Jain Stories 01

Author(s): Mahendramuni, K C Lalwani
Publisher: A B Jain Shwetambar Terapanth Samaj

Page 11

VI!
life, golden or dark, has some vigour in thinking, some Capacity for acting, some message for others, it becomes a worthy material for the literary man's attention. Jaina stories, in fact, depict the life of men with a golden tinge as well as that with dark patches Men with a golden tinge are inberently good and they are already on the right path as good examples for others. But even men with the deepest patches stand the chance of rehabilitation if they can be brought back to the right path Then there are «Cases where a man has slipped from the right path to get wholly lost. An account of such men serves as a useful 'warning Quite a number of stories uphold the cause of women, the fallen, the downtrodden, the backward sections of the community Jainism believes in the infinite capacity of the human soul and the core message in Mahavira's kriyavada is that man is the architect of his own fortune provided he asserts as a master and remains not submissive as a slave. The soul has no sex or caste and nomatter whether it is encased at a moment in the frame of a woman or a suáră, with right exertion, it is liable to attain perfection and liberation.
One important theme of many Jaina stories is the ability of many monks to reveal the operation of karma effect in the life of man. In doing so, they have thrown light on the previous birth (s) of the questioner Some have even gone to the extent of forecasting the shape of things to come, not like an astrologer, but like a true seer, telling the questioner where his soul will go when it is dislodged from here Not only monks, according to some short stories, even lay men had their long memory revived at the sight of a familiar personality or scene or at the occurence of some familiar event somuch so that they had their past lives revealed to them and this served as an inspiration to them to quit this mundane life which, in Indian view, is a veritable bondage. Though this type of knowledge is now