CHAHDHALA (Dhaal No.1)
Shalok 1
शिव स्वरूप शिवकार, नमहुँ त्रियोग संभरिकें।।१।।
Taking proper care of the channels of activities i.e. mind, baby and speech I bow to knowledge, the most relevant entity in the three worlds, which is free from attachment, which is identical with bliss and which begets bliss.1
Here in the author, Pt. Daulatram, inspite of paying his tribute to the omniscient Lord, adores omniscience itself. It is justified on the ground that Jaina philosophy recognizes no real distinction between the attributes and their locus. So whether we adore the one or the other, it amounts to the same.
It is customary with the Jaina acharyas and writers that they never fail to express their gratitude to those who have revealed the true path of life to them. In this context the same tradition is faithfully followed.
Shalok 2
जे त्रिभुवन में जीव अनन्त, सुख चाहें दु:खतैं भयवन्त।
तातैं दु:खहारी सुखकारि, कहैं सीख गुरु करुणा धारि।।२।।
The infinite living beings existing in the three worlds, desire happiness and fear suffering. Therefore the preceptor, being kind to them, gives them lessons that destroy suffering and generate happiness. 2
If the ‘Sukha’ is taken to mean sensuous pleasure, fine or gross, the ideals of Jainism and Hedonism will come out to be the same.
Philosophically speaking, Jainism recognizes a special faculty in the soul to generate the experience of bliss, happiness and pleasure. when in the grip of the material karmas this very faculty is responsible for causing the feelings of pleasure and pain.
When the soul is free from karma-bondage and is left to itself, the resulting experience is neither painful nor pleasant but rather it is the enjoyment of the soul’s true nature. The ethical aim of Jaina philosophy is the attainment of this unperturbed state of the soul.
Practically speaking the limited and distorted manifestatins of the soul’s faculty of ‘Sukha’ have qalso been covered under the same term. The author has hinted at a very significant propensity of the soul in the latter half of the couplet, and for that he agree to the theory of pychological Hedonism.
Shalok 3
ताहि सुनो भवि मन थिर आन, जो चाहो अपनो कल्यान।
मोह-महामद पियो अनादि, भूल आपको भरमत वादि।।३।।
Oh liberable one, if you desire your (spiritual) welfare, listen to it (the instruction) with a concentrated mind. The jiva or soul, having drunk the strong wine of delusion, from beginningless times wanders in the world forgetting his identity. 3
The term ‘samsara’ as interpreted in the context of the soul implies its wandering in the world. These wanderings have been taking place from times immemorial. One who wants redemption from thesewanderings is required to attend to the word of the preceptor very closely. Then alone the achievement of the spiritual aim of life can be expected.
The story of these wanderings begins with a deluded state of the soul under the impulsion due to its association with the karmas. Naturally enough, one can think that when the association of karmas comes to an end, the course of the soul’s wanderings should also cease for ever.
Shalok 4
तास भ्रमण की है बहु कथा, पै कछु कहूँ कही मुनि यथा।
काल अनन्त निगोद मँझार, बीत्यो एकेन्द्री-तन धार।।४।।
The story of this wandering is very long; but I (the author) shall tell you a little of it as related by the ascetic saints. The soul had passed an infinite period of time in Nigoda – a state of least developement of souls – where it was possessed of a one-sensed body. 4
The story of the jiva’s wanderings begins with the least evolved state of the living beings. This state has been technically called ‘nigoda’ in Jainism. The nigoda jivas are found throughout the whole of the universe. From the point of view of Jaina Cosmology the region situated at the bottom of the universe below the seventh hell is known as ‘ntgoda’. In the state of ‘nigoda’ beings possess only one sense i.e. the sense of touch.
Shalok 5
एक स्वाँस में अठ-दस बार, जन्म्यो मर्यो भरर्यो दु:ख भार।
निकसि भूमि जल पावक भयो, पवन प्रत्येक वनस्पति थयो।।५।।
(In the nigoda state) the jiva took birth and died eighteen times during the little duration taken in breathing once. Some how extricating itself from the nigoda state it was born as an earth-bodied, wather-bodied, fire-bodied, air-bodied or individual vegetable-bodied organism. 5
Freeing itself from the nigoda state of life the jiva can take birth in the above noted five types of bodily conditions, with only one sense of touch. This achievement on the part of the jiva is also a very unsatisfactory state of spiritual development.
The vegetable-bodied organisms have been further divided into individual-souled (pratyeka) and group-souled (sadharana) ones. In case of the former one organism is owned by one soul; while in the latter one organism is owned by many souls.
Shalok 6
दुर्लभ लहि ज्यों चिन्तामणी, त्यों पर्याय लही त्रसतणी।
लट पिपील अलि आदि शरीर, धर-धर मरर्यो सही बहुपीर।।६।।
Just as one happens to gain a wish-fulfilling ruby which it is very difficult to get, in the same manner a jiva attains the mobile (trasa) from of life. Then attaining the bodies of a worm, an ant, a beetle etc. many a time it died and suffered abundant inflictions.
