Book Title: Swayambhustotra
Author(s): Vijay K Jain
Publisher: Vikalp

Previous | Next

Page 224
________________ Appendix-2 Śantinatha ruled for 50,000 years (rājyakāla). After 25,000 years of rule as the King, Lord Santinātha's armoury was blessed with the divine cakraratna (spinning, disk-like super weapon with serrated edges and emitting brilliant light). Lord started His expedition of conquest (digvijaya) and won six divisions of earth in all directions, humbling numerous kings, possessors of supernatural powers (vidyadharas), and celestial beings (devas), and acquiring nine-fold most precious treasures (nidhi) and fourteen jewels (ratna). Lord Santinātha became the fifth cakravarti* of the present half-cycle of time. He spent the remaining 25,000 years of His rajyakāla as cakravarti. Lord Santinātha developed a deep sense of renunciation for the world as He once reflected on His past incarnations and realized the futility of worldly pursuits; these may appear to be grand in the context of the present time but have little long-term utility. He adopted the path of asceticism that leads to final and eternal bliss. He spent 16 years (chadmasthakala) performing karma-destroying austerities and then attained the all-embracing knowledge - Omniscience (kevalajñāna). Lord Santinātha lived for 1 lakh years and attained liberation (nirvāṇa) from Sammeda Śikhara on the fourteenth day of the dark half of the month of Jyeṣṭha -jyeṣṭha kṛṣṇa caturdaśī. Chief among the Lord's Apostles (ganadhara) was sage Cakrayudha Svāmi. O Lord Śantinatha! Just the utterance of Your name frees the wavering mind from the dispositions of attachment, aversion, and delusion. *There are in all 63 Great Ones (salakha purusa) whose life-stories are most inspiring and find detailed mention in the Jaina Scriptures. Besides the 24 Tirthankara, there are 12 cakravarti, 9 nārāyaṇa, 9 pratinārāyaṇa (called so because of their traditional rivalry with the contemporary nārāyaṇa), and 9 balabhadra. 199

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246