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USER FRIENDLY JAIN AGAMS
Dr. Pravin L. Shah, Reading, PA
The word Agam meas to come from. In Jainism, the term Mahavir that he had heard from the Lord and was able to write Agam is used to describe the scriptures composed by Gandharas them in the original words of Lord Mahavir. (disciples of Tirthankar) based on the sermons and teachings of
For example, In the first Agam text, Acharangsutra, there is Lord Mahavir, our last and the 24th Tirthankara. It is believed
this famous Sutra: that Shri Gautam Swami composed the twelve Agam Sutras based on the three great mantras he heard from Lord Mahavira which
AGNAE DHAMMO AGNAE TAVO describe the entire universe and the universal cosmos. These three Shrimad Rajchandra's writings are compiled in text that bear Mantras, known as Tripadi are: Utpad ( to create), Vyay (to de- his name as the title which contains more than 955 letters written stroy), and Dhruva (remains constant or never changing). Approxi- to four key disciples who all attained self realization. In this book, mately 2500 years ago, Lord Mahavir's teachings were compiled called Vachanamrut, letter number 194 states as follows: The enin Prakrit in 12 parts known as Agams or Dwadashangi. tire path of spiritual awareness starts with obeying the order of a
According to the Shewatambar tradition, only 11 Agam Sutras living master (Sadguru), and obedience to the master's teachings exit today while the last one, known as Drashtivad, has been lost leads a disciple to self knowledge and Moxa. over time. It is said that the last Agam Sutra, Drashtivad, con- We find a beautiful similarity in Shrimad's writings with ansisted of 14 Purvas, which do not exist today.
other text, Utradhayan Sutra. The Utradhayan Sutra consists of a According to the Digambar tradition, all of the twelve Agam chapter known as dialogue between Gautam Swamiand Keshi Sutras are considered lost. Instead, the writings of Kundkund Swami. When asked by Keshi Swami, How do you control your Acharya (e.g. Samaysar etc) are considered main Agam scriptures mind which always has a tendency to race like a horse? Gautam by the Digambar following today.
Swami replied, By confiding our mind in Lord Mahavir's Sutras, After Lord Mahavir, over the time span of 2500 years, Jainism I control my mind. On Vachanamrut page 688, such a dialogue is has been divided into many sects and sub sects leading to disputes presented
presented by Shrimad. When a disciple asks the Master what is the and confusion on the Agam Sutras. Every sect believes they are
essence of the 12 Agam Sutras, Shrimad replies. The essence of 12 right and others are wrong. Furthermore, since the original scrip- Agams is to control mind by discriminating between soul and tures were composed in Prakrit, they are very difficult to follow
matter. One may recall Patanjali's Yogshastra quoting the defini
matter. for a layman. Even though many authoritative texts have been
tion of Yoga as follows: composed by various Acharyas and sages during the last 2000 years,
Yogah chit vruti nirodhah most of them were written in Sanskrit or Prakrit which usually Similarly, we find reflections of Shrimad's words in present a problem in understanding to an average Jain disciple. Tatvarthsutra: Fortunately, in every recorded history of different religions,
Akagrachintanirodha Dhyanam great seers and saints take birth at a time when there is too much doubt and confusion about the teaching of the Lord. In Jain religion, we have been most obliged to such a great seer born in our In Acharang Sutra (first Agam scripture) Lord Mahavir says modern times. A highly self realized and enlightened seer was born the following about the importance of the self knowledge and how about 130 years ago in a small town in Saurastra called Vavania it leads to Kaval Gnan: who is known to Jains of all faiths today as Shrimad Rajchandra. In later stage of his life, when Shrimad was visiting mount
JE EGAM JANEI SO SAVAM JANEI, Idar, he told the king of Idar that on this mountain, he could see
JO SAVAM JANEI SO EGAM JANEI. and recall clearly the instances where Lord Mahavir and other
We find the reflection of this Sutra in Shrimad's letter numTirthankaras were present here. He further stated: Gautam Swami ber 631: Alf you know thyself, you will know the entire universe. and other disciples of Lord Mahavir attained Moxa at that time, The ultimate fruit of knowing the entire universe is to know your and one of Lord's disciple has taken birth in this time as Shrimad divine self. Rajchandra
One can also see a great deal of similarity in Umasvati's Shrimad had studied all the Jain and Hindu scriptures before "Tatvarthsutra and Shrimad's Mulmarag. When a disciple apage thirteen and composed his first great text, Moxmala in 3 days, proached Acharya Umasvati and asked, What is the real and which can be used as a text to study Jainism at any level. We find
original path to attain Moxa?, Umaswati composed the first numerous examples of his writings that remind us of the original
sutra of Tavatrthsutra : Agam Sutras. Shrimad was able to recall the teachings of Lord
20 / JAIN DIGEST. SUMMER 2000 Jain Education Interational 2010_02
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