Truth Of Present - Stories From Jain Heritage: [39] The Polite Behaviour

Published: 28.07.2008
Updated: 29.11.2012

The Polite Behaviour

Long long ago, an Acharya named Chandrarudra arrived in Ujjaini along with his disciples. One day, a few youths came to one of his disciples and started asking various questions. Their tone was not correct and the monk decided to send them to the Acharya.

The youths behaved in the same manner even with the Acharya. One of them said, “Sir! I am a very poor man. I am newly married but due to my poverty my wife has deserted me. I am heart-broken and want to renounce this world. Kindly make me your disciple.

The Acharya knew his intentions and thought of teaching him a lesson. So, he started to uproot the young man’s head. At this sight, his friends became perplexed and asked the youth to run away or he would have to become a monk. By now, the youth’s hair had been totally uprooted. He felt he could not return home in such a state and decided to become a monk whereas all his friends immediately left the place. At night the novice said, “Gurudev, we should move to some other place, otherwise my family members will come here and compel me to return home.” At this the Acharya, along with his disciples proceeded to some other place. As they were walking over a rough and uneven path, the Acharya stumbled on a stone and fell down. He held the novice responsible for his injury and hit him hard with a stick on his head. But the new disciple endured the pain with a feeling of equanimity. He felt guilty and blamed himself for having caused discomfort to the Acharya. His feeling of repentance made his thoughts pure and he attained omniscience. In the morning, when the guru saw the swollen head of the novice, he realized his mistake and he too, repented for his deed and in the process, he also attained omniscience. With his polite behavior the novice totally changed the harsh temperament of his guru into a mild one.

Politeness is a virtue, which can calm down the most furious temperament.

Sources
© & Publisher Jain Vishva Bharati
Translated & Edited by Sadhvi Vishrut Vibha
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Some texts contain  footnotes  and  glossary  entries. To distinguish between them, the links have different colors.
  1. Acharya
  2. Equanimity
  3. Guru
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