Jain Journal 1975 10

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

Page 35

62
Siddhartha :
Vardhaman :
Siddhartha :
Vardhaman :
Siddhartha :
Vardhaman :
There is enough time to achieve 'Salvation". First do your duty to this world, and then you can renounce it. Our first Tirthankara, Adinath did the same. He married Sunanda and Sumangala. He had several sons and daughters. He reigned for several years; and thereafter he became a recluse. Similarly, you can also renounce the world after you have completed the householder's Dharma.
JAIN JOURNAL
Father, your arguments are irrefutable. I can only say that the times of Adinath were different. We have now neither that longevity, nor that body-figure nor that manly vigour. We are pigmies before Adinath.
I have full confidence in your manly vigour. I can never forget the day when you stood in front of that wild elephant and by a single gaze you melted all his pride and power. That speaks volumes of your manliness.
I do not consider this to be my victory. The day of my victory would be when I can completely stop the inflow of Karmas. I want to surmount an entirely different elephant-an elephant whose legs are modesty, non-violence, renunciation and vigilance; whose trunk is reverence; whose tusks are indifference, whose neck is the code of law; whose head is wisdom and whose tail is discretion.
Amen! So be it! You will be able to ride such an elephant only after you have conquered the ego, the frailties and the desires to which this flesh is heir. This will take time. In the mean while, I want you to marry and do your duty to our royal family, protect and look after your subject.
Father, I have no right to go against your mandate, but in my humble opinion it is far nobler to think of the welfare of mankind as a whole than of one's subject only. These days the mockery of caste-system is crushing the entire humanity and the untouchables are being treated like animals. There is so much of killing in the name of religion and so many animals are sacrificed