Jain Journal 1979 07

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

Page 33

Jaina Phraseology in the Bhagavadgita
K. H. KAMDAR
I have observed the use of so much Jaina terminology in the course of my repeated perusal of the Bhagavadgitā. An attempt is made in this contribution to bring out the salient parallelisms. I have avoided full recital of the verses of the Gitā in the interest of economy of paper.
Jainism has ordered the laity and the monks to observe five vratas (vows) which are classified as aņu (minor) and mahā (major) according to the status of the observer. The first and the basic vow is that of abstaining from injury to a sentient being and is named prāņātipāta viramaņam, prāņa or life is discussed in great details by Jaina writers. In verses 46, 47 and 48 of the first Discourse (Adhyāya) of the Gitā we come across a conscious, though temporary, resort to this anuvrata by Arjuna, when he says to Sri Krsna that the Pandavas were being involved in the act of committing a great sin by preparing to kill their kith and kin in order. that they might get royal pleasures. The grief is so overpowering that Arjuna would prefer being killed by the Kauravas in battle ; he would prefer to die at their hands, without arms, without resistance, and in the act of dying he would feel happy (ahobat etc., verse 45 ; yadimāmapratikāram etc., verse 46 ; and evamuktvā etc., verse 47).
I have found the great ideal contained in the famous verse 69 of the second Discourse (yä nišā sarvabhūtānām etc.) literally described more than once in the Acārārga-Sūtra, as shown by me in the magazine Jain of Bhavnagar. The explanation for the parallelism is obvious. The consolidation of the Acārānga and other Sūtras was done by learned Jaina monks who were originally Brahmins, well-versed in the Upanişads and the Brahma-Sutras. The date for the Acārānga-Sūtra is 2nd or 3rd century before Christ, although it was collated in its present form in the 5th century A.D.
The Gitā uses the phrase prajñāvāda in verse 11 of the second Discourse. This very phrase with a parallel meaning is read in the Acārārga-Sūtra as pointed out by me in the Jain magazine of Bhavnagar some time back. The use occurs in the Gitā in verse 11 of the second Discourse where Sri Krsna rebukes Arjuna for giving expression to thoughts which were apparently prudent but which missed the deeper