Gandhar Gautam Swami

Author(s): JAINA Education Committee
Publisher: JAINA Education Committee

Page 1

GANADHAR GAUTAM-SWAMI
06 Ganadhar Gautam-swämi
In 607 B.C., in the village of Gobar, state of Magadha, India, lived a Brahmin couple named Vasubhuti and Prithvi Gautam. They had three sons, Indrabhuti, Agnibhuti and Väyubhuti. All three sons were well versed in the Hindu scriptures (Vedas) and were experts in the performance of Hindu rituals. They were great scholars at an early age. Each one of them had 500 disciples.
Somil's Yajna
Once in the nearby city of Apäpä, a Brahmin named Somil had organized a sacrificial ceremony or Yajna at his home. Forty-four hundred Brahmins gathered for the occasion and eleven popular scholars were among them. Indrabhuti Gautam stood out among the eleven as a shining star. He was the head priest conducting the ceremony.
The whole town was excited by this event in which they were going to sacrifice sheep and goats. As he was about to begin his ritual everyone noticed many celestial beings from heaven descending towards the sacrificial site. Indrabhuti internally rejoiced thinking that this would make the sacrificial ceremony the most famous in history. He told the people, "Look at the sky. Even the celestial beings are descending from heaven to bless us." Everyone eagerly looked up at the sky.
To everyone's surprise, the celestial beings did not stop at their site. They continued past their site and headed towards the nearby Mahäsen forest. Indrabhuti learned that the celestial beings were going to pay homage to Bhagawan Mahävir who had just attained Keval-jnän and was about to deliver his first sermon in the language of the common people called Ardha Mägadhi - Präkrit.
He was furious that the celestial beings did not pay their respect to his sacrificial rite. He angrily thought to himself, "Who is Mahävir? He does not even use the rich Sanskrit language to deliver his sermon, but speaks the common people's language of Ardha Mägadhi." He decided to debate with Mahävir in order to prove to the celestial beings that he was more knowledgeable than Mahävir. So he left with his 500 disciples to debate with Mahävir.
Mahävir welcomed Indrabhuti by his name even though they had never met before. At first, Indrabhuti was caught off guard, but then he thought, "Why should Mahävir not know my name? I am Indrabhuti Gautam, the famous scholar."
Also Bhagawan Mahävir's omniscience (unbounded knowledge) allowed him to know all of Indrabhuti's thoughts. Mahävir realized that Indrabhuti had come to debate with him. He also realized that Indrabhuti had doubts about the existence of the soul or Atmä.
Mahävir said, “Indrabhuti, do you doubt the existence of soul?” Then he explained that the soul exists and it is eternal. He provided proper interpretation of the Hindu scriptures (Vedas) and convinced Indrabhuti that the soul does exist. Indrabhuti was shocked and surprised that Mahävir knew his doubts about the existence of the soul and the proper interpretation of his scriptures. He felt awakened, refreshed, and realized how incomplete his knowledge had been. He became Mahävir's first and chief disciple. Indrabhuti was fifty years old at the time and from then on he was called Gautam-swämi, as he came from the Gautam family.
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