Acharya Mahaprajna
6.67 āgayapaṇṇāṇāṇnaṃ kisā bāhā bhavaṃti, payaṇueya maṃsasoṇie.
Endowed with perfect knowledge, the monks have lean arms and very little flesh and blood.
Bhāṣyaṃ Sūtra 67
'Endowed'[1] means heard from the instructions of others or realized by oneself. 'Perfect knowledge' means knowledge that has been brought to excellence or intuition. According to the Cūrni, this perfect knowledge is only a variety of empirical knowledge.[2] It is not direct perception by the soul. In this way, those who have acquired the perfect knowledge achieve new knowledge. While repeating the old knowledge and pondering over their self by constant practice of study and other kinds of austerities, their arms become lean and thin and their flesh and blood become meagre. The leanness of the arms indicate the emaciation of the body.[3]
6.68 visseṇiṃ kaṭṭu, pariṇṇāe.
By his wisdom of equality, he severs worldly stairs that is clinging.
Bhāṣyaṃ Sūtra 68
'Stairs' means the staircase for ascending or descending a place. The clinging to the body is the stairs to worldly life. The monk possessed of perfect knowledge destroys the stairs by means of his comprehension of equality and wanders about as an ascetic.
6.69 esa tiṇṇe mutte virae viyāhie tti bemi.
Such monk is said to have crossed the world, be liberated and detached - thus do I say.
Bhāṣyaṃ Sutra 69
Such monk on account of his crossing the ocean of clinging has been designated as 'one who has crossed the ocean of mundane existence'. As one who is liberated from karmic bondage, he is designated as 'liberated'. Detached from non-restraint, he is designated as 'detached'.
6.67 sūtrasya cūrṇau (p.227-228) prajñānasya viṣaye kiṅcidviśiṣṭaṃ pratipāditamasti - sāhu ādito vā ṇāṇaṃ paṇṇāṇaṃ, taṃ āyariyaṃ pai labbhati, ahavā paṇṇāṇaṃ buddhimitikāuṃ ābhiṇibohiyaṃ gahitaṃ, jahā tahā jaṃ bhaṇitaṃ paṭutā, maipuvvagaṃ ca suttamitikāuṃ tadaṃtaggatameva, tattha suyalaṃbhāṇiyamā matilaṃbho, sutalaṃbhaṃ keti bhayaṃti, tattha samagutthāvi matῑ bhavati jahā suviṇaṃtigī, jāissaraṇaṃ suhumaaṇuciṃtaṇaṃ kappakiriyamādi, avasesaṇāṇāṇi āyasamutthaṇi ceva.
(b) During the period of scriptural studies, a muni undertakes fasting, dieting or eating non-fat-producing food. This leads to emaciation of his body indicated by his lean and thin arms. On account of eating little or decalorised food, little nourishment is produced in the body, which in its turn is responsible for under-production of flesh and blood. Consequently, the body gets emaciated. Also, becaue of constant preoccupation with hard studies, the body loses weight. Thus austerities - both external and internal - cause attenuation of the body.
The author of the Cūrṇi has pointed out that all the above aphorisms relating to curtailment of belongings are applicable also to the attenuation of the body. Accordingly, these aphorisms (viz. 63,64,65) can be translated thus:
63. A muni absorbed in the acquisition of knowledge and practising austerities is blessed. with the attenuation of the body.
64. Attenuation of the body facilitates for him the practice of tapa i.e. austerity.
65. Attenuation of the body which has been recommended for a muni by Bhagavān Mahāvīra should be interpreted in the same sense in which it is meant, and it should inspire the muni to practise equanimity thoroughly - no one should be despised. Thus, the muni observing four-months' fast should not despise another muni who has observed only one month's fast. Similarly, a muni observing fasts on alternate days should not deride one who takes his meals daily. So also, should a muni who has made a higher study than another refrain from despising him.
A muni who practises equanimity does not despise others.