The liberation of the jiva from the dark denizen of one-sensed life is like the gain of a priceless jewel by a poor man. Unfortunately enough this rise is also limited to the attainment of bodies with one sense, two senses, three senses and four senses, all of them being very feeble to provide physical and spiritualcapacities to effect a rise for the jiva. As compared to the nigoda and one-sensed conditions of life, this rise to the conditions of mobile life is certainly valuable.
Shalok 7
तिर्यंच गति में असैनी और सैनी के दु:ख
कबहूँ पंचेन्द्रिय पशु भयो, मन बिन निपट अज्ञानी थयो।
सिंहादिक सैनी है क्रूर, निबल पशू हति खाये भूर।।७।।
Sometimes the jiva happened to be a five-sensed animal; then, being without the sense of manas, it remained totally ignorant (of the good of the soul). If it was born with thesense of manas like the cruel lions etc., then it devoured many weak animals.
Among the five sensed living beings two categories of jivas are distinguished-one with the sense of manas, the other without it. This sense of manas is agin distinguished as the subjective or psychological sense and the physical one.
The former is constituted by a capacity of the soul to function and the latter is the development of a special fine physical sense like the other senses to assist the subjective sense.
It may be noted that a part of five-sensed organisms are without the sense of manas. These organisms with the sense of manas can distinguish between what is beneficial and what is harmful to them. They can also learn from instructions given to them.
Shalok 8,9
पंचेन्द्रिय पशुओं के निर्बलता आदि अन्य दु:ख
कबहूँ आप भयो बलहीन, सबलनि करि खायो अतिदीन।
छेदन भेदन भूख पियास, भार वहन हिम आतप त्रास।।८।।
तिर्यंचगति में दु:खों की अधिकता और नरकगति की प्राप्ति का कारण
वध-बन्धन आदि दु:ख घने, कोटि जीभतैं जात न भने।
अति संक्लेश-भावतैं मरर्यो, घोर श्वभ्र-सागर में पर्यो।।९।।
Sometimes the jiva itself happened to be weak, then it was eaten up by the strong. In this subhuman condition of life it had to face many sufferings like being pierced, cutting, hunger, thirst, carrying loads, cold, heat, fear, being butchered, being bound etc. which cannot be narrated even by millions of ton-
gues. Thus it died with intense torture and had to fall into the most terrible hells. 8, 9.
In these couplets the author has given us a very realistic picture of the tortures a jiva has to face in the subhuman from of life.
Lifeis a continuous process, as the soul determining the flow of life is eternal. The jiva earns something, meritorious or demeritorious, in its previous existence and faces the fruits thereof in the present life along with reserving some earnings for the next lives. Thus goes on the wheel of the wanderings of the jiva.
Shalok 10
नरक की भूमि स्पर्श और नदीजन्य दु:ख
तहाँ भूमि परसत दुख इसो, बिच्छू सहस डसें नहिं तिसो।
तहाँ राध-शोणित-वाहिनी, कृमि-कुल-कलित-देह दाहिनी।।१०।।
In the hells the mere touch of the ground causes so much of pain as would not have been caused even by the sting of a thousand of scorpions. There flow the rivers of the pus and blood, full of swamp of worms, and they body (of the inhabitants of the hells).
Shalok 11
नरक में सेमर वृक्ष, सर्दी और गर्मी के दु:ख
सेमर-तरु-जुत दल-असिपत्र-असि ज्यों देह विदारैं तत्र।
मेरु समान लोह गलि जाय, ऐसी शीत उष्णता थाय।।११।।
There (in the hells) are Semaratrees the edges of whose leaves are (as sharp) as the blade of the sword, and they tear the limbs (of the inhabitants) like a sword. In the hells the climate is so (intensely) cold and hot that a lump of iron, as big as the mountain Meru, may get melted. 11
Shalok 12
नरक में अन्य नारकियों व असुरकुमारों द्वारा उदीरित और प्यास के दु:ख
तिल-तिल करैं देह के खण्ड, असुर भिड़ावैं दुष्ट प्रचण्ड।
सिन्धु-नीरतैं प्यास न जाय, तो पण एक न बूंद लहाय।।१२।।
(The inhabitants of the hells) chop the bodies of each other. The wicked and fierce celetial beings of the Asurakumara species excite them to fight with each other. Their thirstcannot be quenched even by the water of the ocean; even then they do not get even a drop to drink. 12.
