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SHRAMAN MAHAVIR
land and wide sky as his home The second phase of emancipation was freedom from family ties Domestic ties fetter man The lover of freedom snaps this chain and adopts all living beings as his kingdom
The third phase of emancipation was renouncing the riches Riches put a wedge between man and the rest of the human fraternity The pioneer of emancipation discards it to effect an integral unity with human brotherhood
Prabuddha happens to be an intimate friend of mine He would not uphold renunciation for the sake of emancipation He pleads that the external fetters won't count consequent upon quashing the inner bandages Conversely, if the inner bondages pester us, the existence or otherwise of the external ones matter little in support of his argument he said, 'Mahavira had first snapped the inner ties Why would you, then, give significance to the outer ties that he snapped?' He cited a paradox from Acharanga Sutra, 'Emancipation is experienced neither in a village nor a jungle It can be had in a village as well as in a jungle'
Putting a stop to his harangue 1 queried, 'Won't you let me know, friend, what you convey by inner bondages ?'
'Ego and possessive instinct
'You seem to mean that Mahavira first discarded these bondages before discarding his home? Is it not so ?'
Precisely so, sir
'Renouncing ego and attachment is a mental phenomenon On the plane of quest of emancipation it does enjoy a priority. I don't deny it But let me know, dear sir, won't it be necessary to snap the bondages in order to establish a rapport with external world? How do I perceive the events that take place on the mental plane? I can directly perceive the events that occur on the gross plane I dwell upon the external event of Mahavira's renunciation for the simple reason that it occurred in the realm of tangible things It was this event that had lent hope to the universe of his resolve to launch upon the great exploration of truth The event of his
