International Journal Of Jaina Studies Vol 01 To 03 2005 To 2007

SR No.: 022773
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Peter Flugel
Publisher: Hindi Granth Karyalay
Publication Year: 2008
Total Pages: 202
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 19 MB

Page 164

mere perceptible facts: here reciting three halves of slokas, there quoting one Jina's sutra. Comparison is quite qualitative between the smaller and the bigger text. It has only a psychological value: reading this verse and that story, the reader perceives, simply by means of buddhi, the one good way to spiritual perfection (aradhana) which goes through right faith and orthodoxy.
Now back to the dying!
Now it is easier to understand the use of murmuring tales into the ears of the dying. From the previous analysis of Yama's story, it is possible to draw some conclusions about the psychology of the guru and his disciple. Both of them know the danger of nidana. Both of them know that there is no time left to elaborate dogmatic explanations. There is time only to come back to the very beginning of the spiritual process by which a man becomes a layman or a monk. That is, to the moment when he chooses between right and wrong faith, between orthodoxy and heterodoxy. The choice or realisation of right faith is called samyag-darśana. According to the Pujyapada's Tattvärthasutra commentary, this vision (darsana) is a peculiar one, because its only aim is the path to freedom. The best translation of this mental state is not 'right belief', because belief concerns indifferently everything, but Glaube' (H. Jacobi) or 'faith' (P.S. Jaini) because Glaube or faith means that the person feels himself personally involved in his choice of a new life. According to Pujyapada, the individual experiences a deep transformation of his self (atma-pariņāma). For himself, this is quite a new step. So it was for Yama, who had faith without knowledge (he was unable to recite the Namaskara). So it is for the dying, who this example reminds of his own potential progress up to moksa.
From the point of view of both the guru and the dying, there is something more in the verse. The a fortiori argument (kim punah) works as a powerful means of strengthening the will of the dying. He is not in the situation of Yama, because he is learned, and has a guru. Hence, if Yama succeeded with very insufficient means, how much easier will it be for him, who is better equipped. This is a consolation in his final agony.
27 Sarvarthasiddhi, New Delhi, 1991, § 10 on TS 1.2.
28 Jaini 1979: 150f.
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