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THE RELIGIOUS ORDER AND ITS SYSTEM
monastic order, and one who adores one monk, adores the - entire order '1
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Predilections, latencies and individual mental set up cannot be reduced to axions These are essentially personal values Modes of initiation are, collective values The Lord prescribed his system keeping in view the latter The incident of Meghkumar's career amply bears it out
Meghkumar sought initiation from the Lord 2 The monks occupied their respective places to sleep, keeping in View their length of monastic life each had had, Meghkumar being the juniormost had to sleep at the entrance
The Lord had a vast entourage of monks They moved about on account of their bodily necessities, scriptural study or meditation etc One would happen to touch Meghkumar's hand, another his foot, a third his head This bustle kept him waking all through the night Not a wink could he have
The erstwhile prince had ever slept on soft beds in the palatial buildings Stony bed, limited space near an entrance and the recurrent tactile disturbance of the extremities of the monks was too much for his delicate constitution Thought he-'l was the prince of king Shrenik and queen Dharını I was the sole recipient of their filial affection So long as ! stayed a householder these monks showered great courtesy on me They would impart me wisdom They would be ever soft-spoken to me Now I have embraced monkhood Now they spare to respect me and to enquire of my welfare, thus relegating me to an entrace I have been denied all sleep How shall I survive in the circumstances? To pass any more of such a night is a hell I shall approach the Lord the moment the sun rises and seek permission to revert to a domestic life '3
Since then the Lord released the neo-initiates from such a seniority-ridden system They were to be privileged in certain matters thenceforth
1
'Aughniryukti Gatha' 526, 527 2 First year of Tirthankarhood Nayadhammakhao,' 1/152-154
3
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