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The word 'ath' used in this story signifies authority or command.
Addressing the disciple, the Lord says: Many other Tirthankaras, understanding the impermanence of the world, renounce possessions and embrace renunciation. They strive for liberation. They wish to cross the ocean of the world, but due to the lack of right knowledge, they only discuss liberation or the means of attaining it, namely restraint. They merely talk about it but do not follow it because they do not know how to do so. O disciple! If you also follow the path shown by them, how will you know the 'aar' - this existence and the next existence - this world and the afterlife? Or, the meaning of 'aar' is also the dharma of a householder, the dharma of the world, how will you cross it - how will you cross it by accepting renunciation? Or, one meaning of 'aar' is the world and the meaning of 'paar' is liberation. How will you know both of these? A man who walks on the path of other religions is corrupted from both sides and is cut off by actions in the middle - he is oppressed.
"Even if one is naked and thin, even if one eats only once a month,
If one is bound by this Maya, one will continue to be born in wombs."
Commentary: Even though a Tirthankara may be without possessions and has a body burnt by austerities, why does he not attain liberation? The author raises this doubt and explains: Even though a Tirthankara, a tapasvi, etc., renounces external possessions and becomes a renunciant, becomes naked due to the absence of clothes, and becomes thin due to austerity, and performs his own renunciate practices, even though he performs austerities like the sixth, eighth, tenth, twelfth, etc., and eats only once a month, he is still not freed from internal passions. This is shown by the verse: "He who is bound by this Maya, etc." This is explained as being bound by passions. He will go from womb to womb, endlessly, for an unlimited time. This means that even a poor man, even a man whose body is burnt by austerities, will not be freed from hell, etc., and will continue to wander in the world from womb to womb for an unlimited time, like a fire that burns.
Commentary meaning: Many other religious followers are without possessions - they have no possessions. They burn their bodies with austerities. Still, why do they not attain liberation? The author raises this doubt and explains.
Even though many Tirthankaras, tapasvis, etc., are connected to traditions that renounce external possessions, they become renunciants by renouncing possessions, they remain naked by giving up clothes, they become thin and weak due to hardship. They accept their own