Laghutattvasphota

Author(s): Amrutchandracharya, Padmanabh S Jaini, Dalsukh Malvania, Nagin J Shah
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 41

These are the words of an Acarya who is both a poet and an advocate of the niscaya-naya, and should be understood accordingly. The Jina is no Deity dispensing salvation by 'grace'; rather he is the embodiment of pure and undifferentiated consciousness (citidravye jinendre majjāmaḥ-576), the living example for an aspirant who can achieve the same state through insight and exertion. A Jaina has only one support and that is his own self. As our author says; 'Constantly drinking the ambrosia of your wisdom, and holding intact my internal and external controls, I shall certainly, by my own efforts (svayam), become like you. For what is there that cannot be achieved by those who have accepted the vows of self-control?":
32
anaratam bodharasayanam pibann
Acknowledgements :
dhruvam bhaviṣyāmi samaḥ svayam tvayā
akhaṇḍitāntarbahirangasamyamahḥ/
na sadhyate kim hi gṛhitasamyamaiḥ//156//
In approaching this text, I have benefited greatly from the works of three outstanding scholars: Studies in Jaina Philosophy, by Professor N. Tatia; Jaina-tattva-mîmāmsā, in Hindi, by Pandit Phoolachandra Siddhantashastri; and the Marathi translation of Samayasara by my esteemed friend, Pandit Dhanyakumara Bhore.
Translation of a work such as this one is not easy, particularly with regard to the many "riddle" verses which it includes. Confronted with these difficulties, I sought assistance from Brahmacari Shri Manikachandra Chaware of the Mahavira Brahmacaryaśrama, Karanja, a lifelong student of Amṛtacandra Suri; he very graciously obtained a Hindi expository commentary on the work by Pandit Pannalalji Sahityacharya. I have made extensive use of this commentary, without which many of the problems posed by the technical nature of Amṛtacandra Suri's language would have been insoluble.
For those well acquainted with Jaina doctrine, a completely literal translation might be adequate, but such a translation seems unsuitable for a more general audience. I have received invaluable aid from Joseph Clack, a graduate student in Buddhist Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, in attempting to produce an English version that would closely retain the meaning of the original text and yet be intelligible to the Western reader.