________________
286
CHAPTER THREE
(do so), if he has articles tied to his chest, hands, feet, etc. ; so, indifferent to possessions, wealth, body, etc., alone, self-sufficient, he attains the opposite shore of the ocean of existence. Therefore, abandoning association with creatures in worldly existence, a person must indeed strive alone for mokṣa possessing eternal joy and happiness."
The ganabhrts (242–245) Many men and women, enlightened by hearing the Lord's sermon, having become free from affection, took the vow. There were one hundred gaṇabhrts, Camara, etc. They received the 'three steps' from the Lord and made the twelve angas. The Lord stopped preaching at the end of the first division of the day; and the chief gañabhrt, seated on the Master's foot-stool, delivered a sermon. He too stopped preaching at the end of the second period of the day. After bowing to the Lord, the Indras and others went to their respective abodes.
Śāsanadevatās (246–249) In his tirtha appeared the Lord's messenger-deity, named Tumburu, white bodied, with a garuda for a vehicle, one right hand holding a spear and one in varada-position, holding a mace and a noose in his left hands, always near at hand. Likewise appeared Mahākāli, golden, with a lotus for a vehicle, one right hand in varada-position and one holding a noose, holding a citron and a goad in her left hands, the Lord's messenger-deity, always near.
His congregation (250–256) The Lord, adorned with the thirty-five supernatural qualities of speech, enlightening souls capable of emancipation, wandered over the earth. Three hundred and twenty thousand monks, five hundred and thirty thousand nuns, twenty-four hundred who knew the fourteen pūrvas, eleven thousand endowed with clairvoyant knowledge, ten thousand, four hundred and fifty possessing mind
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
