Trishasti Shalaka Purusa Caritra Part 3

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

Page 349

320
CHAPTER FIVE
yours is a refuge, like a great fortress, to men in the world terrified by terrible satisāra, Lord. You know the entire mind of all and are a benefactor to all. Nothing at all needs to be asked; nevertheless, I do ask you: May you not desert my mind, as you desert villages, mines, cities, et cetera, every moment, as you wander over the earth. O Blessed One, by your favor may time pass for me whose mind has become a bee for meditation on your lotus-feet."
. After this hymn of praise, Sakra and Cakrāyudha became silent and Blessed Sri Sāntinātha began a sermon.
Sermon on the senses (320–359) This saṁsāra, consisting of four conditions of existence, is surely always the cause of a series of many painful things, alas l. The passions: anger, conceit, deceit, and greed, are its special supports, like four pillars of a great house. When the passions are destroyed, sariisāra itself is destroyed. A tree is dried up when its roots are dried up. No one is able to conquer the passions without conquering the senses. The dross of gold is not destroyed without a blazing flame. A creature is led instantly into the forest of hell by unsubdued senses that have dragged him, like unbroken horses running wild on the wrong road. A creature who has been conquered by the senses is defeated by the passions. Who can not tear down a wall whose bricks have already been taken away by heroes ? People's unsubdued senses are productive of destruction of the family, downfall, capture, and death. Who is not oppressed by the senses unrestrained by their own good? Even those who know the meaning of the Šāstras behave like fools. What displays more clearly the contemptibility of the senses than the fact that Bharata hurled a weapon at his brother Bāhubalin ?862 The victory of Bahubalin and the defeat of Bharata--all that was the consequence of the senses conquered and unconquered.
862 328. Here Bahubalin. Generally Hemacandra uses the form Bāhubalis. For the fight, see I, pp. 308ff.