Book Title: Jain Legend Vol 1
Author(s): Hastimal Maharaj, Shuganchand Jain, P S Surana
Publisher: Hastimal Maharaj Shugan C Jain P S Surana

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Page 297
________________ The moment the Lord attained omniscient, the gods showered five auspicious things to express the glory of knowledge. The gods created a beautiful, grand holy religious hall (samava ara a). Even knowing that there was none present to accept doctrine, the Lord gave his sermon for sometime, which is termed as unimpressive. As per tradition, the T rthamkara's first sermon is never wasted. Accordingly, this unprecedented incident is considered extraordinary. c rya Gu acandra in his ‘Mah v ra Cariyam', while accepting the presence of people in the Lord's first samava ara a,calls it unimpressive. But highly acclaimed scholars like c rya 1 mka and ancient c ryas in their 'Cauvanna Mah purisa Cariyam' do not even mention the unimpressive council and say that first sermon of Lord Mah v ra on the banks of river jub luk had scholars like Indrabh ti, etc present with their respective disciples. The Lord cleared their doubts and taking initiation at the Lord's feet, they became his ga adharas. The Religious gathering of the lord (Samava ara a) at Madhyam p v From J mbhik the Lord arrived at “Madhyam p v '. There rya Somila was organising a grand sacrificial ritual to which several great scholars were invited. At the other end, on the arrival of the Lord the gods glorified the Lord with the mah pratih ryas (great auspicious entities) under the A oka tree and erected a grand samava ara a. There, in a gathering of gods-demons and humans the Lord sat on a high throne and started his sermon in a deep and serious voice using Ardham gadh language. Gods and goddesses arrived at the samava ara a from the sky route. The scholars at Somil's sacrificaila ritual thought the gods were coming for the ritual but when the gods went ahead, they were surprised. When scholar Indrabh ti found out that the gods are going to Mah v ra's samava ara a, he too, with the intention of testing Lord Mah v ra's knowledge, and to defeat him in a debate on the meaning of scriptures, went there with his 500 students. Indrabh ti was greatly impressed seeing the brilliant aura around Mah v ra's face and the great auspicious things (mah pratih ryas). When Mah v ra addressed him as Indrabh ti Gautama, he was surprised. However, in his mind he thought I will consider him all-knowing only when he clears the doubt in my mind.' Understanding Gautama's mind, Mah v ra said – “Gautama! You are doubtful since a long time about the question of soul.” Indrabh ti 297

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