Bhagvana Mahavira

Author(s): Tulsi Acharya
Publisher: Jain Vishva Bharati

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Thirty Years of Family Life
give birth to inequality and sin. One who renounces passions becomes unfettered-a nirgrantha. A nirgrantha is one who is free from inhibitions. Prince Vardhamana assumed the status of Sramana Vardhamana in the presence of the people of Ksatriya Kundapura. He no more belonged to the kingdom he had left behind. He had now entered into an empire where there were no rulers and the ruled. He left behind the ties of his family and entered into a new family where there was no distinction between 'mine' and 'thine'. Thousands of people shed tears to see him leave the boundaries of Kṣatriya Kundapura and followed him feeling sad at the solemn parting. It is a strange custom of the world to treat one as our own till he lives with us and to treat him as a stranger as soon as he had estranged himself from us. Śramaņa Vardhamana now appeared to be such a stranger to the people of Ksatriya Kundapura. Vardhamana remarked :
"Now I am a Sramana. I have risen above the limitations of the state and the nation. You the are citizens of a state living within its boundaries. No boundaries surround me. I am a wandering ascetic. How far will you be able to accompany me?" He then took leave of the followers and went ahead alone. The last stage of the individual's development is a state of loneliness. Śramana Vardhamana appeared to be an example of this. He transcended the limitations of time and space, completely cut off from his people. People watched him disappear in the distance and returned home. Nandivardhana took charge of the affairs of the State and Śramana Vardhamana installed himself as the emperor of the Kingdom of the Spirit. Nandivardhana's duties were of a gross and simple nature; those of Śramaņa Vardhamana were subtle and complex. But he was bent on changing the complex into the simple.
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