Pravachansara

Author(s): Vijay K Jain
Publisher: Vikalp Printers

Page 10

Pravacanasāra
8) uttarādhyayana, 9) kalpavyavahāra, 10) kalpākalpa, 11) mahākalpa, 12) puņdarīka, 13) mahāpuņdarīka, and 14) nişadya. (see 'Acārya Jinasena's Harivansapurāņa’, verses 101-105)
The ‘āgama' as composed by the Apostle (ganadhara) is a thorough description of the path to liberation and the true nature of all substances. It is incontrovertible as it faithfully reflects the Words of the WorldTeacher. It contains the most comprehensive and accurate description of every branch of learning that one needs to know. Employing the doctrines of non-absolutism (anekāntavāda) and conditional predication (syādvāda), the ‘āgama' has the power to vanquish all anxieties and inquisitiveness of the knowledgeable soul aspiring to tread the path to liberation. The men of ordinary intellect cannot reach the depth of the teachings contained in the ‘āgama'.
Subsequent promulgation of the Scripture (āgama)
There were eleven ganadhara in Lord Mahāvīra's (599-527 BCE) congregation, with Gautamasvāmi, also known as Indrabhūti, as his chief disciple. During the next sixty-two years after liberation (nirvāna) of Lord Mahāvīra, sequentially, three anubaddha kevalī attained omniscience (kevalajñāna)- Gautamasvāmi, Sudharmācārya, and Jambusvāmi. They are called sequential or anubaddha kevali because of the fact that Gautamasvāmi attained omniscience on the day Lord Mahāvīra attained liberation, and so on.
During the course of the next one hundred years, five śrutakevalīl had complete knowledge of the ‘āgama'; they were Nandi, Nandimitra,
1 Lord Jina, the illuminator of the world, has expounded that, for sure, the one who, on the authority of his knowledge of the Scripture - bhāvaśrutajñāna - knows entirely, by his own soul, the all-knowing nature of the soul is the śrutakevali. (see 'Pravacanasāra’, verse 1-33) The Omniscient, with his unparalleled and eternal, infinite-knowledge, experiences simultaneously the supreme nature of his soul through the soul. The śrutakevali, with his knowledge of the Scripture, experiences consecutively the supreme nature of his soul through the soul. Both, the Omniscient and the śrutakevali, know the nature of the Reality. The difference is that while the Omniscient experiences the
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