Life of Shrimad Rajchandra

Author(s): Manu Doshi
Publisher: Manu Doshi

Page 19

The soul can be liberated from the bondage of Karma and can attain the Karmaless state. That can be done during the human life. The importance of that life lies in resorting to the means for liberation. It does not lie merely in having the shape of human body, because even a monkey has that type of body. Some great men have recognized that importance even at the early age and have thereby accomplished the purpose of human life. With that end in view the fourth lesson deals with the importance of human life
Illustrations and stories have deep impact on the mind of readers. As a bitter, but sugar coated, medication is willingly taken by the children, the same way, hard-to-comprehend tough principles can be easily understood through the medium of stories. Scriptures have therefore made use of the stories. Uttaradhyayan Sutra (the book dealing with the last sermon of Lord Mahävir) gives a tale relating how Shrenik, the king of Magadh, gained self-realization by coming in contact with Anäthi Muni. That tale has been narrated in three subsequent lessons in a way that would interest even the young people of the present time. It has been shown therein that in addition to the human body, one needs teaching from a self-realized Guru in order to gain right perception or self-realization.
Shrenik had acquired the Karma of leading the life in infernal level. By coming in contact with a true Guru, he underwent change at the inner level. He could recognize the nature of soul and by the contact of Lord Mahävir, he was so much turned towards the religious mode that after spending the life at the infernal level, he would be born in the next time-cycle as a Tirthankar and will be instrumental in uplifting innumerable souls.
If one commits a mistake in evaluating a precious jewel, he would have to face the loss of thousands or millions. Similarly, if one is mistaken in selecting guru, he would be robbed of the religion instead of gaining it. As such, it is necessary to learn about true godliness and true religion from a self-realized Guru. In that case one can get to the right path of crossing over the worldly sea. With that purpose in view, the subsequent four lessons deal with esteem for true godliness, importance and characteristics of true Guru and the right concept of religion.
Religion is a serious subject. These lessons have been written in order to draw the attention of the beginners towards its vital aspects. The people can increasingly think over it, if their worthiness goes up. The beginning can be made only by correctly understanding the concepts godliness, guru and religion. If one firmly comes to the conclusion that it is hard to comprehend the same without guidance from a self-realized Guru, he would remain in search of such a Guru and would not allow the life to go in vain in pursuit of other activities or other circumstances. With that end in view only an outline of these three aspects has been given here. It seems that dealing the same at length might have been deferred to Prajnävabodh.
Thereafter there is a lesson, which states how a layman, who has learnt the true nature of religion, should behave so that he attains the highest state. The lesson, presented in the style of aphorisms, provides very useful guidance.
There are two lessons thereafter on 'Worshipping the Omniscient Lords'. They are in the form of a dialogue. The first one deals with the characteristics of godliness and shows that the capability of soul shines out by worshipping the pure, immaculate Lords, who are faultless, Karmaless, taintless, fearless, omniscient and omni percipient, and are imbibed with truth, eternity and bliss.
In Samuchchay Vaycharyä (The Early Age in Retrospect) Shrimad has mentioned that initially he had faith in the Creator of the Universe. Thereafter by coming in contact with Jains and by reading Pratikraman and other Sutras, he developed faith in Jain Tirthankars also. Later on, by virtue of detachment and contemplation, that faith became stronger. It is therefore mentioned in this lesson that devotion to other deities like Shankar, Vishnu etc. cannot lead to liberation. How he arrived at such faith has been given in lessons 60, 97 and 106. That will be evident from the following extracts.