Jain Story Book

Author(s): Manu Doshi
Publisher: Manu Doshi

Page 44

(20)
PRASANNACHANDRA RAJARSHI
During the time of Lord Mahavir there was a king named Prasannachandra, also known as Prasenjit, who was ruling over Potanpur. He was brave, bold and benevolent. He was also highly religious and virtuous. He had a lovely wife and a charming young son. He was thus happy in every respect. He ruled with complete justice and the people felt happy, safe and secure under his benevolent rule.
Once he had an occasion to go to Lord Mahävir's assembly and to listen to His sermon. On hearing that he was convinced that the well being of the soul is of utmost importance and that can be done only during the human life. He could also realize that the life span is unpredictable and the death may overtake any one at any time. He therefore considered it appropriate to undertake the life of spiritual pursuit without loss of time. As he developed intense detachment for the worldly life, he came to the conclusion of renouncing the same as soon as possible. He had however a problem. His son was too young and could not be left alone for taking care of the administration. It was therefore incumbent upon him to wait till the maturity of his son
But as time went on, Prasannachandra however found it increasingly hard to continue with the worldly activities. Fortunately, he had a trustworthy friend as his minister whose advice was always found helpful, By acting under his advice, the king had overcome many problems. He therefore considered that friend-counselor as capable and reliable to run the administration on his behalf. As such, the idea occurred to him that he could afford to renounce the worldly life by entrusting the well being of his son as well as of the people to that counselor.
Accordingly, the king called that counselor and told him about his intention to quit the throne immediately. The counselor said that it was not proper for the king to quit so soon and strongly recommended that he should at least wait till the prince attained maturity. Being however very eager to renounce, the king asked the counselor to take care of the prince during his absence. The counselor was not willing to see that a benevolent king like Prasannachandra should quit so early. As the king however pressed him too much, the counselor ultimately agreed to abide by his desire. Thereupon, Prasannachandra instantly crowned his boy son and entrusting his well being and interest to that counselor, he renounced the worldly life and became a pupil of Lord Mahävir.
As a monk Prasannachandra used to move from place to place along with the Lord. That way, he once happened to come to Räjgruhi. He used to undertake severe penance and excluding the rainy season, he regularly used to meditate under the open sky, irrespective of the weather. Once, while he was so penancing on a very hot day, Shrenik, the king of Räjgruhi happened to pass by on his way to the Lord's assembly. He looked at the sage king Prasannachandra penancing in the scorching heat and was much impressed by his tolerance and concentration. Shrenik was followed by some of his generals. While passing by that place, one of them, who apparently appreciated the penance of Prasannachandra, spoke very highly about the sage king to his colleague. The latter however replied that Prasannachandra was a fool to entrust the interest of his boy son to his counselor. That so called trusted friend has actually turned out to be treacherous and has been conspiring with the king of Champäpuri to get rid of that boy so as to usurp the throne of Potanpur.
Somehow Prasannachandra heard those words. Confident, though he had been about the trustworthiness of his friend, the talk of the general had impact on his mind. He got concerned about the well being of his son and contemplation about the matter led to the rise of agitation in his mind. He felt deeply hurt by the so called disloyalty of his friend. It occurred in his mind that