Jain Stories 02

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

Page 16

XIV
eg, power to transform oneself into any form, power to understand the language of animals, etc, ctc Quite a number of stories throw light on administration, law and order, justice, crime and punishment, etc, and many of them make use of superpatural elements or are delineated in a medieval setting or mythological language which may not appeal much to a modern mind In many cases, the same type of incident is repeated in more than one story which may be detested by a reader who is seeking fresh things all the time But this has been done for the sake of emphasis, and is not wholly redundant
In almost all the stories, renunciation has been upheld as the most laudable means for attaining the idcal of life. This is in a sense connected with idea of the transmigration of the soul which is widely accepted in all the Indian systems. This life has been viewed as a microscopic fraction of an eternal life, no bigger than a step from the past into the future And if this step is to be a worthy one, then ope must improve the quality of life by living as a monk There are examples where a man has courted monkhood pretty early in life and has been liberated pretty early in age But for most people, kings or common-folks, monkhood is shown to have invariably come in old age, making it somewhat similar to modern superannuation People have been inspired to monkhood when in advanced age they realised the futility of domestic life or by simply listening the inspiriog sermon of some monk or spiritual leader
Closely linked up with the idea of transmigration of the soul is the idea of jati-smaran or rememberiog one's past life in which a person has his past life revealed by a monk or 10 which the revelation comes itself on witnessing a familiar scene or expriencing a famılar event Whatever the methodology, this gives one the memory of the past life, which in tura leods support to the idea of the transmigration of the soul The revival of the memory of the past life bas been invariably followed by renunciation by the person concerned who goes forth to attain the higher ideals of life Wherein the past life is revealed by a monk, in some cases, he has thrown light on the life hereafter It is on record that on a