Shraman Mahavira

Author(s): Dineshchandra Sharma
Publisher: Mitra Parishad Calcutta

Page 82

64
SHRAMAN MAHAVIR
failure in the ultimate spiritual mission The Lord ascended this fatal mountain-top no less than a dozen times
It was the eleventh year of his spiritual pursuit The Lord camped at Sanulatthiya village Here he practised Bhadrapratima He stood in the posture of dedication facing last For full twelve hours he stood meditating Similarly, he spent as much time meditating facing north, west and south, each He found this method of meditating particularly satisfying He dovetailed this practice into Mahabhadrapratima, meditating diurnally facing each of the four direction
The meditation was too intense to be interrupted Hei stepped up the practice to Sarvatobhadrapratima, which consisted of meditating for a day and night facing the ten direction East, South-east, South, South-west, North-West, North, North-east, upwards and downwards for a day and night each
The Lord thus spent sixteen days and nights in these practices
The Lord meditated upon upward direction, downward direction and transverse directions during these practices To have a vision of the matter (dravyas) in the higher worlds he meditated facing upward For having a vision of the nether worlds he directed his attention downwards For realizing what matter existed in the transverse direction he fixed his attention in transverse directions He would change the targets of his attention also I
The chief targets were 2 1 The Karmas existing upwards, downwards and trans-,
versewards Bondage, the causes of bondage and its consequence Moksha its causes and its pleasure
Head, navel and toe 5 Matter, characteristics and modes 6 The lasting and the transitory
NO
1 2
'Ayaro' 9/4/14 Acharangachurni p 324