________________
18
property, without wife and children, without ambition and position, were, in reality, the lords of the world?
अर्थानामर्जने दुःखमर्जितानां च रक्षणे । आये दु:खं व्यये दुःख धिग् द्रव्यं दु:खवर्धनम् ।।
अपायबहुलं पापं ये परित्यज्य संश्रिताः । तपोवनं महासत्त्वास्ते धन्यास्ते तपस्विनः ।। "The acquisition of property, and, if acquired, its presrevation, both are connected with trouble. There is trouble in earning, and trouble in spending. Therefore, cursed be property, the increaser of unhappiness!" “Blessed are those ascetics, great souls are those ascetics, who gave up sin, the producer of so much suffering, and who have found a place of refuge in the
grove of a hermitage."
It is not without reasons that people in India have been giving to such "great souls", titles like "Svāmī”, “Mahärāja'and Fothers, which, in olden times, were applicable only to the truly renouncing ascetics, who were living examples of the fact that renunciation means power, and who indeed experienced the royal happiness of asceticism, where there is :
न च राजभयं न च चोरभयं
इहलोकसुखं परलोकहितम् । नरदेवनतं वरकीर्तिकरं
श्रमणत्वमिदं रमणीयतरम् ।। "No fear of the king, no fear of robbers, happiness in this, and bliss in the next world, reverence shown by men and gods, and the acquisition of true fame : delightful is this ascetical life.”
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
