Acharya Mahaprajna
2.160 ṇāratiṃ sahate vīre, vīre ṇo sahate ratiṃ.
jamhā avimaṇe vīre, tamhā vīre ṇa rajjati..
The heroic monk does not succumb to ennui, nor to relish. Being free from all ideation, he is equanimous and not attached to anything.
Bhāṣyaṃ Sūtra 160
Sometimes even to a person striving for eliminating the 'world instinct', there arises aversion toward penance, self-control and self-restraint. Sometimes there arises in him attachment to non-restraint with regard to sensual objects, passions, etc. The courageous monk does not succumb to aversion or attachment.[1] He immediately gets rid of them. The Sutra defines the way to such riddance. Both these tendencies can be restrained through emptied mind. Aversion and attachment are the two special states of the mind. When the waves of these states arise, the person loses control of his mind. If the waves are inhibited as soon as they arise by the power of meditation, that is, they are not entertained even for single moment, and instantaneously the mind is emptied of objects or concepts, the aspirant attain the state of mindlessness. The courageous monk takes resort to analytical meditation which is of the nature of contemplation, through spiritual exertion resulting in loss of interest in sensual objects, desirable and undesirable, such as sound, colour, etc.
The perception, expulsion or inhibition of the waves of aversion and attachment as soon as they arise, and not submission to them for a single moment is effected by self-awareness which is possible only by the practice of mindfulness. This is the secret of the cultivation of mindfulness.
The monk should avoid both ennui to spirituality and relish to sensuous objects which are harmful to his spiritual discipline as they impede his power of concentration on the spiritual path. The only way to get rid of these two impediments to practising analytical meditation and strengthening the faith in the discipline. The ennui and relish are due to non-vigilance and unmindfulness.[2]
2.161 sadde ya phase ahiyāsamāṇa.The monk endures sound and touch without any reaction.
Bhāṣyaṃ Sūtra 161
The monk practising the discipline hears many abuses from the people. Some people may say that he has undertaken monkhood being unable to bear the burden of the family; others may say that he was a eunach and so has become a monk.
While practising the special austerity in a cemetery, the monk hears dreadful horse laugh made by forest gods. Similarly physical torture he has to endure, which is generally made by humans, while in the case of Practice in the cemetery it is made of forest gods.
A monk engaged in the spiritual discipline should perceive and endure the sounds and touches (without any reaction).
The implication is: The monk should not develop attachment or aversion towards the desirable and undesirable sounds and touches. The absence of any conceptual actively of the mind is the only means to inhibiting attachment and aversion. This is an example of the contemplative meditation on the 'pitfall' and 'means to liberation'.
2.162 ṇivviṃda ṇaṃdiṃ iha jīviyassa.
Withdraw your attention from the allurements of worldly life.
Bhāṣyaṃ Sūtra 162
You should develop disgust for the lust,[3] i.e., mental satisfaction, in respect of life or life-force or bio-electricity arising from sounds and touches. The implication is that you should cultivate detachment in such circumstances In this way the attachment and aversion will find an easy endurance.
2.163 muṇi moṇaṃ samādāya, dhuṇe kamma-sarīragaṃ.
Having undertaken the monastic discipline, the monk should shake up his karma-body.
Bhāṣyaṃ Sūtra 163
A monk following his monkhood, should shake off his karma-body.
'Monk'[4] means a wise person.
'Monkhood' means knowledge or self-restraint.
The Sūtra 4.32 reads "the monk should shake off his body." The Cūrṇi as explained 'body' primarily as karma-body[5] and secondarily as the gross body.[6]
In the Sūtrakṛtāṅga,[7] there is explicit mention of the gross body in this connection. The Cūrṇi has clearly shown the relationship between the gross and the karma-body.[8]
In the concept of physical penance, the shaking off of the impurities of the gross body is the primary purpose while the shaking off of karma-body is only incidental. In the context of meditation, however the direct reference is to the karma-body, the gross body being only the secondary position.[9]
In the present description, both the ways of shaking off the karma- body are mentioned. In the three Sūtras 160-162, meditation as the means is quite evident. In the Sūtra 164, the restriction of food as the means is clear') mentioned. What is to be understood in this connection is that unless the gross body is shaken off, the karma-body cannot be. Therefore, here, the shaking off of both the gross body as well as the mind in the gross body evidently implied.[10]
Restraining consumption of food is a means to shaking off the karma-body. Everybody is not capable of such restraint. Only the heroic one, on account of their sufficient psychic power of stamina can do so. A person without the attitude of equality to the agreeable and disagreeable is also unable to do so. The equally disposed people alone can succeed in such restraint and enjoy the stale sapless[11] food. In the Cūrṇi,[12] the attitude of equality has been substituted by 'right vision'. The persons with wrong vision not capable of restraining their food habit.
