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Dikșă: Consecration
445
opposition and contradiction of various sorts and, once the commitment has been made, to persevere in spite of the harsh conditions involved in the ascetic life.
Though vairāgya is the word used in common speech and in literature written in any one of the local languages, the Scriptures for the most part employ the word pravrajyä, which denotes the state proper to the itinerant ascetic, that is, renunciation.
In order to investigate more deeply the meaning of this choice, let us study briefly the motives that may conduce towards renunciation and, once the choice has been made, the conditions that are required for a vairāgiņi to be accepted by the śramaņisaṁgha and the local samgha.
a) The motives
As far as one can trace back in the tradition, one finds an underlying notion of vairāgya present everywhere and the state of pravrajyā invariably presented as the lostiest of ideals. Examples of it abound and this much-venerated tradition passed down in a devout family, is not without influence on young spirits. Just to quo examples from among the more remarkable: Mallinātha demonstrated unequivocally the meaning of vairāgya in her encounter with the princes.3 Neminātha, struck forcibly by the deep meaningfulness of ahiṁsā and of the vision he caught of another life, decided to renounce everything and was followed in this by his betrothed, Rājimati4 Mahāvira waited till his parents were deceased before following the intuition that had already come to him." Prince Balasri-also, known by the name of Mțgāputra, son of Queen Mțgāvati, having received the vision of a different life, explained eloquently to his parents the
3 Cf. P 115 ff.
4 Cf. US XXII, 8-20; 29; P 103 ff.
5 Cf. AS II, 15, 17; KS 111.
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