Pictorial Philosophical Balpothi

Author(s): Bhuvanbhanusuri
Publisher: Divya Darshan Trust

Page 13

OUR GURU AND PARMESHTHI
Namo Arihantanam Namo Siddhanam Namo Aayariyanam
Namo Uvajjhayanam Namo Loe Savvasahunam Aeso Panch Namukkaro
Sawapavappanasano Mangalanam Cha Sawesim Padhamam Havali Mangalam
Who is our Guru ?
Sadhu-Muniraj is our guru. He is a real guru, as he has accepted initiation, has forsaken the infatuation of wealth, woman, relatives, destructive household etc.
He takes five great vows and acts according to them for his whole life. These five vows are as under.
One should not harm any kind of a living being whether small or big. One should not tell lie. One should not take anything from others unless given by the owner himself. One should fully observe celibacy. One should not keep any kind of wealth. (Have to renounce all possessions, money etc.)
He does not even touch unboiled water, fire, green plants, a girl or a woman. He does not own any kind of residence-be it a house, hutor hermitage. He neither cooks nor makes anybody cook for him. He does not accept any food especially prepared (made) for him. He begs cooked food from every house and keeps his living on. He does not consume even water at night.
He keeps on moving from one place to another barefooted. He is constantly engaged in performing rituals, learning scriptures, practicing penance and serving the sick, old and tapasvi sadhus who accompany him. Thus, he lives a fragrant life full of religious accomplishment (See picture-1).
He teaches and explains nothing but the religion to the people. He preaches about the elements told by the
Tirthankar i.e. compassion, charity, vows, restraint, renunciation, penance, worshipping the God and the Guru etc.
There are three categories of Guru. The highest among them is Acharya. He serves and protects the religion. In absence of Tirthankar, he is considered to be the king of the Jin regime i.e. Jin shashan. Upadhyay comes next to Acharya. He teaches Scriptures to sadhus. The third category consists of Sadhus who practice the sadhana of monklife. I.e. the way of salvation (moksha) as taught by Acharyas and Upadhyayas. These three categories of gurudevs after annihilating their karma, attain moksha and become the Siddha Bhagwan
(1) Arihant (2) Siddha (3) Acharya (4) Upadhyay and (5) Sadhu are called five parmeshthi. The verse to do obeisance to them is Navakar Mantra - Namaskar Mantra.
If Navkar is recited once auspiciously with concentration, it annihilates the karmas of 500 sagaropam years out of innumerable karmas. (There are Infinite Karmas, ranging from 70 Crores x 1 Crore sagaropam's Highest State to karma of short term.) If a single verse of Navakar is recited on a single bead of rosary (navkarwali), it annihilates six thousand sagaropam karma. And it all the nine verses of Navakar are recited on a single bead of rosary, it annihilates 54,000 Sagaropam Karma.
To recite and chant Navakar meditatively, the above verse should be counted by reading.