Agam 06 Ang 06 Gnatadharma Sutra Part 02 Sthanakvasi

Author(s): Amarmuni, Shreechand Surana, Surendra Bothra, Purushottamsingh Sardar
Publisher: Padma Prakashan

Page 418

TAAMAAN
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THE SECOND PART : DHARMAKATHA : INTRODUCTION
In
5 Title-Dhammakaha-Dharmakatha-The discussion of Dharma with the help of tales ci » or tales related to Dharma. (detailed explanation in the preface)
Gist of the story-The right spiritual practice helps in the shedding of Karmas and eventually attaining Moksha. The beings who are unable to shed all Karmas, and acquire good Karmas as well, are born as the Vaimanik Devs (the loftiest dimension of gods). The beings who indulge in very harsh penance, or in other words acquire good Karmas, but become lax in discipline and are not very strict in following the prescribed codes of conduct,
do not reach a high degree of purity of soul and are born as gods of comparatively lower i > dimensions, viz. Bhavan-vasi, Vyantar, and Jyotishka.
In this part, Dharmakatha, are compiled the stories of earlier births of this class of ST goddesses. It has ten sections and every section contains the stories of the principal queens of a particular class of Indras (kings of gods) :
Section Indras First- Chamerandra Second- Bali-indra Third- Other Indras of the south besides Chamarendra Fourth- Other Indras of the north besides Bali-indra Fifth Van-vyantar Indras of the south Sixth- Van-vyantar Indras of the north Seventh- Surya Eighth- Chandra Ninth- Saudharmendra, and Tenth- Ishanendra.
These stories are almost the same in the sequence of events desribed, and are uniform in P style. The stories start with the name of the principal queen followed by the event of the
arrival of Shraman Bhagavan Mahavir in Rajagriha and his worship by the people. During this religious assembly the goddess in question appears before Bhagavan Mahavir, does his worship, dances and gives other performances with all her grandeur. When she departs Gautam Swami asks about the acquisition of such grandeur by the goddess. Bhagavan Mahavir tells him the story of the earlier birth of the goddess. Such a story contains the names of the town and the parents, and describes events like the discourse of Arhat Parshva, initiation, laxness in conduct, death after fasting, and birth as a goddess. Also mentioned are
the life-span, and future liberation after being born in Mahavideh. In the first chapter about 5 P goddess Kali, these things are mentioned in detail. In the later chapters the specific
information about the goddesses is given with a note that the incidents are the same as > detailed in the first chapter about goddess Kali. Thus this second part has been done in brief. S
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15 SECOND SECTION : DHARMA KATHA
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