________________
Kurgadu Nagdutta
462842
Maitarya
Inspired By: Jain Acharya Shri Bhuvanbhanusuriswarji Maharajsaheb
[16] KURGADU NAGDUTTA (Self introspection)
(1) Kurgadu was a Jain monk who couldn't fast. He would take food & water at the time of Navkarshi (48 minutes after Sunrise which is the earliest time a monk can have food) & serve all other monks who did severe penance with fast. The other monks always criticized him for this weakness. (2) Once Kurgadu brought food & showed it to the other senior monks who severely contempt him and spat in the bowl containing rice. Yet Kurgadu praised the monks' penance. He went on repenting himself from heart and while eating he attained Supreme Knowledge (Kewal Gyan). (3) Knowing about Kurgadu's Kewal Gyan the other monks asked for forgiveness & repented severely. They too received supreme knowledge (Kewal Gyan).
MAITARYA
(Kindness and Forgiveness)
(1) Prince of the King, nephew & the son of the brahmin used to harass and beat the Monks. To save him from such sins, the Monk (uncle of the prince) went there to seek food. The Monk danced when they asked him to do so. Taking out nephews mistake in the music, The Monk punished them by removing the connection of the bones. They started crying in pain. The King pleaded the Monk to relieve his nephews of this pain. The Monk agreed, only if the nephews would renounce this world. The Monk cured both of them. (2) The Monk made both of them Monks. The son of the Head Brahmin said "Its good to become Monk and religious but the Guru should not force for it." He hated the uncleanness in the Monk's life. Due to this disrespect for Guru, he became a sweeper named Maitarya in next birth in heaven and for many years he didn't even wish to renounce the world. (3) The Deity who had promised "to forcibly make Maitarya a Monk" made him to renounce the world. Once Maitarya went to a goldsmith for food. There he saw a bird eating golden grain." The goldsmith may kill the bird for the golden grain". So he didn't tell the truth. (4) The goldsmith thought that Maitarya was thief in Monks clothes and hence he caught him and tied wet leather straps on his head and made him stand out in Sun. As the leather dried it got tighter and tighter, until his eyes rolled out of his head. He tolerated and attained tranquil death and attained the Supreme Knowledge.
