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PART IV STORIES DURING BHAGAWAN MAHÄVIR
Bhagawan Mahavir suggested the following four alternatives to him:
1. There was a highly religious householder, known as Puniä Shrävak, in Räjgrihi. He had given up all his desires and was leading a purely spiritual life. For his livelihood he depended upon the innocent occupation of making slivers out of cotton. The Indian word for sliver is Puni. He was therefore known as Puniä Shrävak. He earned very little out of that but felt contented with whatever he could get. He used to spend most of his time in sämäyik. Bhagawän Mahävir suggested the King obtain the merit of one sämäyik from Puniä Shrävak. The King thought that it was very simple. He approached the man and requested the merit of only one sämäyik. Puniä said that he had no objection, but how could he do that since the merits as well as demerits happen to be non-transferable? The King was disappointed.
2. The King had a maid servant named Kapilä. She never gave alms to anyone. Bhagawän Mahävir suggested to the King that he make her give alms on at least one day. Accordingly, the King asked her to do so. She however replied that she would not even take anything in her hand for giving alms. The King therefore arranged to tie a scoop to her hand and asked her to give alms. While doing so, the maid servant murmured that the King's scoop is giving the alms, not me. That plan also thus failed.
3. The King had a butcher named Kalsaurik who loved slaughtering animals. Bhagawan Mahavir suggested the King to make sure that butcher Kalsaurik did not slaughter any animals for one day. This seemed very easy to the King. He ordered Kalsaurik to avoid killing the next day. The butcher replied that he was so conditioned to kill that he could not even spend even one day without killing. The King therefore ordered his men to hang him inverted in a well so that he could not undertake any actions of slaughtering. However, Kalsaurik was so conditioned that he imagined and drew the animals in the water of the well and slaughtered them. Thus the King could not stop him and that effort failed.
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4. Bhagawan Mahävir then asked the King to observe the restraint of one Navkärshi in which one is not supposed to eat or drink anything until 48 minutes after sunrise. The King agreed to do so the next day. However, In the morning, he went to his favorite garden and saw the ripe berries. He forgot the Navkärshi and ate the berries. Therefore, he broke the restraint.
Moral:
This story tells us about how King Shrenik acquired his Ayushya karma, which was Indelible. Once it is acquired, it cannot be changed. Karma that is indelible cannot be changed no matter how hard one tries.
30 - Questions:
1. Why was King Shrenik going to hell in his next life?
2. Could he avoid going to hell? What were Bhagawan Mahavir's suggestions to avoid it?
3. Was he able to do any of the things Bhagawan Mahavir suggested? What happened?
JAIN STORY BOOK
