Agam 30 Prakirnak 07 Gacchachar Sutra

Author(s): D S Baya
Publisher: Agam Ahimsa Samta Evam Prakrit Samsthan

Page 62

GACCHĀCĀRA PRAKIRNAKA : 13
36.
There has been many a noble ones in the past, there is many a noble one in the present and there will be many a noble soul in the future who dedicates their entire lives for the welfare of the world at large. The creatures of the three worlds bow at the feet of such noble souls.
37.
O Gautama ! there has been many an Ācārya in the past and there will be many in the future by remembering whose creeds and deeds one can atone for one's misdeeds.
38.
As the servants and mounts (horses) become truant in the absence of proper control and care, so do the disciples also become self-opinionated in the absence of counterquestioning, expiation and proper motivation. Therefore, the fear of the master is always desirable.
39.
The Ācāryas that do not motivate their disciples for negligence, sloth or any other reason, degrade the Jina faith.
40.
O’humble disciple ! Up to this point I have briefly described the characteristics of the Acāryas. O patient one ! now listen to the characteristics of the monastic group from me.
DESCRIPTION OF THE MONKS' CHARACTERISTICS 41. The real monastic group is the one that consists of the
monks who are in the know of scriptural meaning, who are desirous of liberation from the mundane existence, who are devoid of sloth and negligence, who observe their monastic vows steadfastly, whose monastic conduct is incorruptible and who are free from the blemishes of attachment and aversion.