So long as all passions like a
horde of wild sea animals exist in the clean and unfathomable pond of
heart, the community of supreme virtues like supreme self-restraint cannot
take shelter in that pond of crystal-clear heart. Therefore O Great souls!
Try to subdue these passions taking help of the normal and severe methods
of suppressing them, besides practicing the vows and perfect
self-restraint. A learned person knows well the true nature of the self
and the non-self. Therefore, he does not regard the worldly attachment,
which are different from self as his real self; he renounces them from
afar. This is known as the superb self- restraint of a wise man. He who
meditates upon the enlightened souls, who are purified by self-restraint
and gifted with Right faith, Right knowledge and Right conduct, is sure to
annihilate all evil passions and thus he attains self-restraint.
Until and unless a living being
practices self-restraint in life, he indulges in passions and senses. The
very day he attains the bounds of self-restraint, he begins to shun the
sensuous pleasures. Self-restraint originates by taking a very sensible
view of things in a systematized form based on the power of
discrimination. When the living being begins to comprehend the fundamental
distinction between right and wrong, just and unjust, even the
pleasure-giving, charming objects begin to appear to him as deadly poison.
One day the sovereign king (Chakarvarti)
Vajar Dant sat in his royal court and his ministers, knights, nobles and
military general stood at their proper places around him. Meanwhile the
royal gardener brought a bunch of flowers and offered it to the king. No
sooner did the sovereign king Vajar Dant holding the bunch of flowers in
his hands begin to smell it, than he caught sight of a black bee crushed
to death under the flower petals. Seeing this the king was filled with
remorse. He began to ponder, "Alas! This black- bee has ruined its life
overpowered by the sense of smell. Cursed be such sensuous pleasures."
Thus ruminating, the king Vajar Dant developed a feeling of detachment for
worldly allurements. Soon he summoned his sons and spoke, "My sons! Now
take charge of the burden of the kingdom. I shall get initiated to
Digamber Jain monkshood henceforth." The sons said, "O worthy father!
O worthy father! Why are you discarding the pleasures of royal life so
soon?" The sovereign king replied, "The administrative business of a
kingdom is the root cause of sins. A king, who does not renounce the royal
pomp and show and takes pride in scepter and crown goes to hell, in case
he dies meanwhile." At this the sons said, "Dear father! How can we accept
the kingdom which you are renouncing realizing it to be the gateway to
hell? We shall also get initiated with you." The sovereign king Vajar Dant
tried his utmost to change their mind, but they did not budge from their
decision. At last the king got initiated into Jain monkshood together with
his sons.
There was a king. He was absorbed
in sensuous pleasures day in and day out. The king owned a vast and
beautiful orchard cum flower garden, in which multicolored flowers and
fruits of the supreme variety grew and bloomed forever. The king was so
lusty and led such a luxurious life that in order to satisfy his whimsical
demand innumerous flowers of different varieties were brought daily to
make a flowerbed for him. The king deemed himself very happy and delighted
by sleeping in this bed.
One evening, the royal gardener's
wife brought flowers to adorn the king's bed. As soon as she had spread
the bed with fragrant flowers, she began to think, 'how lovely the
flowerbed looks! God knows what bliss the king experiences by sleeping on
it.' While pondering thus in her mind, she decided to sleep for five
minutes only in that charming flower bed and feel the pleasure of it. She
knew that the king was likely to come into the palace after a long time.
Thinking this she lay down in the bed. She was dead tired of the whole
day's work. As soon as she lay in bed, she fell in sound sleep. When at
nightfall the king came into his royal bedroom and found the gardener's
wife sound slept in his flowerbed, his eyes became bloodshot with rage.
The king instantly pulled her from the bed catching hold of her ponytail,
hurled her violently on the ground and beat her black and blue with a
stick. But there was no sign of pain and sorrow on her face; rather she
began to laugh loudly. When the king ordered her to make clear the reason
of her laughing, the lady gardener replied, "Your majesty! I am laughing
at the idea that when I had to bear so many hunter strokes simply for
sleeping in this flowerbed for five minutes only, what will be your fate,
who sleeps in this flowerbed every night? Why not you discard all these
transitory worldly enjoyments and observe self-restraint in life?"
On hearing these eye opener words
from the gardener's wife, the king thought in his mind what a great lesson
this poor woman had taught him. Therefore, soon after this incident the
king renounced all royal grandeur and got initiated to monkshood.
A man should not wait for an
appropriate time to observe self-restraint. He should not think that he
would practice self-restraint at a later stage of life; because death
keeps no calendar. It has been said:
Ayu katat heh rat din jiyon
kront kai kath
Hit apna jaldi karo parha
rahaiga thath
I.e., Life goes on cut short day
and night just as wood is cut down by a big 'saw' by and by. Be hasty in
your spiritual uplift; otherwise you will die repenting, leaving all your
grandeur and glory here.
While describing the virtue of
Supreme self-restraint the great poet Reidhu writes:
Sanjam janri dulhun tam paviluhu
jo chandeyi punru mudmeyi
So bhamu bhavabali jar
marnrabali kim pavaiseyi punru sugeyi
Sanjmu panchidiye dandnrainr
sanjamu ji kasaye vihandnrainr
Sanjmu dudhar tav dharanrainr,
sanjamu ras chaye viyarnrainr
Sanjmu upvas vijanmnrainr
sanjamu mnr pasrah thambhnrainr
Sanjmu guru kaye kilaisnrainr
sanjamu parigrehgah chaenrainr
Sanjamu tas thayer rakhnrainr
sanjamu stath parikhnrainr
Sanjamu tanru joye nreyntnrainr
sanjmu bhugamanr chyantinr
Sanjamu anrukamp kunrntainr
sanjamu parmath biyarnrainr
Sanjamu poseyi dansnraham panthu
sanjamu nrichhy nriru khokh panthu
Sanjamu binru nrr bhav seylu
sunru sanjamu vinru dugeyi ji ubvnru
Sanjamu binru dhadeyi ma ith jau
sanjamu binru vihliye athiau
Drah bhavi parbhavi sanjamu
sarnru hujau jinrvanhai bhanriu
Dugeyi sar sosanr khar kirnrobam
jainr bhavali visam hanriu
