Jainism For Beginners Level 03

Author(s): Sayampurnashreeji
Publisher: Sayampurnashreeji

Page 76

way. After reaching Lord Mahavir, King Shrenik asked the Lord, “Oh Lord, I saw a brilliant sage who was engrossed in meditation. If he died at that moment. what would be his destiny?" The Lord replied, "He would have been hurled down to the seventh hell". The king was very much surprised to hear this reply from the Lord. He thought, “Why would such a sage go to hell? Perhaps the Lord might have misunderstood me". He asked the Lord again, "Oh Lord, if his soul leaves this body just now, where will it go?" The Lord replied, "He will be an angel in the Sarvartha-siddha, a heavenly region." The king was much surprised at this reply too. He thought, "The Lord first said he would go to the seventh hell, and now he says that the sage would be an angel." The king was puzzled. At that very moment, drums began sounding in the sky and voices of "praise to the sage” were proclaimed. The king asked the Lord, "What is the cause of these sounds?” The Lord said, "Oh, king, the sage about whom you were inquiring has attained Omniscience and so the angels are sounding the drums and proclaiming praise to the sage. The king was extremely confused by these answers and requested to the Lord if he would kindly explain the situation in detail.
So Lord Mahavir explained, "Oh king, right before you approached the sage, two soldiers leading your procession diverted his mind with their conversation that the sage's son (who is now a king) was betrayed by his entrusted ministers and they were planning to overthrow his son and even kill him. His meditation was disturbed due to the affection for his son. He was infuriated with rage, and he lost his mental equanimity. Therefore, he started to fight with his ministers in his thoughts, He very violently discharged his weapons one after the other against his ministers. Soon his weapons were exhausted and his enemies were still not destroyed. So, he thought of throwing his steel helmet against them in order to destroy them. If he had died at that moment, he would have gone to the 7th hell.
State of Mind & Karmic Stains Leshyas
As he reached for the steel helmet, he realized that he was not King Prasannachandra any more, but that he was a sage. His anger calmed down immediately. He remembered that he had been initiated into the vow of equanimity and of non-violence to all living beings mentally, verbally, and physically. He deeply regretted and repented for the breach of his vow and indulgence in severe anger. He further thought that he ought to have