SAMAYASAR : SERMON OF THE GODS

PREFACE

It has been little more than a year since I started writing this Blog. The response of the readers has been heartening. In fact I was surprised to see a fairly decent number of readers stumbled upon the blog even though I had made no efforts to publicize it. For myself it has been a great experience since it provided me a means to channelize my thoughts on the subject of Jainism.

The articles on 14 Marganas gave me the inspiration now to attempt a series on Samayasar. In fact no other scripture provides better opportunity to engage in  introspection than Samayasar hence I am tempted to attempt a translation of the Samayasar.  I hope the readers may also find it useful. To me it would be a great engagement.

The translation  of Samayasar in English is available written by Late Prof Chakravarthy and Late shri J L Jaini but it covers only the gathas of KundaKundacharya. It also includes a summary of Atma Khyati  teeka of Amrit Chandracharya who had written 246 Kalash shlokas as well as prose commentary. This original commentary and the kalash shlokas are really worth pursuing for all serious readers of Samayasar. Further Pandit Jayachand Chhabra wrote a magnificent explanation to the gathas making it much simpler to understand. Hence I am planning to include them  also in this series.

Samayasar is a one of the rare books which has specifically dealt with soul as the subject and described in detail the qualities and characteristics of it in very lucid manner. It is unfortunate that it did not get the due recognition in the manner accorded to Gita and  many people including Jains were unfamiliar with it. However in 20^th Century it was Shri Kanji Swamy who brought it to the notice of all and even Jains were taking a relook at Samayasar. Whether they were followers or detractors, all uniformly restudied it. Although no record books mention it , but it must be a record of some sort that Shri Kanji Swami gave continuous commentary on Samayasar  a total of 19 times spread over a period of 40-45 years in Sonegarh. These commentaries have helped people to understand and absorb Samayasar. It would not be wrong to say that his lectures assisted them to change the perspective in which Samayasar was being studied earlier. Those who have heard CDs of his lectures  cannot fail to notice the spiritual  involvement of Shri Kanji Swamy and the magnificence of atmosphere it created. One could almost visualize how it would have been in Samosharan of a Tirthankara.

Unfortunately I never got a chance to see him because  I belonged to a different generation and by the time I wished to see him, he was no more. But I would like to give him complete credit for whatever little my understanding of Samayasara  and whatever mistakes are there , are solely mine in understanding him.

About Samayasar :  Acharya Kunda Kunda was born around 49 BC. He became Acharya at a very young age. As per  legend he visited Videha Kshetra for a period of 8 days wherein he attended the Samosharan of Bhagawan Simandhar  which is currently in progress. After returning from there he wrote these Agam scriptures of Samayasara, Pravachansar, Niyamsar etc. All these scriptures are overflowing with spirituality unlike any others. That’s why in Jain prayers his name is accorded third place behind Tirthankara and  his principle disciple Gautam. Amritchandacharya in 10^th century wrote commentary AtmaKhyati on Samayasar which itself is a great composition. He literally brought out the meaning of Kundakundacharya in great detail and at the same time enhanced the spirituality of this scripture. About 200 years later Acharya Jayasen wrote another commentary Tatparya Vritti on Samayasar which is also quite important as it adds further to the insight of the soul provided by Amritchandacharya. In 18^th century Pandit Jayachand Chhabra of Jaipur translated these scriptures into Dhundhari language as well as wrote explanation on these which is very illuminating. Subsequently these have been translated in Hindi and together they from a complete Paramagam on Samayasar. I have used the translations of Pandit Jayachand Chhabra for this exercise.

It is apt to call it " Sermon of the Gods" because in his very first Gatha Kundakundacharya says that I shall tell the Samaya Prabhrat as described by the SrutaKevalis. It is not just one person. All Tirthankaras and Kevalis who became Siddhas told the same thing about soul without contradiction. Hence truly Samayasar is the sermon of the Gods.

We start with Samayasar with the next blog. Firstly it would comprise of the translation of Gatha sutra followed by Commentary of Amritchandracharya  which will be followed by explanation of Pandit Jayachand Chhabra. Shlokas  added in the form of Kalash by Amritchandracharya  are incorporated  wherever applicable along with its translation.