________________
SANNYASA DHARMA
CHAPTER V. Pariṣaha Jaya.
The sadhu should observe parişaha-jaya (bearing of hardships with equanimity) to strengthen his prac tising of self-control. The hardships, in reality, only represent a special form of self-control and asceticism, Those who overcome the parisahas become qualified to traverse the shipaka sreni (the ladder of spiritual progress by the destruction of karmic bonds). Just as a bird whose wings are weighted down by sand, by its own energy, shakes off its particles and then flies away upwards, in the same way the saint who is able to overcome the parisahas shakes off the dust of karmas from the wings of his pure Self, and flies away upwards to the land of everlasting glory and blissnirvana. The parisa has are the most troublesome obstacles in the path of the ascetic, and cause the utmost of mental and bodily pain; but they have to be overcome. They are of twenty-two kinds, which are enumerated below.
(1) Hunger parisaha is the hardship conse. quent on abstaining from the taking of food. The sadhu will never think of violating in thought, word, or deed, the rules governing his acceptance of food, whatever the circumstances and whatever the nature of the pressure caused thereby. He may be reduced to the veriest skeleton (skin and bones), he have starved much longer than he originally intended, there may be no prospect of obtaining proper food for a long time to come, in short, he
may
may be
95
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
