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Ethics of Responsibility
[ 105
'Kaşaya-mukti kila muktireva' means 'Verily, freedom from passions is the real freedom'.
There is a very beautiful and instructive story in the life of Gautam, the principal disciple of Mahāvīra, to show how this Mohaniya Karma obstructs the final enlightenment. We have noticed how Śrī Indrabhuti Gautam came in contact with Mahavira and how he eventually became his principal disciple. According to scriptures, all principal sermons of the ma ster were addressed to Gautam and there was a sort of great teacher-disciple ( Guru-siṣya) bond between the two. After a number of years when the master got Nirvāņa ( died ), Gautama was not physically present by his side. So when he heard the news about the death of the master, he felt greatly bereaved and greatly lamented the personal loss caused to him. He found that many of the house-holders who were the lay followers of the master could achieve 'Kevala-jñāna' ( final knowledge but he could not achieve it even though he was the principal disciple to whom the lord preferred to disclose every truth. Now that the master had passed away, how would he be able to achieve that which he could not achieve when he was alive, thought Gautam. This grief set him to thinking, and while this process of grief-striken thinking was going on, he suddenly realized that the master was so often emphasising that attachment (moha) was the root cause of all other Kaşayas (passions), and the attachment even for the soul like Mahavira was no better than the attachment for any other worldly object so far as its binding character is concerned. As the story has it, the moment Gautam realized that attachment to the physical existence and form of the master was working as a screen to the final knowledge (Kavala-jñāna), he could remove that screen and saw the enlightenment, the final knowledge. The story illustrates the brilliant exposition of the working of 'Darśanavarapiya' karma resulting from attachment (Moha ).
1. 'कषाय मुक्ति किल मुक्तिरेव' ।
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