Nav Smarana

Author(s): Vinod Kapashi
Publisher: Vinod Kapashi

Page 68

Verse No.11 Even the god of love and desire) who could win over Hara (Hindu God Shankara) and others, were destroyed within a moment by you (you were not tempted by any desires for physical love), like the water destroyed (swallowed up) by the irresistible underwater fire even though normally it is capable of extinguishing
fire.
Comments: The style of poetry in verses 10 and 11 is unique to Sanskrit literature. The alankära describes contradictory attributes as before (virodhäbhäsa alankära). In verse No. 10 a simile of a leather bag is used. A leather bag (mushak) can hold water and/or air inside but it can float on the water. The poet asks a question how come the bag floats when it carries something in it and gets heavier by the weight? Likewise the poet asks whether the Tirthankara is a saviour or is he being saved by others. Because people carry the Tirthankara in their heart as if they are saving him but in fact the Tirthankara saves them from this sea of samsára.
In verse No 11 similar comparisons are made. Water is known to extinguish fire but a huge underwater fire may swallow the same water. Likewise you destroy the very lust, which destroyed the mightiest people.
Verse No.12 O Master, How can those beings swim the ocean of deaths and rebirth with the greatest ease whilst carrying you in their heart, even though you are very heavy? Indeed, the prowess of the great is incomprehensible.
Comments: The above verse is somewhat similar to No 10 and brings about the same phenomenon, viz. all beings are floating in the sea of samsára and are struggling to reach the final destination. Those who carry the Tirthankara in their heart manage to cross samsára easily.
Verse No. 13 How could you manage to destroy karma thieves, when you, O omnipresent one! Have at the very outset no anger within you. Or why, does not the mass of snow, though cold, burn/destroy forests having dark blue trees?
Comments: Again Nos. 12 and No 13 have the same style as verses 10 and 11. In verse No 12 virodhäbhäsa alankära (contradiction) is apparent. One cannot swim easily whilst carrying a heavy thing on him but people who carry the mighty Lord in their heart swim very easily in the sea of samsára. In verse No 13, the poet uses the same alankära, which is easy to comprehend.
Verse No. 14 O Jina, The yogis always search for you, in the interior of their lotuslike heart, as there is no abode for the pure seeds other then the interior of lotus petals.
Verse No. 15 O Lord of the Jinas! By meditating upon you, mundane beings attain the supreme status in a moment, Similarly is the case in this world with pieces of ore which soon cease to be stones and become gold by the application of severe heat.
Verse No. 16 O Jina, How is it that you destroy that very body of the noble human beings (why do they die?) in the interior of which they enshrine you? Perhaps this is the nature of an arbitrator, who is appointed because of a conflict, bringing the very conflict to an end.
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