Tirthankar Mahavir and His Sarvodaya Tirth

Author(s): Hukamchand Bharilla, K C Lalwani
Publisher: Kundkund Kahan Digambar Jain Trust

Page 91

SARVODAYA TIRTHA
87
simpletons that he is the giver of joy and distress, then, how is it possible that a certain image can bestow and another cannot ? If it is said that he gives nothing but his devotees acquire virtue, then, how is it possible that this is acquired by worshipping a particular image or at a particular temple with burning of a lamp with clarified butter, and not any other image or at any other temple ?
Ignorant people have built up their Tirthankaras according to their own imagination According to them, Parsvanatha is a protector deity and Santinatha the deity of peace, Sitalnath deity of small-pox and the Siddha Bhagavan the deity of leprosy. They forget that Bhagavan is all detachment, omniscient, with infinite energy How can there be a division of work between one Bhagavan and another ?
Worldly situations, favourable and unfavourable, are the outcome of one's virtue or vice Bhagavan has nothing to do with them, for, he has exhausted all duties. He has attained fullness
Unless the Bhagavan is recognised in his true character, it is difficult to duly worship him Since Bhagavan is all detachment and omniscience, hence his devotee should also worship this. One addicted to objects and passions cannot be his follower When the desires for objects impose passions on devotion, they invariably lead to a bondage of sin, not even of virtue 58
Analysing the state of mind of the followers who are not acquainted with the character of a true god, Pandit Todarmal writes:
"They look on the Arhantas as the givers of heaven or liberation, helpers of the down-trodden, saviours of the lowly, succour of the fallen As a heretic looks upon god as the Supreme Lord, so they too look upon the Arhantas in the same manner. They forget that the outcome is that of one's own doing and the Arhantas' help is only an instrumentality,
58 Mokṣamarga Prakasaka, p 8