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78 / MANAV DHARMA
The merit acquired by the paractising of Dharma (religion or virtue) enables one to obtain high status, wealth, dominion, authority, power, attendants and the objects of enjoyment in abundance, also unsurpassed and prodigious (marvellous) good fortune. Description :
The religion of self-restraint enables to attain material prosperity of Heaven. In the prosperity pertaining to this world, he gets high status, respect, wealth, authority, power, dominion, attendants, and the objects of enjoyment, relating to five senses in abundance, good family and family - members along with unsurpassed and marvellous good fortune.
Performance of one's duty is done in two different ways (i) Spontaneous duty like eating, drinking sleeping etc. and (ii) that duty where labour is done, with proper efforts and cautiously and that too, slowly and slowly. To perform such efforts, there are the proper stages or place of resorts. Like the Education to students is imparted in different stages like Praveshika, visharad and shastri or Prathma, Madhyama and Tirtha. In the same way a religious minded man or an observer of the various principles of Dharma - religion, performs his humanitarian duties, from beginning to end carefully through different stages, which are Eleven in number, as described in further verses.
THE ELEVEN PRATIMAS श्रावक-पदानि देवैरेकादश देशितानि येषु खलु ।
स्वगुणाः पूर्वगुणैः सह संतिष्ठन्ते क्रमविवृद्धाः ॥१३६॥ Explanation :
The Tirthankara has described the stages in a householder's life to be eleven in number, each subsequent of which, rising by degrees, naturally includes all the attributes developed in those preceding
Description :
The word SHRAVAK means' a listener, discreationer, and a performer of duty. But generally people are in the habit of giving sermons or preachings to others but there should also be a man to listen to his preachings. Even an innocent, unwise or a less intelligent man of lowest status is in the habit of finding faults with others but for him it is highly difficult to hear or listen carefully to what the man, in front of him, is telling him. Man generaly listens less from
