Jain Journal 1974 07

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 16

JULY, 1974
on a leaf. It was the whole of this ration that she offered to the Lord who took a portion of it and went back to the forest. He did not harangue any crowd or upbraid any people as during such visits he had to observe complete silence. But all the same his gesture aroused the conscience of the people. Pressure was brought to bear on the Seth to set the girl free. The use she made of her freedom was to become a disciple of Mahavira and she was put at the head of his female disciples. Her previous history was traced and she was found to have been a king's daughter who was kidnapped as a child by a Bhil and sold to the Seth.
The second incident occured when Mahavira was ready with his message and claimed Kevala Jñana or complete knowledge. He thought that none of his disciples was capable of understanding the doctrine in full. A stranger, however, appeared on the scene as a disputant and in him Mahavira saw the promise of real understanding. The stranger was no other than Gautama Indrabhuti himself, who became his chief disciple and received his message to interpret to others.
The third incident may be mentioned here as it throws some light on the sterner side of Mahavira's character. Just before Mahavira attained Nirvāņa, he noticed that Gautama was particularly moved by the prospect of his master's departure from this world. "Gautama”, said he, “You have only one tie left which holds you down to the earth and that is your attachment to this body of mine." Without a word Gautama left his presence after a respectful bow and became a solitary ascetic.
Some misconceptions about Jainism
Serious misconceptions have prevailed about Jainism among scholars right to our own day. From western scholars as a class, who can identify Nirvāṇa with annihilation and seriously lay down that the Jainas aim at slow suicide by starvation, no understanding or appreciation can be hoped, for their whole outlook on life and mental equipment being so radically different. Among Hindu scholars also, however, misunderstanding has prevailed for different reasons. The great Sankaracarya gave currency to it by regarding Jainism as an atheistic system, and the mistake was repeated even in our own times by Vivekananda. If Sankaracarya had studied authoritative books on Jainism for himself, he would have seen how close this system came to his own conception of Self. Vivekananda's picture of the spiritual world as consisting of innumerable circles having centres but no circumferences would describe the Jaina view fairly accurately. The works of Jaina students who write in