Trishasti Shalaka Purusa Caritra Part 1

Author(s): Hemchandracharya, Helen M Johnson
Publisher: Oriental Research Institute Vadodra

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destitute, how does he, who does not touch bulbs, roots, fruit, etc., live? Only today have I thought of him whom I led and for whom I assumed responsibility on the road. What have I, thoughtless, done? How can I show my face to him today, to whom as yet no service, not even in words, has been done? Nevertheless, I will see him today and wash away my sin. What business has he, indifferent to everything, with me?" To him, engaged in these şeflections and eager for the sight of the Muni, the fourth watch of the night seemed like another night.
When it was dawn, Dhana with the chief persons (of the caravan), dressed in white and wearing ornaments, went to the Sūri's retreat which was situated on high, dry ground free from lives, covered with a roof of palāśa, with walls of straw with crevices. Dhana saw the Muni Dharmaghoșa, like the churning-stick of the ocean of evil, like a road to emancipation, like an assembly-hall of dharma, like an abode of splendor, a hoar-frost for the bush of passions, a carrier of the wealth of happiness, a wonderful ornament of the Jain congregation, a wishing-tree for people desiring emancipation, like penance concentrated in a mass, like the scriptures embodied, like a Tirthankara. He saw munis there, some engaged in meditation, some absorbed in silence, some engaged in kāyotsarga ?; some were reading aloud the scriptures, some were teaching, some sweeping the ground, some paying homage to their gurus, some discoursing on dharma, some expounding texts, some giving their approval (of the exposition), and some reciting the tattvas (supreme principles). He paid homage to the Ācārya and the sādhus in turn, and they gave him the greeting of dharmalābha 23, the destroyer of evil.
Then he seated himself at the Ācārya's lotus feet, like
22 122. Indifference to the body by one standing or sitting, with the arms hanging down, is called käyotsarga. Yog. 4. 133. · 23 125. May you obtain dharma.