Journey Into Jainism

Author(s): Smitpragyashreeji, Vishrutvibhashreeji
Publisher: B Jain Publishers Pvt Ltd

Page 58

The Value of Renunciation (2)
Metaarya was born in a well-to-do and respectable family. Soon after his birth, a goddess, envious of his good looks and fortune, kidnapped him from his family and abandoned him in a forest. A woman belonging to an untouchable caste (Chandal) found him and out of compassion took him home.
In this way, Metaarya was brought as an untouchable. The goddess, who had come to repent her jealousy in banishing Metaarya from the world, tried to atone for her sin by advising him to take the path of renunciation and thereby escape the cycle of birth and death. Metaarya however, was hardly prepared for such a step. He protested that he could not renounce the world without first knowing the delights and temptations he would be resisting.
"My friend," the goddess told him, “it is only possible to rid oneself of something if one is not completely entangled in it."
"But how can I forsake what I haven't had, what I am almost absolutely ignorant of” Metaarya responded. "Renunciation means to give up all luxuries. A poor person's lack of luxuries is not due to spiritual sacrifice but due to economic deprivation. I wish to follow the true path of spiritual good. You may lead me towards it after a set duration. I shall not transgress the time-limit you set.”
The goddess was impressed and convinced by