Avanti Sukumal Charitram

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The "Avanti Sukumal Charitram" (The Life Story of Avanti Sukumal) is a Jain text authored by Shubhshil Gani and published by Hiralal Hansraj. The narrative begins with the esteemed Jain Acharya, Shri Aryasuhasti, arriving in the city of Avantinagari with his disciples to worship the divine statues. They are staying in a garden near the city.

The citizens of Avantinagari, recognizing the great wisdom and virtue of Acharya Aryasuhasti and his followers, eagerly come to the garden to pay their respects. The text emphasizes the importance of a spiritual preceptor (Guru) as essential for understanding Dharma, likening the Guru to a lamp that illuminates the path and a boat that helps one cross the ocean of existence.

Acharya Aryasuhasti then delivers a sermon emphasizing the rarity and value of human life, and the importance of pursuing Dharma without procrastination. He highlights the transient nature of life, the fleetingness of worldly pleasures, and the dangers of heedlessness (pramada). He urges the listeners to overcome these and focus on Dharma for liberation. Inspired by this sermon, many individuals embrace the Twelve Vows of a lay follower (dvadash shradh vratani).

In Avantinagari, there lived a wealthy merchant named Bhadra, whose virtuous wife was named Bhadra. Both were devout followers of Jainism, dedicated to their faith and showing respect to God and their Gurus. They were blessed with a son, whose birth was foretold by auspicious dreams. They celebrated his birth with great joy, naming him Avanti Sukumal.

Avanti Sukumal was sent to a school to learn various arts and sciences, in which he excelled. Later, when Acharya Aryasuhasti was again in the garden, the merchant Bhadra, along with his family, went to pay their respects. The Acharya delivered further sermons, reiterating the urgency of practicing Dharma and the impermanence of worldly possessions and life. Both merchant Bhadra and his wife accepted the Twelve Vows of a lay follower.

Merchant Bhadra then requested the Acharya to stay in the city and observe their Chaturmas (a four-month period of religious observance). The Acharya agreed to consider it. Subsequently, Acharya Aryasuhasti and his disciples did come to Avantinagari and stayed in a monastery near the merchant's residence.

One evening, after the daily religious practices, the Acharya and his disciples were chanting the "Nalini Gulma Adhyayana" (study of the Nalini Gulma aerial palace). Avanti Sukumal, who was at home enjoying worldly pleasures with thirty-two women, overheard this chanting. The chanting of the "Nalini Gulma Adhyayana" triggered his jati smaran gyan (knowledge of past lives).

Through this knowledge, Avanti Sukumal realized that in a previous life, he had been a celestial being residing in the Nalini Gulma aerial palace. He understood that the pleasures he was currently experiencing were insignificant compared to the celestial bliss he had once enjoyed. This realization filled him with detachment. He renounced his worldly pleasures and became eager to go to his Guru. He reflected on the illusory nature of attachments to wives, relatives, wealth, and even the body itself, recognizing them as sources of suffering and obstacles to spiritual progress.

Driven by a strong desire for the celestial bliss of the Nalini Gulma palace, Avanti Sukumal, despite his understanding of the transient nature of the world and his detachment, went to Acharya Aryasuhasti. He asked if the Acharya had just returned from the Nalini Gulma palace, as the chanting described its magnificence. The Acharya clarified that they had not physically visited the palace but were merely reciting the description from the scriptures, which had been explained by the Lord Bhagavan.

Hearing this, Avanti Sukumal revealed his past-life memory and his intense longing for the celestial bliss. He expressed his disinterest in remaining in the human realm and his aversion to his wives, whom he now considered demon-like due to their worldly attachments. He pleaded with the Acharya to grant him initiation (diksha) so he could fulfill his life's purpose.

The Acharya explained that he could not grant him initiation without the consent of his parents and other relatives. However, Avanti Sukumal, eager to attain the celestial pleasures, took initiation himself. He went to a forest and began to practice kayotsarg dhyana (meditation involving standing still), contemplating the impermanence and impure nature of the human body. He reflected on its foulness, disease, and ultimate decay.

During his meditation, a she-jackal, which was his beloved from a previous life and had been insulted by him, arrived at the cremation ground with her cubs. Driven by her inherent animosity, she and her cubs tore his body to pieces.

Despite this horrific act, Avanti Sukumal felt no anger. Instead, he reflected on the ultimate truth that no amount of effort, wealth, relationships, or even divine intervention can prevent death or extend life beyond its destined span. He realized that the truly wise find solace in the teachings of the Jinas, practice righteous conduct, and are prepared for death.

As Avanti Sukumal, while meditating, contemplated these truths and the transient nature of life, he shed his human body and was immediately reborn in the Nalini Gulma aerial palace, enjoying celestial bliss with celestial damsels.

In the morning, his parents and wives were distraught upon finding him missing. Acharya Aryasuhasti comforted them and revealed that Avanti Sukumal, due to his immense good karma, had attained rebirth in the Nalini Gulma aerial palace. While this brought some relief, his parents and wives were still overwhelmed by their attachment and grief. The Acharya then delivered further sermons on the inevitability of death and the nature of worldly attachments, encouraging them to overcome their sorrow and focus on righteous actions.

Inspired by the Acharya's teachings, they accepted their loss, and his parents had a Jin Mandir (temple) built at the place where Avanti Sukumal had renounced his earthly body, installing a statue of Shri Parshvanath. Avanti Sukumal's wives also took initiation from the Acharya.

The narrative concludes by stating that this account was written by Shubhshil Gani and published by Pandit Hiralal Hansraj for the benefit of all, with improvements and additions, from his book "Kathakosh."