Aptamimansa

Author(s): Vijay K Jain
Publisher: Vikalp Printers

Page 19

Preface
Saint Samantabhadra gave his blessings to the two brothers. This story portrays the environment in which the composition of the most sacred text Svayambhūstotra took place.
As Saint Samantabhadra got cured of his disease, he reinitiated himself into the order of holy Jaina asceticism. King Sivakoti and his brother Sivāyana, highly impressed with the Jaina doctrine and the power of true adoration, left their worldly pursuits and became Ācārya Samantabhadra's disciples.
I make obeisance humble at the worshipful feet of Acārya Samantabhadra who had unmatched intellect to discern the right from the wrong and illumined, through profound compositions, the right path that leads to Supreme Bliss.
Ācārya Vidyānanda - the worthy Supreme Being to meditate on
Fifty-two years ago, in 1963, Ācārya Vidyānanda (b. 1925) took to the arduous path of Digambara asceticism (muni). “I do not belong to others nor do others belong to me; there is nothing that is mine here." Thus determined and conquering his senses he took to the excellent form in which he was born (renouncing all clothes, naked). A featherwhisk (picchi) - the implement of compassion, a water-pot (kamandalu) – the implement of purity, and the Scripture (śāstra) – the implement of knowledge, became his only material companions.
Abandoning all attachment and aversion, and having grasped the reality of the substances (tattvas), including the soul and the non-soul, Ācārya Vidyānanda is ever engaged in the realization of the supreme status of the Self. This is the only path available to the bhavya* souls striving to attain liberation. His pious figure, turned golden by the fire of austerities (tapas) and rid of all encumbrances, external and
* endowed with inherent capacity to attain liberation
(xvii)