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INTRODUCTION
This Prakirnaka is also known by the title 'Maranasamahipainnaya'. The total number of titles given to this tract are eight (See foot-note 2 on p. 159). This tract should have five chapters (Uddeśas). (See p. 159). My old age does not allow me to dive deep into the problem of its five chapters. So I request scholars and revered munis to throw light on this problem.
This tract consists of 661 gāthas. The substance is as follows: Ārādhana (Devoted adherence to the ascetic ideals especially at the critical hour of death) is three-fold according as it pertains to Faith, Knowledge and Conduct. Living beings devoid of faith experience balamarana infinite times. Gāthās 22-44 describe in brief panditamarana. In gāthās 45-52 the acts necessary to be performed for panditamarana are enumerated. They are as follows: to abandon all the pleasures of worldly life, to observe the rules of ascetic life, to endure afflictions patiently, to conquer objects of five sense organs and to destroy passions completely. Thus following good ascetic conduct, giving up pride and raising one's self above attachment and aversion, one should purify ārādhana. All the faults committed during ascetic life, with respect to Faith, Knowledge and Conduct should be confessed. A thorn stuck in the body gives pain so long as it is not pulled out but when it is pulled out one is relieved of the pain. Similarly, if confession is made with māyā (crookedness or deceipt), one becomes miserable but if confession is made with open heart and without any concealment, one attains spiritual peace. When men full of attachment and aversion die with a thorn of maya in their mind, they experience various types of miseries and roam in the wood of mundane existence (samsāra). But if men give up pride and egoism and pull out the thorn of māyā at the time of death, they destroy all miseries.
If I go on giving the substance of the entire Prakirnaka in this way, then it will be a very elaborate and lengthy account. On account of the reason already stated, I have to set some restriction to the length of this Introduction. So I have to satisfy myself by giving only a succinct account of this Prakīrņaka.
Gāthās 53-58 glorify Faith, Knowledge and Conduct. Gāthās 59-67 deal with five types of inauspicious, misery-causing Reflections (bhāvanās) and describe the cultivation of auspicious Reflections in their place. Gāthās 68-69 depict the attainment of samadhi. Gāthās 70-77 treat of the death of an ignorant person (balamarana). Gathās 78-124 expound at length the topics of Confession and abandonment of thorns pricking a soul. At this juncture we find elucidation of 14 and 6 sthānas beneficial to a soul at the time of death, virtues of an acārya, procedure of Confession, varieties of the Thorn and the nature of Confession. There are three varieties of
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