Kesarimalji Surana Abhinandan Granth

Author(s): Nathmal Tatia, Dev Kothari
Publisher: Kesarimalji Surana Abhinandan Granth Prakashan Samiti

Page 1240

At the age of thirty Mahavira renounced every thing, even the barest of necessities. He was completely and absolutely possessionless. He devoted the next 12 years to deep contemplation, extreme penance and yoga sadhana. In the thirteenth year, to quote from the Kalpa Sutra, "He under a śāla tree.........in a squatting position with joined heels, exposing himself to the heat of the sun, after fasting two and a half days even without drinking water, being engaged in deep meditation, reached the highest knowledge and intuition, called Kevalajñāna, which is infinite, supreme, unobstructed, unimpeded, complete, and full." At the age of 42, He became an Arhat, that is, obtained an absolute mastery over himself, mind and body. It is said that in this state one knows and sees all conditions of all living being in the world, what they think, what they speak or do at any moment. The Arhat know the supreme secret, the greatest of all mys-teries: What is "I"? What is this 'self' of ours? Whither do we come? Whither do we go? To us schooled in the world of modern science these questions appear strange, utterly intangible, may be, even unreal. And it seems utterly strange, unebelievable, that any one could know their answers, much less by meditation alone. Yet to disbelieve on no other ground but its uniqueness, the personal experience of man of the highest wisdom and veracity, unsurpassed in self-conquest and compassion, (to disbelieve the personal testimony of such man) would be doing violence to the spirit of science.
Mahavira and Ahimsa 19
The teachings of Mahāvīra, handed down orally from one generation of disciples to another, were probably first reduced to writing a thousand years after His nirvana, at the court of Valabhi (in 454 A. D.) under the guidance of Devarddhi.
There are five cardinal principles or Vows of the Jaina religion. The first is to renounce all injury to, and killing of, any living beings whatever, big or small, movable or immovable. One should renounce all violence in thought, word and deed, nor cause others to do it, nor give consent to it. The second principle is to renounce all falsehood, all untruth, arising from anger, greed or fear. The other three refer to renunciation of possessions, sensual pleasures, and attachment. A Jaina monk must follow these five principles or vows completely, to their minutest detail. Lay people should observe these principles as best as their conditions allow; always. endeavouring sincerely to improve their performance. The vows for the monks and the lay people are qualitatively identical. The difference is in their intensity of observance. These vows are, therefore, called Mahāvrata in the case of monks and Anuvrata in the case of others. This basic unity, as regards the duties of monks, male and female, and lay-men and lay-women is a special feature of Jainism, and largely responsible for its strength and resilience. It is called Caturvidha Sangha.
Basic to Ahimsa is a realization of the fundamental kinship of man to all living beings. Man is not their lord but a fellow being. Mahavira declared: "As is my pain when I am knocked or struck with a stick, bone, fist, clod, or potsherd or menaced, beaten, burned, tormented, or deprived of life; and as I feel every pain and agony from death down to the pulling out of a hair; in the same way, be sure of this, all kinds of living beings feel the same pain, agony, etc., as I, when they are illtreated in the same way (struck, beaten, burned, killed). For this reason all sorts of living beings should not be beaten, nor treated with violence, nor abused, nor tormen-ted, nor deprived of life." (Sūtrak ṛtānga, Book 2, Lecture 1)
The unity of all life so characteristic of Jainism is now one of the great concepts (and triumhps) of modern science, thanks to Charles Darwin's theory of evolution and the recent