR No.: 011033
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Bimla Charn Law
Publisher: Royal Asiatic Society
Publication Year: 1949
Total Pages: 229
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Agam, & Canon
File Size: 24 MB

Page 159

UTTARADHYAYANA SUTRA (UTTARAJJHAYAŅA SOYA)
145
practising severe austerities, Ariştanemi and Rājimati reached the highest perfection on having completely destroyed their karma.1
There was a learned sage named Garga who was an elder and a leader of the group (gana). He thought thus: 'He who rides in the car of religious exercise, crosses the samsāra but he who puts bad bullocks before his car, will be tired by beating them, he will feel vexation and his goad will be broken at last. A baul bullock will bite its mate in the tail, it will break the pin of yoke or it will leave the road. It will fall down on its side or sit down or lie down or it will jump up. It will furiously advance with its head lowered for an attack. It will stand still as if dead or run at full speed. Just as bad bullocks are when put before it car, so are bad pupils when yoked to the car of the Law. They break down through wanit of zeal. Some attach great importance to their success, some to their comfort, some are averse to begging, and some are afraid of insults. A bad pupil makes objections and points out imagined difficulties, he frequently acts in opposition to the words of the superiors. If bad pupils are sent on an errand, they do not do what they are bidden but stroll about wherever they like. After they have been instructed, aclmitted into the Order, and nourished with food and drink, they disperse in all directions like geese whose wings have grown. Garga further thought, •What have I to do with bad pupils ? I am disheartened. As are bad pupils so are bad bullocks. I shall leave them and practise severe austerities.' The learned sage who was full of kindness, grave and always meditating, wandered about on earth leading a virtuous life.
There lived at Campā a merchant named Pālita who was a disciple of Mahāvīra. * As a lay disciple he was well versed in the doctrines of the Jinas. Once he went to the town of Pihunda on business. He was given a daughter in marriage by a merchant while he was there. When she became pregnant, Pālita took her with him on his returning home. She was delivered of a child at sea. As the boy was born at sea, he was named Samudrapāla. He studied seventytwo arts and acquired knowledge of the world. His father got a beautiful wife for him named Rūpiņī with whom he amused himself in his palace. Once he saw from the windov of his palace a man sentenced to death on his way to the place of execution. Seeing this he became agitated and said thus: This is the bad result of wicked actions.' He became
1 Uttarādhyayana, XXII. 10
2 lbid., XXVII.