[Advaita-l] Srimad ParamahaMsa ParivrAjakAchAryavaryavarya

Bhaskar YR bhaskar.yr at hitachienergy.com
Tue Jul 19 02:21:38 EDT 2022


sAshtAnga praNAms Sri Jaldhar Vyas prabhuji
Hare Krishna 

That is really a big list of donts for the parivrAjaka-s.  Just curious to know same vidhi-s applicable to parivrAjaka-s (paramahaMsa parivrajakAchArya) who are peeTAdhipatis.  For them is there any separate injunctions like this??  As we know they have the big shishyavrunda and Jagadguru-s to bless those shishya vrunda-s, who are staying in different parts of the country,  may have to travel extensively to  personally bless  their desciples.  And since the arrangements have been accordingly made in a luxurious way by devotees can they accept it as "ishwarecche"  ??  Kindly clarify.

Your humble servant
Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
Bhaskar YR
 

-----Original Message-----
From: Advaita-l <advaita-l-bounces at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> On Behalf Of Jaldhar H. Vyas via Advaita-l
Sent: Tuesday, July 19, 2022 11:36 AM
To: Jaldhar H. Vyas via Advaita-l <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
Cc: jaldhar at braincells.com
Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Srimad ParamahaMsa ParivrAjakAchAryavaryavarya

CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.


On Mon, 18 Jul 2022, Jaldhar H. Vyas via Advaita-l wrote:

> "And then the Parivrajakas who live in dwellings of their own[1] such 
> as the SAmkhyas, Yogis, Kapilas[2], Bhargavas[3], and many others 
> living in mountain caves, ashramas, temples, and visiting the villages 
> [only] for begging alms, the haMsas, paramahaMsas, the bahudakas, 
> Kuticharas[4] and the kR^iShNa ParivrAjakas[5] including eight types 
> of Brahmanas such as: kR^iShNa, karakANDa, amvADa, pArAshara, 
> kR^iShNa, dvIpAyana, and nArada[6] and eight types of kShatrIya 
> parivrAjakas such as silai, sashihara, naggai, bhaggai, videha, 
> rAyArAya, rAyArAma and bala[7] who are versed in the four vedas, R^ik, 
> yaju, sAma, and atharva, the itihasa, and the fifth[8]; of which they 
> know the rahasya[9]; of which they have reached the end[10] and of 
> which they are upholders; and who are experts in the six-fold a~ngas, 
> shikShA, kalpa, vyAkaraNa, chanda, nirukta and jyotiSha; in the shaShTitantra[11] and in gANita."
>

"Those parivrAjakas who live on dAna only, by practicing shuddhi and bathing in tirthas, who teach these precepts to others saying, 'We purify our bodies in this way and our clothes, our conduct, and therefore our atmas. By ablutions of water we shall surely attain svarga.'

Those parivrAjakas who do not bathe in a well, tank, river, lake, pushkariNi[1], artificial lake, guNjalikA[2], sea or ocean.[3]

Those parivrAjakas who do not ride in any vehicle from a bullock cart to syandamANikA[4]; who do not watch any performance from naTaprekSha[5] to mAgadhaprekSha[6]; who do not graft plants or harvest them, or collect their fruits, or uproot them.[7]

Those parivrAjakas who do not gossip about women, or food, or the country[8] or the king, or thieves; Who only carry kamandalus made of gourd or wood or clay not iron, pittal, brass, lead, silver gold or any other which is expensive

Those parivrAjakas who do not use cooking pots with chains of iron, pittal, brass, copper or any other which is expensive; who do not wear clothes of any colour except kesari; who do not except a copper ring, wear any necklace, ardhahAra, ekAvalI, muktAvalI, kanakAvalI, murabI, kanThamurabI, prAlamba, keyUra, kuNDala, crown or chuDAmaNI[9]

Those parivrAjakas who do not wear, except karNapura[10] any other garland made of threaded flowers or flowers wrapped around a frame or tied together; who do not massage their bodies except with ganga clay not with camphor, sandalwood, kumkum or precious perfumes, who do not drink more than a mAgadhaprasthaka[11] of water and that only from a flowing stream not a stagnant pool; which has pure soil on the riverbed not moss; absolutely clean not contaminated; offered by someone else not taken; just to drink not to wash hands, feet, vessels etc or to bathe.

Those parivrAjakas who are allowed to take half a mAgadhADhaka[12] of water from a flowing stream etc.[13] to wash hands, feet, vessels etc. but not to drink or bathe.

The parivrAjakas who live like this, fully bearing this discipline for many years will be born again in brahmaloka as devatAs.  The span of their stay there is 10 sagaras[14] of years.  The rest is as before.[15]

[1] A lotus pond, either natural or constructed.

[2] This is a sort of pleasure lake constructed for a king and his wives to enjoy.

[3] What all these have in common is they are public places.  The parivrajaka will not bathe there with the exception of tirths.  Even there as we see in tirths today, there are often separate areas or times for sannyasis to bathe.

[4] A type of ornate palanquin

[5] A play or dance performed for an audience

[6] A performance of an epic song about kings, their heroic deeds, illustrious ancestry etc.

[7] In other words they do not practice agriculture.  However according to dharmashastras, they are allowed to pick up the grains left behind after harvest or eat fruit that has naturally fallen from the tree.

[8] i.e. politics.

[9] These are different types of jewelery.

[10] an ornament for the ears made of flowers

[11] a unit of measure.  I don't know how much exactly.

[12] another unit of measure.  Again I don't know how much but it seems to be greater than a mAgadhaprasthaka.  Also the fact that they are prefixed with mAgadha (the area MahavIra was from) indicates that they are local units and may have had different values elsewhere in India or replaced by other units altogether.

[13] i.e. the same stipulations as in the previous paragraph.

[14] a sagara or jaladhi is 100 crore of crores.  so 10 of those is altogether 10 to the power of 15 years.

[15] In describing the various types of non-Jains who have some measure of punya, this sUtra follows a formula.  First the description of their lifestyle.  Then the length of their reward in various heavenly worlds, and then how they will be reborn as Jains or hear the true (i.e. Jain) dharma in some other way and get moksha.  In other words to use our terminology, the best a virtuous non-Jain can acheive is kramamukti whereas only Jains can achieve jivanmukti


When reading works like this, one must bear in mind they were written by outsiders and often rivals.  They may have deliberately or accidently misunderstood certain ideas or practices.  Nevertheless I think this gives a pretty interesting glimpse into how sannyasa must have been in early Indian history.

--
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com> _______________________________________________
Archives: https://eur04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flists.advaita-vedanta.org%2Farchives%2Fadvaita-l%2F&data=05%7C01%7Cbhaskar.yr%40hitachienergy.com%7Ce5e24e73aed44aadb43b08da694cc8d9%7C7831e6d9dc6c4cd19ec61dc2b4133195%7C0%7C0%7C637938075749727216%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=R7yTNBECy6QQbLqWydh4%2FZXbagWItQkKLn%2FWxABAdfQ%3D&reserved=0

To unsubscribe or change your options:
https://eur04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flists.advaita-vedanta.org%2Fcgi-bin%2Flistinfo%2Fadvaita-l&data=05%7C01%7Cbhaskar.yr%40hitachienergy.com%7Ce5e24e73aed44aadb43b08da694cc8d9%7C7831e6d9dc6c4cd19ec61dc2b4133195%7C0%7C0%7C637938075749727216%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=ZhzB6MyxPiuns%2FUAD1HUmXRs7L5NTgm1R9RcU830pNM%3D&reserved=0

For assistance, contact:
listmaster at advaita-vedanta.org


More information about the Advaita-l mailing list