Trishasti Shalaka Purusa Caritra Part 1

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

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karma. Outer penance is fasting, etc., and inner is confession and penance, etc. Fasting (anaśana), partial fasting (aunodarya), limitation of food (vịtteh samksepaña), giving up choice food (rasatyāga), bodily austerities (anukleśa), and avoidance of all useless motion (linatā) are called outer penance. Confession and penance (prayaścitta), service to others (vaiyāvịtta), study of sacred texts (svādhyāya), reverence (vinaya), indifference to the body (vyutsarga), good meditation (śubhadhyāna) are the sixfold inner penance.
State of mind (bhāvanā=bhāva, 152) is devotion solely to the possessors of the three jewels, service to them, only pure thoughts, and disgust with existence. This fourfold dharma, producing boundless fruit must be observed with care by those who fear wandering through births.'
Dhana said, "Master, I had heard of this dharma long ago. For so long a time, I have been deceived by my own karma." After he had paid homage to the guru's lotus-feet and to the other munis, considering himself blessed, the merchant returned to his own abode. Absorbed in deepest joy from this sermon on dharma, Dhana passed the night like a moment. When he arose from sleep at dawn, the panegyrist, charming with a
tone of voice deep and sweet like a conch-shell, recited : L"Night, gloomy from the darkness of clouds, thief of
the beauty of the lotuses, has passed like the rainy season, the thief of men's exertions. Dawn with the sun with its increasing splendor, aiding men's exertions, has now appeared, as well as the autumn. The waters of pools and rivers have become clear from autumn, like the minds of wise men from enlightenment by the supreme principles. The roads have become very easily passable with their mud dried up by the sun's rays, like the scriptures with their doubts resolved by instruction from ācāryas. The rivers flow between their banks very slowly, like trains of carts inside wheel tracks.