Bhagvana Mahavira

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

Page 39

The Period of Sādhanā
31
part of the day and night, he had to move his body. While wandering Mahāvīra was not at all an extremist. He favoured neither motion nor motionlessness absolutely. He had affected a synthesis between the two states.
All Living Beings are Equal
Once Bhagavān Mahāvīra was going to northern Vācālā through the hermitage of Kanakakhala. When the cowboys saw him, they came to him running and said, “Sir, the path through which you are going is a short-cut, no doubt, but it is fraught with dangers. A little ahead there is a snake called Caņdakauśika. The person on whom it casts a glance would be burnt to ashes." They advised him to take another route and not to play havoc with life on purpose. It was a correct advice for those who long for life. But Mahāvīra had renounced all craving for keeping himself alive and therefore he also did not entertain any desire to die even. He saw life and death in a different perspective. Ordinarily we believe that one does not want to die also. But the truth is that he who wants to live also wants to die. Once the desire to die disappears, with it disappears the desire to live also. The desire for life is inseparably tied to the desire for death. Mahāvīra had risen above life and death which are like the two facets of a coin. He had become totally immersed in his soul which transcends life and death. He did not heed the warning given to him by the cow-boys and proceeded forward. He had adopted an equalitarian attitude towards all living beings. The prospect of encountering the snake was a welcome opportunity. He did not like to lose it. Without the least hesitation, there he walked up to the interior of the forest and began to meditate in a standing position.
The snake appeared on the scene after it had taken a round of the hermitage. It became suddenly enraged when it sensed that somebody stood before it. It could not tolerate