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FO3 Stories Preceding Bhagawan Mahävir
01 - Bharat and Bahubali
But just as he was about to unleash his wrath, a flash of insight came to him. "What am I doing?" thought Bahubali. "Have I gone mad? Am I going to kill my elder brother for the sake of some worldly possessions that my revered father willingly abandoned and which my other brothers have given up?" He shuddered at the prospect of the imminent death of Bharat, seeing the evil in killing a respected brother. At that very moment he changed his mind. Instead of lowering his hand to hit his brother, he used it to pull out his hair (as the monks do during Dikshä) as a symbol of giving up everything and renouncing the worldly life.
However, Bahubali had not lost all of his pride and ego. He realized that if he went to his father and stated his intention of renouncing the world, he would be required to bow down and be subservient to his 98 younger brothers who were senior to him in monkhood. This was unacceptable to him. Instead, Bahubali decided to seek enlightenment on his own and started meditating on the very same spot upon which he stood. He became so immersed in his meditation that he lost track of time and could not remember how long he had stood there. He was motionless for so long that creepers began to grow around his feet. A year passed with Bahubali standing in that posture of meditation, yet he did not gain enlightenment. How could he gain it without shedding his ego? At last, Lord Rishabhdev sent Brähmi and Sundari to bring him to the right path. They came to the place where Bähubali was meditating. Seeing their mighty brother standing like a rock, they calmly told him, "You cannot achieve enlightenment while sitting on an elephant. You need to get off the elephant." As their familiar voices reached Bahubali's ears, he opened his eyes in amazement and looked around but did not find himself on an elephant. He then realized that the elephant they were referring to was his ego. He immediately dissolved his ego and decided to go to Lord Rishabhdev and was ready to bow to his 98 brothers. During his long penance, he had overcome all other defiling passions except ego, which still remained between him and enlightenment. Now his ego was dissolved and humbleness prevailed in its place. Therefore, as he took the first step towards the Lord, he achieved full enlightenment and became omniscient. (By Digambar tradition, Bähubali later became the first person to attain liberation in this era. However, Shvetämbar tradition indicates that Rishabhdev's mother, Marudevi, attained liberation first in this era.) In memory of this event, a gigantic, 57-foot upright statue of Bahubali stands on the hill of Vindhyagiri at Shravanbelgola, near Bangalore in southern India. It is made out of a single rock of granite and was erected about 1000 years ago. Pilgrims and visitors marvel that the statue, even under the open sky, stands spotless today. At the same time as Bahubali was carrying out his intense meditation, Bharat had become the undisputed emperor, or Chakravarti, of the world. He was the first Chakravarti of the current time cycle of Avasarpini Arä. As a ruler, he ruled equitably and in the interest of all, and the people were happy under his administration. India was recognized as Bhäratvarsha. He himself was happy in every respect and ruled for a very long time. One day, a ring slipped off his finger while he was in his dressing room. He noticed that the finger looked rather odd without the ring. His curiosity overtook him and he removed all his rings. Seeing that his fingers were no longer beautiful, he took off his crown and other ornaments decorating his body and looked in the mirror. He realized that he did not look as handsome as he used to look. This set off a train of thoughts. "I consider myself handsome and strong, but this entire look is merely due to the ornaments which do not belong to the body. The body itself is made up of blood and bones. Then why am I so attached to my body?" He thought further. "My body will not last forever and will decompose sooner or later. At that stage, I will have to leave everything behind. The only everlasting entity is the soul." He realized that nothing in the world, including his body, really belonged to him, and soon came to a major decision. "Why not do away with my attachment of all the temporary things and instead focus on something that lasts forever like my father did?" Thus, he developed an acute detachment for the worldly life. As per Shvetämbar tradition, this reflection led to the rise of true enlightenment from within. As a result, he attained omniscience, or keval-inän, in that very room as a lay person. According to Digambar
Compendium of Jainism - 2015
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