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Acharya Kundakund From A Cow Herder to the Greatest Acharya
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Dr. Jayanti Lal Jain
The Cow Herder Long ago, there lived a cow herder who used to take the cows of his master to the jungle for grazing. One day, he was surprised to see some barefooted well-to-do people in the jungle. He followed them and found that they all had come to have darshan of a Jain Muni (Monk). At the request of those people, the Monk started to deliver his discourse. The herder tried hard to understand the theme of the discourse. The essence of the talk was simple -- All creatures are alike and divine by nature; anyone can become God if knows one's own self (soul).
The herder thought again and again till evening. "I am a poor boy. Is it possible that I am God? All others are calling me fool, but this saint has called me God". In the evening, he started returning to his village. On the way, it started rained and he was completely soaked. He did not eat his dinner and thought about the Monk's discourse over and over again. When the boy did not get up in the morning, his mother woke him up and observed that he had fever. The mother called the doctor and with the help of medicines, he became alright after two weeks.
As soon as the boy recovered, he went to the jungle and found that the jungle was burnt. He was worried about the cows and started searching all around. He saw that a tree was not burnt. A natural question arose in his mind. “Who set the jungle on fire and who saved this tree?" Then he recollected the Monk's discourse, "changes take place of their own in this world, nobody is controller and all are independent". When he went near to the tree he saw a hollow opening and there was a leaf in it. Something was written on it but he could not read as he was an illiterate. He remembered from the discourse that the soul is immortal and fire cannot burn it. He decided to give that leaf to the Monk and started searching for him. He requested the Monk to accept the leaf and oblige. The Monk blessed the boy and said that he had done two great things for the world. First, the leaf could have been lost or destroyed but by saving that, he had preserved a shastra (holy book). Secondly, he had handed over to a deserving person and thus propagated preaching's of the Arihant.
That incident changed the life of the cow herder and he became more kind to the cows. One day, he saw a cow in trouble while crossing the river. He ran to save the cow but stumbled against a projection. He had sever injury and realized that death is certain. He resorted to Samadhi maran (meditation and fast unto death) and died remembering the preaching of the Monk about the divine nature of all creatures and how one can become God. However, they have no control over external events like death.
Padmaprabh After his death, the herder was born as a son in a rich family in Kaund Kundpur, a town in South India. His father's name was Gunakirti and mother's Shantaladevi. He was named as Padmaprabh. As he grew, he was displaying extraordinary characteristics. When crying, the child would become quiet if the mother sang a bhajan lullaby - "He is pure (shudda). enlightened (buddha), without attachments (vitaragi) etc". Padma used to have short sleep cycles. One day at the age of two, the mother was worried and called the doctor. The doctor advised that the child is perfectly healthy and the short sleep was due to his sharp mind and great receptive power. When Padma was four years old, his mother started imparting education. One day the child told that he would not get education from the mother as she was not teaching new things. Then the mother decided to learn when the child slept and taught him during the day. Further, the parents decided to have a learned teacher for Padma.
