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„梂 縈O3 蔣潮 J - Jainism, Jain Religion - colleges

„梂 縈O3 蔣潮 J - Jainism, Jain Religion - colleges

„梂 縈O3 蔣潮 J - Jainism, Jain Religion - colleges

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This is the arrangement of he first enclosure.<br />

Arrangement of the Second and Third Enclosures<br />

The second enclosure is allotted to all types of animals (the five sensed ones). The third enclosure is allotted for parking of<br />

vehicles.<br />

Outside these enclosures there are crowds of animals, humans, as well as gods. Sometimes they come separately and<br />

sometimes all together. However, in spite of the crowd the movement is orderly and peaceful. There is hardly any rush or<br />

stampede or altercation.<br />

The Importance of Beholding the Samavasaran<br />

„±üü ¿¢¢Ý¢² ½±¼é J<br />

To behold the Samavasaran of a Tirthankar is such an important act that an ascetic who has not done so earlier is inspired to<br />

walk and come even if he is stationed twelve Yojan (approx.144 km) away. As it is a rule that any ascetic stationed within a<br />

distance of 144 km from the Samavasaran should come and join. One who ignores this for any reason should observe a four<br />

days fast as penitence. This is because his right perception is fret with faults of instability, shallowness and dilution.<br />

The appearances of the Tirthankar sitting in the Samavasaran is so breathtakingly beautiful that if all the gods join together<br />

and try to create that beauty in the dimension of a toe, it cannot surpass the beauty of the toe of the Tirthankar.<br />

In terms of the beauty of the form the list of people in order of descendence is as follows (The beauty of the earlier being<br />

infinitely more than the latter: Tirthankar, Ganadhar, Ascetics with normal human body, Anuttar Vaimanik gods, Navagraiveyaka,<br />

Achyut, Aaran, Pranat, Anat, Sahasrar, Mahashukra, Lantak, Brahmlok, Mahendra, Sanat Kumar, Ishan, Saudharma,<br />

Bhavanavasi, Jyotishka, Vanavyantar (all dimensions of gods), Chakravarti, Vasudev, Baldev and regional kings. The common<br />

kings and other people are further down on the scale with much larger gap. (The traditional reduction being-infinitely<br />

less in six attributes).<br />

The Acharyas have explained the purpose of this breathtaking beauty of the Tirthankar that appears due to the precipitation<br />

of the Tirthankar-karma. They say that this divine beauty of the Tirthankar inspires loose attending the Samavasaran to<br />

indulge in religious activity, all those who are earthly, beautiful ought to do so. The utterances of a divinely beautiful person are<br />

listened to with attention. The pride of the narcissists also shatters in presence of such an embodiment of pure beauty. These<br />

are the reasons that make the divine beauty of a Tirthankar praiseworthy.<br />

The Ideal of Humility<br />

Amar Muni - Tirthankar Charitra - Surana # 62<br />

jainuniversity.org<br />

The first words the Tirthankar utters when he starts his discourse are - “Salutations to the ford of religion”. After this he begins<br />

his discourse in easily understandable words of the common man’s language, Ardha-Magadhi, with the specific purpose that<br />

every one present may understand and absorb the words and their meaning. As the status of Tirthankar is gained because<br />

of the establishment of Tirth (ford of religion), salutations are first of all offered to the Tirth. The cause of becoming revered<br />

is reverential even for the revered one. The religious only in the inhabited region; the Tirthankar recognizes this fact with due<br />

reverence. Another reason is that when such a lofty and endowed person as a Tirthankar displays such humility he sets an<br />

example for others to follow.<br />

The Volume of the Speech<br />

With the advancement of technology the capacity and scope of transmission of sound with the help of amplifiers, telephones,<br />

radios and satellites has increased manifold. However, the Tirthankar’s speech is naturally endowed with unique attributes.<br />

As such in the Samavasaran the voice of the Tirthankar reaches the eardrums or hearing organs of all five sensed beings.<br />

Everyone in the audience thus removes his doubts and ambiguities.<br />

The Tirthankar gives his discourse only in one language, but the assembly has the congregation of gods, humans and<br />

animals. How do they all understand this monolingual discourse? It is something like the single color water turning into a<br />

variety of colors depending on the soul it falls on; black, white, red or grey etc. One of the unique attributes of the Tirthankar’s<br />

speech is this capacity to automatically get translated into the language of the listener. In this age of advanced technology it<br />

is nothing to be astonished about. In the United Nations Organization there are representatives from almost all nations of the<br />

world. There is a multiplicity of languages, but the technology has made it possible that any speech in any language is<br />

immediately translated into the language of the listener.<br />

There are twelve types of congregations in the Samavasaran. If the preaching of the Tirthankar does not inspire any of the<br />

listeners to take a vow of any on of the four Samayiks (a specific spiritual practice), Sarvavirati (total renunciation), Deshvirati<br />

(partial renunciation), Samyaktva (right conduct), and Shruti-Samayik (listening to the scriptures), all this effort of construction<br />

of the Samavasaran and collecting such a large crowd would go waste. But it is not so. Once the Samavasaran is created,<br />

the Tirthankar does give his discourse. For once at least, his preachings make lasting impression on the psyche of the<br />

www.jainuniversity.org

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