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Life of Lord Mahavira
one place to another on foot. From Jambhiyagrāma he went to Madhyama Pāvāpurī. At that place, a large religious sacrifice was organised by a Brahmin named Somila. Several reputed scholars and their disciples had assembled to take part in the sacrifice. Most prominent among them was Indrabhūti Gautama. These Brahmins heard the news of Mahāvīra having attained the omniscient state. But they did not believe it. So they came to the place where Mahāvīra was giving sermons. Indrabhūti was a great scholar well versed in the Vedas and he felt that there cannot be a higher scholar than him in the whole world. He wanted to defeat Mahāvīra. However, as soon as he reached the assembly hall and saw Mahāvīra, all his pride and vanity disappeared. As soon as he came near Mahāvīra, the Lord addressed him, “Oh Indrabhūti, you have doubts about the self”. Indrabhūti was surprised because he had not even talked a word about it. But, definitely, he had doubts in his mind about the existence of the soul. Mahāvīra said, “The soul is self-evident (pratyakṣa ) and no proofs would be needed to demonstrate the existence of it either through sense experience or through reasoning. The fundamental princple 'I think' leads to the establishment of the self. The very fact that I am aware of my experiences, like doubting and memory lead to the establishment of this fundamental truth. The Jiva ( self ) is different from the body. The Jiva is characterised by consciousness ( Upayoga ) while the body is unconscious ( Jada ). He also explained the distinction between pure self ( ātman ) and empirical self ( bahirātman ). “The self is pure and perfect, it is eternal and indestructible”. The Lord then explained the six substances that constitute the universe, the five great vows, twelve reflections etc. All the doubts of Indrabhūti were cleared and he became a disciple of Mahāvīra and joined the ascetic order with his disciples. All Doubts Cleard
Indrabhūti was followed by ten other very eminent scholars. Although they all were well versed in the Vedic scriptures, each
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