Trishasti Shalaka Purusa Caritra Part 6

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

Page 173

MAHĀVIRA'S OMNISCIENCE
133 went to the Lord. The Blessed One said to him:
“O Vyakta, there is the doubt in your mind: 'The elements, earth, et cetera, do not exist. Whatever knowledge there is of them is unsteady like the moon (reflected) in water. Thus there is a complete void, nothing else.' That is your fixed idea. That is wrong. In the doctrine of complete void, sleep and wakefulness, mirages and cities, and other categories, well-known in the world, would not exist.”
Vyakta, his doubt resolved in this way, possessing clear perception, took initiation with his five hundred disciples.
The teacher Sudharman went to Mahāvira, a sun of great splendor, with the desire for the resolution of his doubt. The Blessed One said to him:
“O Sudharman, this is your thought: “A creature of whatever kind in this birth will be the same kind in another birth. For in samsāra the result is in accordance with the cause. If a rice-sced is sown, a barley-shoot does not grow.' That is not right, since in this birth a man who acquires karma for a human age by means of gentleness, honesty, et cetera becomes a man again. Any animal, who employs deceit, et cetera, certainly is an animal after death. Birth is subject to karma. Therefore there is a variety of creatures. The idea that the result resembles the source alone is disproved from the development of arrows, et cetera from horn and other things.”
After hearing this, Sudharman and five hundred disciples took initiation at the Master's lotus-feet.
Mandika then went to the Master for the destruction of his doubt. The Master said to him: “Your doubt is in regard to bondage and emancipation. That is not right. In them bondage and emancipation of the soul are accomplished.
The binding of karma by false belief, et cetera is called bondage. Because of it, as if bound by a rope, a creature experiences very harsh pain in the hell-inhabitant-, animal-, man-, and god-stages. The separation from karma by means of (right) knowledge, belief, and conduct which confers infinite delight, is known as emancipation. The separation of the soul