Two stories from Prathamanuyoga -I

Jain scriptures have been classified into four distinct categories: 1. Prathamanuyoga or the mythological 2. Dravyanuyoga or the spiritual  3. Karananuyoga or the mathematical and 4. Charananuyoga or the conduct/practical. The classification is very effective and purposeful. While Prathamanuyoga does not claim to be a true record of the events in historical sense, it provides a gist of the events in mythological manner. What is heartening is that even the stories don’t fail to leave a message behind without contradictions as may be seen in other religion’s scriptures. The characters described serve the purpose of providing a role model for one to emulate and also teach  us how to handle various situations in life .

From the vast resources of Jain mythology, I have chosen two stories which are quite close to my heart since they carried very distinct and important messages.

Story I : The demolition of Bharat’s pride

Bharat was the son of first Tirthankar Adinath belonging to the current cycle of kalpa kala , wherein Mahavir is the 24^th Tirthankara. He also became the first Chakravarty king of this kalpa kala by winning over all the six continents of Bharat Kshetra to which we belong. Once he completed his victory march , he decided to visit Vrishabh Giri  mountain for recording his victory. Now this Vrishabh Giri mountain is a very special mountain wherein all the Chakravarty kings record their victory by engraving their names on the mountain. From time immemorial all the Chakravarty kings have been recording their names on this mountain. For your information , in each kalpa kala cycle there are two half cycles of avasarpini and utsarpini kala in which 12 chakravarty kings are born in each half, just as 24 Tirthankaras are born in each half. So king Bharat was the first of the Chakravarty king out of the 12 for the existing Avasarpini kala. Hence he decided to record his feat on the Vrishabh Giri mountain as per the custom.

He proceeded with his mighty army to the Vrishabh Giri mountain. Upon reaching he ordered his ministers to engrave the name of the king Bharat as the first Chakravarty king. The ministers climbed the mountain to find a suitable spot. After some time they returned to the king with an incredulous face. Bharat asked them if they have completed the task. “ O Lord! We failed to find a place on the mountain to engrave your name , since the entire mountain is filled with engraved names. “ King Bharat was equally shocked and he himself went to the mountain to ascertain this. He did not  know what to do. He was shocked to know that so many Chakravarty kings had been born prior to him who have recorded their victory on the Vrishabh Giri mountain.

Ultimately he decided to record his victory by deleting the name of one of the earlier kings, and he ordered accordingly.  The ministers proceeded to do the same. At that moment he realized one more thing. Just as he has obliterated the name of one of the earlier king and engraved his own name, one day another king will come and do the same for his own name. So even though the Vrishabh Giri mountain was meant for keeping eternal record, it was not so eternal after all. It not only meant that the names recorded on the Vrishabh Giri mountain were not the complete record of all the Chakravarty kings but just a sample of it. The actual numbers may be far larger than what is seen. Considering the vast numbers which are engraved and even more numbers which might have been deleted , what is the value then of his achievement ? He, who was so thrilled in achieving this great feat of becoming Chakravarty king , was really a nobody after all. With all his pride demolished in this manner he returned back to his kingdom as a sober man.

Moral of the story :  Have we not faced a similar situation in life ? Do we not see politicians, sportsmen, actors etc proudly occupy the top citadel at sometime or other, only to be replaced by somebody else. So what was it that they were being so proud of ?  How long it lasted ? It only demonstrates the flimsiness of the achievements and establishes that nothing is permanent. So what to do ? It definitely is not worthwhile to hanker for these goals in life. The goal of life should be permanent from which nobody can replace you. There is only one such goal for all mankind i.e. Sidhhahood. All other goals are transient . Only Siddhas are eternal.

Story II : The burning of Dwaraka and destiny

Dwaraka was the kingdom of  Krishna and Baldev who were belonging to the Yadav clan ruling the western India. Their’s was a highly successful empire with people having riches and pleasures. The Dwaraka itself was magnificently constructed by Kuber who is supposed to be one of the Devas. Twenty second Tirthankara Neminatha belonged to the same time. Baldev asked Lord Neminath about the future of Dwaraka during one of his sermons , and about self and Krishna. In the divine voice he answered that after twelve years Dwaraka will be destroyed due to the effect of liquor by Dweepayan ( his uncle)with his anger.  Jaratkumar (his cousin) will be responsible for the death of Krishna and that death will be the cause for Baldev to denounce the world and become muni.

This revelation came as a shock to all concerned since they also knew that once so ordained by the omniscient , it cannot be wrong. However being humans they tried to prevent this tragedy in their own way. Baldev’s uncle Dweepayan took sanyaas and went away to the mountains to do penance. Since liquor was foretold to be cause of the destruction, all the liquor from Dwaraka was sieged and thrown away in the forest outside Dwaraka. Jaratkumar left the town and started roaming the forest to avoid being cause of Krishna’s death. Thus everything possible was done to avoid tragedy of Dwaraka. Twelve years passed.

After twelve years Dweepayan muni decided to return to see if Dwaraka is in tact and if they have foiled the prediction of Lord Neminatha. Actually his calculation was wrong and twelve years were not over yet. Mistakenly he came towards Dwaraka before twelve years. Meanwhile the youngsters of Dwaraka came to the forest for a picnic and adventures after which they were very thirsty. When they searched for water, they found the liquor thrown in the ponds of the forest which had become even more potent in all these years. They drank it and became inebriated and started fighting amongst themselves. Just then they saw Muni Dweepayan approaching them. They recognized him started ridiculing him as the destroyer of Dwaraka. “We will not let him reach Dwaraka “ thus saying they attacked him with stones and wounded him seriously. Muni Dwaraka lost his temper and ultimately vowed to burn Dwaraka down. He only allowed Krishna and Baldev to escape the holocaust. All others and the city were destroyed.

                Krishna and Baldev were very sorry for the destruction of Dwaraka and decided to go to Pandavas who were their relatives. In the forest Krishna felt very weak with thirst and he requested brother Baldev to bring some water. Baldev went in search of water while Krishna rested under a tree. Meanwhile Jaratkumar happened to be roaming there in the forest. He mistook  the movement of Krishna’s garments in the wind as the presence of some animal and  shot an arrow at his toe. That arrow was the cause of death of Krishna. Thus fulfilled the prophecy of Tirthankara Neminath.

Moral of the story : This story is one of the proofs of the omniscient nature of the Tirthankara who knows all the present past and future at the same time. Some people think that omniscient cannot know the future but that is incorrect. From  several scriptures his omniscient nature can be established. They think that if he knows everything then we cannot change anything, then what is there for us to do ? The truth is that he only knows but even he cannot change anything. If we are destined to achieve Moksha then even he cannot prevent it , but it will be in his knowledge. This just establishes the destiny. But it also does not mean that effort will not be made. In this story the beautiful part is that the knowledge of the destiny of Dwaraka itself became the cause of its destruction. Dweepayan left the town to become Muni . The liquor was thrown in the forest to be available to the youngsters when the time came. Thus all their efforts to prevent the tragedy itself became cause for the tragedy. It proves the truth that destiny cannot be averted whether you know it or not. The moral would be that you should do what is best for you without worrying about the future. After all the time is short and even Dwaraka could not survive nor could Krishna.