Jain Journal 2002 10

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

Page 12

Dulichand.ain Pratibha Jain : Mahavira the Great Wanderer
70
geous one because of the great vows which indicate his immense inner strength. He now gained the manah-paryāya-jnāna (fourth degree of knowledge-telepathy) by which he knew the thoughts of all sentient beings in a particular space time. This initiation was the end of one path and the beginning of another. The inner journey unfolded.
The first phase of his wanderings lasted for twelve and a half years. Engrossed in spiritual contemplation, he was silent most of the time. Determined to overcome the need for bodily comforts, he subjected himself to all kinds of climatic and natural disturbances. Not discriminating between habitable and inhabitable regions, between smooth and rough paths, between safe and dangerous pathways, Mahāvīra wandered on. Nor did he pay heed to any advice. Steadfast in his vows, engrossed in the cotemplation of the self, unaffected by human, natural and supernatural sufferings and tortures, he inoved on.
There was a Yakṣa in Astigrāma who tortured him for an entire night by assuming demoniac and animal forms; there was the ferocious snakc, Candakausika, in Kanakhal, who was a terror in the entire region till his meeting with Mahävira who remained unaffected by his hisses and deadly poison; there was the shepherd in Chamani village who was so angry with Mahāvīra for not taking care of his oxen, not understanding that Mahāvīra's silence arose from meditation, that he hammered nails into Mahävira's cars. At many places, the villagers were hostile and extremely violent. There are many such other tales during his wanderings, all of deadly tortures, but all borne patiently and unflinchingly. If ever he spoke, it was a language of compassion and wisdom which transformed such cruel hearts.
Apart from these soul-stirring descriptions of adversities faced by Mahāvīra , we also have accounts of the rigorous austerities observed by hiin while he was engrossed in Sadhana. During this period of twelve and a half years, he ate meagre food for three hundred and fifty days only. He observed fasts for fifteen, thirty and also for a hundred and twenty days at a stretch. Immense was his will power, immense was his cquanimity and tolerance.
It was an inner peace undisturbed by external forces. It was a conquest over the demands of the body, mind and speech. The final and most painful of all tests was the hammering of the nails into the cars. With that period, the adversities were over. This spiritual hero had defeated the karmic shackles with his army of determination and stcadfastness. Fle became a Jina, a conqueror.
This period of adversities and austerities reached its zenith at