Life of Shrimad Rajchandra

Author(s): Manu Doshi
Publisher: Manu Doshi

Page 32

While all the queens were busy scrubbing the sandalwood for applying to the king's body, the king Nami gained the realization on hearing too much sound of the queens' bangles. Remaining firm in the discourse with Indra, he convinced him of the utter solitariness. The life of such a king of Mithilä thus came to the end here.
This story of the king Nami has been adopted from the Jain scripture Uttaradhyayan and has been presented here in a more refined form. It resembles the story of Dattatray in which one bride removed all but one bangle in order to avoid the sound of bangles. It also resembles to that of Janak Videhi, who remained unaffected even when his capital city Mithila was shown ablaze by the contrivance of a heavenly being, while the sages had rushed to pick up their rosaries, books, beddings etc.
The fourth presentation pertains to the reflection of being different. While depicting therein the splendor of the sovereign king Bharat equipped with all the ornaments, it is shown how he felt unornamented, when a ring dropped out of one finger. That became instrumental in developing detachment and that led to the rise of omniscience. His thought process in that respect has been vividly presented as under.
"Oh, how queer is it that the ring was made by expertly hammering a thing turned out of the earth, that my finger looked fascinating by putting on that ring, that it looked to the contrary, when the ring dropped out, and that the sadness arose by virtue of its appearing disfigured and unornamented! The reason for disfiguration thus turns out to be absence of the ring. Had there been the ring, I would not have noticed the disfiguration. The ring was adorning my finger, my hand looks pretty with that finger, and the body looks fascinating by virtue of the hand. Which one of them should I admit as the real source of fascination?
"It is extremely amazing! The ornaments of jewels and rubies as well as the variegated clothes become instrumental in augmenting my so-called charm, the charm arises by virtue of skin that covers the ugliness and presents the charm. Oh, this is a big trickery! The body, which I consider to be mine, appears charming by virtue of the skin, the skin looks charming by the brightness, and the brightness arises by virtue of the clothes and ornaments. As such, my body itself has no charm. Isn't that merely a bundle of blood, meat and bones? And I take that bundle as mine! What a blunder 1 What an illusion!
"Isn't it strange that I look fascinating by an assemblage of the particles other than my own! Why do I consider this body as mine, which appears fascinating by virtue of other particles? Even if I treat it as mine and hold attachment for it, that also is going to be miserable and in vain. At some time my soul is going to be separated from that body! When the soul migrates to get another body, this body is, no doubt, going to stay here. Since the body does not thus belong to me, it is utterly foolishness to consider it as mine. Why should I hold attachment for a thing, which is going to be separated and which holds different attributes? Is it right for me to belong to it, when it does not become mine? No, no; if it is not mine, I do not belong to it! I should better think that way, be firm about it, and behave accordingly. That is the essence of discernment.
"The entire universe is filled with innumerable things and objects. Of all those, I have the greatest attachment for the body. If that body does not belong to me, what else can be mine? Oh! I was terribly mistaken; in vain did I indulge in delusion. Those youthful girls, the sons that I took to be the illuminators of the family, the fabulous wealth, the mighty rule over the six continents are not mine; I do not have the slightest share therein. Since the body, with which I can avail all those things, does not belong to me, how can those so-called relations, family members and others be mine? No, nothing belongs to me; I do not want that sense of belonging! I do not want to consider those sons, friends, women, splendor and wealth as mine! Neither I belong to them, nor do they belong to me!
"What can be more distressing in the world than the fact that the things that I gained by virtue of my wholesome Karma do not remain with me? Is this the only outcome of my wholesome Karma?