Pearls of Jaina Wisdom

Author(s): Dulichand Jain
Publisher: Parshwanath Vidyapith

Page 63

Life of Lord Mahāvīra
came to Śrāvasti for căturināsa ( four months duration when monks and nuns stay in one place ). His spiritual practices became more and more instense. Once he fasted for three days and stood in meditation in the Pedhāla garden in Kāyotsarga posture. His body, mind and even respiratory process were steady. A Yaksa ( demigod ) named Sangama came and gave him severe tortures. In one night itself he gave Mahāvīra so many ordeals that one shudder to imagine them but the great monk remained unmoved. At that time, Mahāvīra was engaged in Sarvatobhadra Pratimā ( the highest kind of meditation ). Suddenly, gusty winds began blowing from all directions and covered his full body with dust but Mahāvīra did not even close his eyes. Then a large number of wild ants attacked his body and made it like a sieve but still he remained steady. Then mosquitos began biting him. Afterwards, white ants, scorpions, mongeese and snakes tortured his body. But the great Yogi never deviated from his meditation and remained firm and steady.
In this way, Sangama inflicted twenty kinds of hardships ( upasargas ) but Mahāvāra remained steadfast and did not remove his concentration from the tip of his nose. At the end, Sangama lost his energy and accepted defeat. He prayed to Mahāvīra to forgive him. In the morning, Mahāvīra completed his meditation and unmindful of the event of the night moved to some other place ( Āva. Nir. 392 ).
Thus we find that Mahāvīra had to undergo enormous physical and mental tortures during the period of Sādhanā. These were the upasargas which came as obstructions on the path of emancipation. In Ācārānga-Niryukti it is mentioned that Mahāvīra suffered maximum upasargas. For a spiritual practitioner, upasarga is a touch stone on which the purification and intensity of dhyāna is examined. As the gold is purified in the fire, so the dhyāna of the sādhaka is purified by suffering the torture ( upasarga) patiently. Fulfilment of his Vow
In Jaina texts, we come across a very pathetic but ennobling