Shalok 13
नरक की भूख, आयु और मनुष्यगति प्राप्ति का वर्णन
तीन लोक को नाज जु खाय, मिटै न भूख कणा न लहाय।
ये दु:ख बहु सागर लौं सहै, करम जोग तैं नरगति लहै।।१३।।
If they were allowed to eat the entire corn of the three worlds, their hunger will not be appeased. Still they do not get even a grain to eat. The jiva has to bear such sufferings for many sagaras (a very long period), and it is only fortune that it is born in human form. 13.
The three couplets running above give us a picture of the sufferings in the hells. The earth of the hells causes severe pain even by its touch. The rivers of the hells are full of filth and painful germs. The trees found in the hells cause pain to the inhabitants of the hells sitting under them. The climatic conditons of the hells are unbearable beyond desription.
The inhabitants of the hells also enhance the sufferings mutually. Besides, the celetial beings who visit these hells also exite the hellish beings in their cruel activities and thus aggravate sufferings in the hells. Hunger and thirst grow to be acutely high in the hells and the hellish beings extremely suffer from them for want of drink and food.
Such a chain of intense sufferings a jiva has to bear in the hells and that too, for an incalculably long period of time. Such odd conditions-geographical, physical and social-exist in the region of hells situated at a far off distance from our earth.
Shalok 14
मनुष्यगति में गर्भवास और प्रसवजन्य दु:ख
जननी-उदर बस्यो नव मास, अंग-सकुचतैं पाई त्रास।
निकसत जे दु:ख पाये घोर, तिनको कहत न आवै ओर।।१४।।
(In the human condition of life) the jiva was confined for nine months in the womb of the mother. On account of the contraction of the body it had to bear pain. The torturous pains it had to suffer Bold textwhile coming out of the mother’s womb cannot be exausted by any description. 14.
Shalok 15
मनुष्यगति में बाल्यावस्था, जवानी व वृद्धावस्था के दु:ख
बालपने में ज्ञान न लह्यो, तरुण समय तरुणी-रत रह्यो।
अर्धमृतक सम बूढ़ापनो, कैसे रूप लखै आपनो।।१५।।
During childhood it did not acquire any knowledge, during youth it was all engrossed (in pleasure) with its spouse, the old age is just like half death, how it can see and realize its essence (true nature). 15.
The forerunning two couplets deal with the sufferings of the human condition of life.
The journey starts with the jiva’s confimement into the mother’s womb. Then there is its birth followed by childhood, youth and old age, all full of sufferings which make it unheedful towards its identity and efforts necessary to attain it.
The author describes all these stages very briefly, leaving their expansion to the experience of the readers. we have a good amount of experience about the helpless condition of old age which disenables the jiva for all kinds ofactivities. Death is an unfailing event of life, it is very difficult to meet it successfully.
It is why Jainism prescribes a special vow to face death under the title ‘Sallekhana’-inviting and facing death in a religious way solely with a view to saving the soul. Hence the sufferings caused by death cannot escape our view. Such is the sad story of the sufferings in the human condition of life.
Shalok 16
देवगति में भवनत्रिक के दु:ख
कभी अकाम निर्जरा करै, भवनत्रिक में सुर-तन धरै।
विषय-चाह-दावानल दह्यौ, मरत विलाप करत दु:ख सह्यो।।१६।।
Whenever the jiva is able to face the fury of karmas peacefully, it incarnates as a celetial being in the three regions of the residential (bhavanavasi), the peripatetic (vyantara) and the stellar (jyotiska) gods. There too, it incessantly burns with the geart fire of desires for sense pleasures; while dying it weeps bitterly (for the loss of pleasures) and suffers pains. 16.
Shalok 17
देवगति में वैमानिक देवों के दु:ख
जो विमानवासी हू थाय, सम्यग्दर्शन बिन दु:ख पाय।
तहँ ते चय थावर-तन धरै, यों परिवर्तन पूरे करै।।१७।।.
If it happenes to be a celetial being of the heavenly (vaimanika) class, (there too) being bereft of right faith, it continued to suffer. Falling from there it has to be born in an immobile organism. Thus the jiva completes (or rather repeats) the course of wanderings in the world. 17.
If a jiva faces the hardships and sufferings of life with a calm and patient mind, it may be born as a celetial being. From the point of view of the good of the soul this gain on the part of the jiva is also very unsatisfactory. The celetial condition of life is also full of sufferings in the form of excessive sense pleasures which ultimately lead it to a fall.
Truly speaking the sense pleasures are only a form of suffering, as the jiva runs after them being impelled by a desire for them. It may attain higher and higher status in heavens and have abundance of enjoyments; but in the absense of right faith, which alonecan guide it in the direction of spiritual good, it falls down even to the immobile state of life wherein its fate is doomed for an incalculably long period.
It again has to undergo all conditions of life, which it has laboriously and painfully passed through. It is only renewing the course of its wanderings of the world, not bringing it to an end. Why does all this so happen? The spiritual diagnosis says that it is due to the lack of right faith. Right faith alone is competent to change the direction of the journey of the jiva towards its liberation from world.
