Jinamanjari 2001 04 No 23

Author(s): Jinamanjari
Publisher: Canada Bramhi Jain Society Publication

Page 10

impartially studied various non-Jain schools of philosophy and paid respect to non-Jain works belonging to traditions such as Vedanta, Vaiṣṇavism etc., he did not seem to compromise his initial belief and loyalty to the doctrine and teaching of Jain prophets and saints.
2. THE PERIOD OF INDIFFERENCE TO THE WORLD
In the 18th-22nd year of his life, Śrīmad composed mainly a prose work called Mokṣamālā, containing 108 sections. At this stage we find Śrīmad to be a staunch follower of Jainism. He mentions three types of sadgurus: those who are (1) like a piece of wood, (2) those who are like a piece of paper, and (3) those who are like a stone. According to him, a preceptor who is like wood is capable himself of floating over and crossing the ocean of transmigration as well as helping his disciples to do so. A guru who is like paper is too light to carry the burden of disciples, while he who is like a stone drowns himself in the ocean of transmigration along with his disciples. Here we find Śrīmad's ability of employing poetic imagery for explaining philosophic truth.
In the same work, i.e. Mokṣamālā, he also refers to the importance of the sadguru, śāstra bodha, or understanding the scriptures, and the satsanga of the sadguru, as well as the company of co-aspirants (mumukṣu). Then we have a reference to the well-known salutations to the arhats, siddhas, ācāryas, upādhyāyas and sadhus in the Pañca Namaskāra Mantra. It is obvious in this passage that while attaching unparalleled significance to the sadguru, Śrīmad continues to accept the Pañca Namaskāra Mantra, according to which homage is paid first to the arhat or Jina, the supreme master, and only secondly to the sadguru in the form of different types of mendicants. In the Mokṣamālā one finds a very interesting statement which forecasts Śrīmad's own life as a householder. Here Śrīmad makes one of his Brāhmaṇ characters assert that a sadguru who is a householder and experiences a householder's problems himself, is more capable of becoming a householder's guru than a monk who has no experience of married life at all. From a