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look to their own interest. When Sangam, for instance, perpetrated terrible afflictions upon Lord Mahavir during the period of his spiritual pursuit, the Lord not only remained unaffected, he actually felt compassionate that the poor guy was acquiring horrible Karma. The Lord was so overcome with the idea of the consequences that Sangam would have to bear, that tears came into his eyes.
Now let us consider the case of respect and disrespect. We are prone to be elated when we are respected and feel disheartened otherwise. The spiritual aspirant needs to remain indifferent in either of the situations. Whether one adores or disdains should be of no relevance to him. The question may arise, 'How would it be possible to remain unaffected in face of grossly abusive words?' The reply is provided by an interesting anecdote of Lord Buddha's life. Once a mean person came to him with the intent to perturb him and began to hurl abuses. Since Buddha remained totally unperturbed in spite of filthy abuses poured in by the man, the latter asked Buddha how he could remain so unaffected in face of terrible abuses. Buddha then asked, 'If you offer something to someone and if the latter declines to accept the same, what happens to the offer?' The man replied, 'In that case the thing would remain with me.' Thereupon Buddha said, 'I have not accepted any of the abuses that you hurled against me. As such, they belong to you, not to me.' For an enlightened one like him the words were merely lifeless matter; how could they affect his consciousness?
The enlightened people have the same approach towards life and death as well. They know that every life comes to the end. How long one would live depends upon the life span laid for him. They are therefore willing to lead the enlightened life during their life span and are prepared to court the death when it comes. Whether the life span is long or they have to immediately court the death makes no difference to them.
The last line of the stanza states that one should not even be concerned whether he gains liberation now or has to remain embodied for a few births. This may seem a bit intriguing. Since one undertakes the spiritual pursuit for attaining liberation, how can he remain indifferent to the length of time required for that? It, however, needs to be remembered that the time for liberation depends upon Karma in balance at the time of gaining the right perception and the effort put in to eradicate the same. If the existing Karmas are mild, they can be easily eradicated. If they are strong, it may take some time to eradicate the same. Moreover, there can be indelible Karmas that have to be borne, before they are extinguished. For that purpose one may be required to take births. As such, a spiritual aspirant quietly bears the consequences of his Karmas as they arise and patiently waits for the time of attaining liberation.
11) Ekäki Vicharato Vali Smashänamän, Vali Parvatamän Vägh Sinh Sanyog Jo; Adol Äsan Ne Manamän Nahin Kshobhatä, Param Mitrano Jäne Pämyä Yog Jo. Apoorva.
While moving lonely even on cremation grounds or in mountain ranges in the midst of tigers and lions, we may remain in steady posture without perturbance in mind, as if we be in the company of the closest friends.
When?
It would be remembered that the stanza 9 mainly related to the contemplation about the aspirant's approach towards the body. At that level one must have overcome all the defiling instincts except the subtle ones. As such, he is expected to maintain a high level of equanimity as described in stanza 10. It may be easy to maintain it under relatively favorable conditions like living within an order, where the daily requirements can be met relatively at ease and where one can get guidance from Guru or other accomplished ones, when necessary. It is, however, hard to do so under adverse circumstances. The real test of the aspirant lies in maintaining equanimity in the adverse circumstances.
This stanza therefore contemplates about moving alone in desolate places like cremation grounds, mountain ranges etc. Not only is it hard to get the daily requirements at such places, but they could also be frightful. The ghosts and other evil spirits might be moving on the cremation grounds, and the mountainous regions might be infested with wild animals like lions, tigers, etc. Under such circumstances it is hard to maintain equanimity and to remain fearless.
The people live with fear about happening something untoward relating to the body and its comforts. Fears pertaining to burglary, confiscation or loss of property, loss of respect, accident, disease etc. fall in that
