159
refined in the earlier precipitous sagas attendant upon the lives of Mahavira
(599–527 BCE) and his predecessor, Parsvanatha (872–772 BCE), the 24th and
23rd Jinas of the Jain faith. In the famed text, Uttaradhyayana, by Niryukti
Bhadrabahu (433–357, the last head of a Jain monastic institution or sangha, prior
to the division between Digambara and Svetambara monks) this place of deliverance, the Utopic finale for all such liberation ideals, was characterized as follows: a
“place” of “freedom from pain, or perfection, which is in view of all; it is the safe,
happy, and quiet place which the great sages reach. That is the eternal place, in view
of all, but difficult of approach. Those sages who reach it are free from sorrows, they
have put an end to the stream of existence”
3
. While there is great bestowal of generosity on this vision of the end, which is a true beginning, say the Jains, it is also clear
that the emphatic openness to all—“in view of all’—predestines this topographical,
emotional, and psychological quadrant—somewhere in the Universe—an urban
place, a crowded nexus wherein every soul may partake.
For Mahavira, attainment of this ethical vortex was strictly predicated upon a
supreme knowledge; a precise understanding of “all sentient beings”
4
. Our end, in
other words, is predicated quite clearly on our connections with others. In Jainism,
the word “all” (सब sab) is emphatic.
For both men/saints—Mahavira and Parsvanatha—whose lives are acutely documented in the Jain annals, faith itself derives from Nature
5
. But nature herself is
insufficient, according to the copious Jain (or for that matter, Buddhist) strictures to
simply convey the mendicant or layperson to this divine locus of spiritual contentment. Right Faith, Right Knowledge, and Right Conduct (the origins of Virtue) are
implicit and relentless in their 73 manners of induction (“Exertion of
Righteousness”)
6
. These categories include not only the “Longing for liberation”
but also a “Desire for the Law,” “Moral and intellectual purity of the soul,” “Begging
forgiveness,” “Study,” “Control,” “Austerities,” “Questioning the teacher,” “Turning
away the world,” “Renouncing company,” and a slew of ascetical universals such as
“Perfect Renunciation,” “Freedom from passion,” “Patience,” “Simplicity,”
“Humility,” and every conceivable nuance of “Watchfulness” and “Stability”
7
.
3 See Uttaradhyayana by Bhadrabahu, English translation by the great German Indologist,
Hermann Jacobi, in the Sacred Books of the East, Volume XLV, Oxford University Press, Oxford,
UK, 1895, Reprinted in 1980, Jaina Sutras, Part II, by Motilal Banarsidass Publishers PVT. LTD.,
Delhi Lecture XXIII, p. 128.
4 See Lord Mahavira And His Times, by Kailash Chand Jain, Motilal Banarsidass Publishers
PVT. LTD., Delhi, Revised edition, 1991, p. 95.
5 ibid., Kailash Chand Jain, p. 94.
6 ibid., p. 111.
7 ibid., pp. 112–119.
18.1 A Question of Nirvana
refined in the earlier precipitous sagas attendant upon the lives of Mahavira
(599–527 BCE) and his predecessor, Parsvanatha (872–772 BCE), the 24th and
23rd Jinas of the Jain faith. In the famed text, Uttaradhyayana, by Niryukti
Bhadrabahu (433–357, the last head of a Jain monastic institution or sangha, prior
to the division between Digambara and Svetambara monks) this place of deliverance, the Utopic finale for all such liberation ideals, was characterized as follows: a
“place” of “freedom from pain, or perfection, which is in view of all; it is the safe,
happy, and quiet place which the great sages reach. That is the eternal place, in view
of all, but difficult of approach. Those sages who reach it are free from sorrows, they
have put an end to the stream of existence”
3
. While there is great bestowal of generosity on this vision of the end, which is a true beginning, say the Jains, it is also clear
that the emphatic openness to all—“in view of all’—predestines this topographical,
emotional, and psychological quadrant—somewhere in the Universe—an urban
place, a crowded nexus wherein every soul may partake.
For Mahavira, attainment of this ethical vortex was strictly predicated upon a
supreme knowledge; a precise understanding of “all sentient beings”
4
. Our end, in
other words, is predicated quite clearly on our connections with others. In Jainism,
the word “all” (सब sab) is emphatic.
For both men/saints—Mahavira and Parsvanatha—whose lives are acutely documented in the Jain annals, faith itself derives from Nature
5
. But nature herself is
insufficient, according to the copious Jain (or for that matter, Buddhist) strictures to
simply convey the mendicant or layperson to this divine locus of spiritual contentment. Right Faith, Right Knowledge, and Right Conduct (the origins of Virtue) are
implicit and relentless in their 73 manners of induction (“Exertion of
Righteousness”)
6
. These categories include not only the “Longing for liberation”
but also a “Desire for the Law,” “Moral and intellectual purity of the soul,” “Begging
forgiveness,” “Study,” “Control,” “Austerities,” “Questioning the teacher,” “Turning
away the world,” “Renouncing company,” and a slew of ascetical universals such as
“Perfect Renunciation,” “Freedom from passion,” “Patience,” “Simplicity,”
“Humility,” and every conceivable nuance of “Watchfulness” and “Stability”
7
.
3 See Uttaradhyayana by Bhadrabahu, English translation by the great German Indologist,
Hermann Jacobi, in the Sacred Books of the East, Volume XLV, Oxford University Press, Oxford,
UK, 1895, Reprinted in 1980, Jaina Sutras, Part II, by Motilal Banarsidass Publishers PVT. LTD.,
Delhi Lecture XXIII, p. 128.
4 See Lord Mahavira And His Times, by Kailash Chand Jain, Motilal Banarsidass Publishers
PVT. LTD., Delhi, Revised edition, 1991, p. 95.
5 ibid., Kailash Chand Jain, p. 94.
6 ibid., p. 111.
7 ibid., pp. 112–119.
18.1 A Question of Nirvana