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Dr. Jacobi and Vasicandanakappa
MUNI MAHENDRA KUMAR 'DVITIYA'
In connection with my work of editing the works of Jayacarya, the fourth pontiff of Jain Svetambar Terapanth Sect, I came across the use of phrase vāsī-candaṇa-sāmya.1
I recalled that the same phrase had been used in the 19th chapter of the Uttaradhyayana Sutra, and therefore I referred to Dr. Jacobi's translation of the above canon.2
The 19th chapter of the Uttaradhyayana Sūtra depicts the story of Mrgaputra, a great Jaina ascetic. Mrgaputra was the son of the king Balabhadra and queen Mrga reigning from the beautiful town of Sugriva. On seeing an ascetic in the street, prince Mrgaputra recalled his past lives and found that he had been 'an ascetic' in one of his past lives. Soon he decided to renounce the worldly pleasures and practise asceticism. After a long discussion with his parents, he succeeded in getting their permission. Having renounced the worldly possessions be harnessed himself in the path of self-restraint.
The process of self-purification which is popularly known as sadhanā, essentially requires the mind of the ascetic to be trained in such a way that in all favourable and unfavourable conditions 'equanimity' is fully preserved. Mrgaputra, the ascetic had achieved this state and this is described in the above Sutra3 thus:
labhäläbhe suhedukkhe jivie marane taha samo nindāpasamṣāsu tahā māṇāvamāṇao|| anissio iham loe paraloe aṇissio vāsīcandaṇakappo ya asane aṇasane tahā||
1 Jayacarya's Chauvisi, 1/4.
* Sacred Books of the East, Vol. XIV.
a Uttaradhyayana Sutra, XIV, v. 9092.
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