Mahavira His Life and Teachings

Author(s): Bimla Charn Law
Publisher: Luzac and Co UK

Page 73

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MAHĀVĪRA' HIS LIFE AND TEACHINGS
liberation from what? The reply given is-from a state of bondage brought on by karman If it is deliverance, deliverance from what ? To this, the reply is—from old age, disease, death, in short, all that constitutes a painful existence for the self
If Nirvāna or Moksa is a real state of sukha or bliss, how can it be reached ? The opinion that . Pleasant things are produced from pleasant things', 'Moksa, a pleasant thing, is arrived at through a comfortable life, another pleasant thing' is opposed and proved to be futile The precedents cited from the tradition of such ancient and renowned Rşıs as Asita, Devala, Dvaipāyana, and Parāśara, who were generally believed to have reached perfection, notwithstanding the fact that they had eaten seeds and drunk water are considered no valid proof in support of the above proposition ? Even the Buddhist mode of life appeared to be too comfortable to be compatible with the right path to salvation as promulgated by the great Teacher So the proposition had to be rather reversed in formulating the path set out for the Nirgranthas
1 Sūtrakṛtānga, I, 3 4, 4-6, Jaina-Sūtras, II, p 269. 2 Jaina-Sūtras, II, p. 269, f n 3