2.165 esa oghaṃtare muṇī, tiṇṇe mutte virate, viyāhite tti bemi.
The monk who has crossed the stream of birth and death is designated 'the crosser', 'the liberated', 'the detached' - thus do I say.
Bhāṣyaṃ Sūtra 165The monk described in these Sūtras (160-164) is said to have crossed the stream of life, gone to the other shore, liberated, and free from attachment.
The crosser of the stream is so called because he has crossed the stream of the habits and instincts produced by karma or the cycle of worldly life.
jaheva saṃjame aratiṃ ṇa sahati taheva visayakasāyādilakkhaṇe asaṃjame jati kahaṃci tassa ratī uppajjati taṃpi khaṇamittamaviṇa sahati - ṇa khamati, dhammajjhāṇasahagato uppaṇṇamittaṃ ṇikkasati, jaṃhā avimaṇe'jaṃhā so etthāṇitthesu pattesu visaesu dhitibalaassito avimaṇo bhavati, ahavā jamhā so saṃjame aratiṃ ṇa sahati asaṃjame a ratiṃ teṇa majjhattho ṇiccameva avimaṇo dhīro 'tamhādeva virajjate' visaesu.
One should not tolerate apathy to subdual - this is the secret of the development of one's will-power. Deleberate meditation, i.e. canalisation of thought-processes, on subjects in which men are not normally interested is helpful in the development of will-power. Sense-organs are a slave to sensuality, rather than indifferent to it. Therefore, sometimes a sādhaka gets attracted to what 'the flesh is heir to! Hence he becomes apathetic to the practice of self-discipline. His determination begins to slacken. A sādhaka who cannot tolerate laxity, canalizes his thought- process in the direction of self-control. Thus, developing his will-power, he gains mastery over self-discipline.
The path prescribed by Bhagavān Mahāvīra, for the achievement of self-realization comprises the practice of constant vigilance and perseverance. In case a sādhaka is infatuated even momentarily by sensual delights, meditation once does away with his stupor. Consequently, he escapes from the indelible impress of the pent up sensual impulses.
If wantonness is not purged, away, the mind begins to contract passion. One cannot, then, get rid of carnality. Therefore, the author has exhorted the aspirant to be very careful in this regard.
Ibid, p. 146: 'dhuṇe sarīraṃ' davveṇaṃ vaṇṇāti, bhāve kammāvakarisaṇaṃ, sīryata iti śarīraṃ, kataraṃ? karmaśarīraṃ.
Sūtrakṛtāṅga Cūrṇi, p. 188: urālaṃ ṇāma audārikasarīraṃ, tat tapasā dhunīhi, dhunanaṃ kṛśīkaraṇamityarthaḥ. Tismiṃśca dhūyamāne karmāpi dhūyate.
nādāraṃbhe bhavet sarvagātrāṇāṃ bhaṅjaṇaṃ tataḥ.
śirasaḥ kampanaṃ paścāt sarvadehasya kampanam..
āhārān kīdṛśān kṛtvā, kāni jitvā ca bhārat!Bhiīṣma uvāca -
yogī balamavāpnoti, tad bhavān vaktumarhati..
kaṇānāṃ bhakṣaṇe yuktaḥ piṇyākasya ca bhārata!
Snehānāṃ varjane yukto yogī balamavāpnuyāt..
bhuṅjāno yāvakaṃ rūkṣaṃ, dīrdhakālamariṃdama!
ekāhāro viśuddhātmā, yogi balamavāpnuyāt..
pakṣān bhāsānṛtūṃ ścaitān, saṃvatsarānahastathā.
Apaḥ pītvā payomiśrā, yogi balamavāpnuyāt..
akaṇḍamapi vā māsaṃ satataṃ manujeśvara!
upoṣya samyak suddhātmā, yogi balamavāpnuyāt..
(a) Ācārāṅga Cūrṇi, p. 94: samattaṃ passaṃti sammaddaṃsiṇo.
(b) The author of the Vrtti has interpreted sammattadaṃsiṇo as samatvarśi in the first instance and as an alternative as samyaktvadarśī. Probably the text before him was " sammattadaṃsiṇo." The interpretation 'samatvadarśī’ seems to be more consistent, because a samatvadarśī i.e. one who practises equanimity alone can eat unsavoury food with equanimity. The Dasaveyāliyam (5.1.97) corroborates this contention.
"tittagaṃ va kaḍuyaṃ va kasāyaṃ, aṃbilaṃ va mahuraṃ lavaṇaṃ vā.
Eya laddha mannaṭṭha-pauttaṃ, mahu-ghayaṃ va bhumjjeja saṃjae."
The self-disciplined muni should eat food prepared for a householder and offered to him of whatever taste it may be as if he were eating honey and butter.
