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LESHYÄS - STATE OF MIND AND KARMIC STAINS Prasannachandra who lived during Lord Mahävir's time, illustrates how fast surroundings can affect our mind and in turn our Leshyäs as well as our spiritual progress.
Story of King Prasannachandra :
One day, King Shrenik was on his way to pay homage to Lord Mahävir, and he saw a sage who was meditating and had a bright glow around him. This sage in fact was King Prasannachandra before he became a monk. He bowed down to the sage and continued on his way. After reaching Lord Mahävir, King Shrenik asked the Lord, "Oh Lord, I saw a brilliant sage who was engrossed in meditation. If he died at that moment, what would be his destiny?"
The Lord replied, "He would have been hurled down to the seventh hell
The king was very much surprised to hear this reply from the Lord. He thought, "Why would such a sage go to hell? Perhaps the Lord might have misunderstood me"
He asked the Lord again, "Oh Lord, if his soul leaves this body just now, where will it go?"
The Lord replied, "He will be an angel in the Sarvärtha-siddha, a heavenly region."
The king was much surprised at this reply, too. He thought, "The Lord first said he would go to the seventh hell, and now he says that the sage would be an angel." The king was puzzled. At that very moment, drums began sounding in the sky and voices of "praise to the sage' were proclaimed. The king asked the Lord, "What is the cause of these sounds?"
The Lord said, "Oh, king, the sage about whom you were inquiring has attained Omniscience and so the angels are sounding the drums and proclaiming praise to the sage.
The king was extremely confused by these answers and requested to the Lord if he would kindly explain the situation in detail.
war and evewas betrayediverted hi
So Lord Mahävir explained, "Oh king, right before you approached the sage, two soldiers leading your procession diverted his mind with their conversation that the sage's son (who is now a king) was betrayed by his entrusted ministers and they were planning to overthrow his son and even kill him. His meditation was disturbed due to the affection for his son. He was infuriated with rage, and he lost his mental equanimity. Therefore, he started to fight with his ministers in his thoughts. He very violently discharged his weapons one after the other against his ministers. Soon his weapons were exhausted and his enemies were still not destroyed. So, he thought of throwing his steel helmet against them in order to destroy them. If he had died at that moment, he would have gone to the 7th hell.
As he reached for the steel helmet, he realized that he was not King Prasannachandra any more, but that he was a sage. His anger calmed down immediately. He remembered that he had been initiated into the vow of equanimity and of non-violence to all living beings mentally, verbally, and physically. He deeply regretted and repented for the breach of his vow
JAIN PHILOSOPHY AND PRACTICE I
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