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XIII
CONSECRATION FOR A RELIGIOUS PURPOSE
Initiation is not merely a formal ceremony, but consecration to reach the goal of self-realization which alone should be the main objective of human life. One may be initiated irrespective of sex, colour, creed, age etc. The only condition is the strong urge of detachment from mundane affairs. Harikesbala and Metārya, even though low-born, attained great spiritual heights. 'Vyavaharabhāşya mentions a prostitute who transformed her life when she realised that the worldly splendour is mere tinsel. So was Amrapali mentioned in Bauddha literature. The Vedic tradition observed four stages of life and none could embrace asceticism direct from his householder's living. There used to be the intervening stage of retreat into a forest after entrusting the domestic responsibilities to the younger generation. This was the preparatory stage for complete renunciation. Jainism, however, as a rule, does not sanction initiation of any one who should not be eight plus. Exceptions were there in as much as even a child, conscious of the shallowness of the world, could be, as Lord Mahāvīra himself initiated, Atimuktakumāra whose age was only six years. So was Gajasukumāla. Sayambhava initiated his child Manaka. Singhgiri did it in the case of Vajrasvāmi. Some children,may be, because of mental impressions of the previous life, have child-like simplicity and evince no interest in toys and the like as other children do. The child is father of the man. Those impressions follow him like a shadow. What one acquires in old age is neither stable nor strong. This does not mean that old men cannot be initiated if they have the irresistible urge to discard the world. Those who are weak or otherwise disabled and who cannot possibly advance on the spiritual plane were regarded unworthy of initiation. Others so regarded were children and old persons who were idiots, diseased, prone to stealing, addicted to intoxicants, evil-minded and opposed to the king, blind, slaves, indebted to lenders, handicapped, kidnapped, impotent and the like. So also pregnant women and those having a sucking child were not initiated. Nisithabhāsya says that if unworthy children are initiated, they may resonably doubt that they might be sons of preceptors themselves. Unworthy children like games and thus kill insects. An iron ball when thrown into fire will burn in whichever direction it moves, so also a child will ever be playful and never serious.
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