Gautam Pruchha

Here's a comprehensive summary of the Jain text "Gautam Pruchha" by Yatindravijay, based on the provided pages:

Book Title: Gautam Pruchha (गौतम पृच्छा) Author: Muni Shri Yatindravijay Ji (मुंनी श्री यतीन्द्रविजय जी) Publisher: Seth Sarupchand Hukmaji (सेठ सरूपचन्द हुकमाजी)

Overview:

"Gautam Pruchha" is a foundational Jain text that presents a dialogue between Lord Mahavir, the 24th Tirthankara, and his chief disciple, Gautam Swami. The primary purpose of this text is to elucidate the consequences of actions (karma) and their impact on the soul's rebirth across different realms (naraka, swarga, tiryancha, manushya). Gautam Swami, even though already knowledgeable, asks these questions for the benefit of all beings. The text systematically details the specific actions that lead to different destinies and life circumstances.

Key Themes and Content:

The core of the text is a Q&A format where Gautam Swami poses questions about the causes and effects of various karmic outcomes, and Lord Mahavir provides clear answers. The questions and answers revolve around:

• Destiny of Rebirth:

  • Naraka (Hell): Killing of one-sensed beings, gossiping, stealing, adultery, speaking ill of others, anger, pride, deceit, greed, bad temper, trading in forbidden goods, and criticizing saints lead to hellish existence.
  • Swarga (Heaven): Practicing penance, vows, and rules, having a simple nature, wishing well for all beings, trusting in the words of elders, and behaving with righteousness lead to heavenly realms.
  • Tiryancha (Animal/Lower Life Forms): Forming friendships for selfish gain and then breaking them, finding fault with friends, falsely accusing them, showing partiality, betraying friends, and engaging in deceitful practices lead to rebirth as an animal or lower life form.
  • Manushya (Human): Having a simple nature, being free from pride and anger, being just, giving to worthy recipients, praising virtuous individuals, and not harboring animosity towards anyone leads to human birth.

• Gender and Identity:

  • Female Birth: Possessing a stubborn nature, being argumentative, deceitful, untrustworthy, and deceitful leads to rebirth as a female, often experiencing dependence and suffering.
  • Male Birth (from Female): A virtuous, humble, simple-hearted, and steady-minded woman who speaks truth and avoids quarrels is reborn as a male.
  • Eunuch (Napunsak): Castrating animals, mutilating animal body parts, and harming animals leads to rebirth as a eunuch, experiencing various hardships.

• Life Span and Characteristics:

  • Short Life: Being cruel, killing beings, disbelieving in the afterlife, engaging in reprehensible deeds, and disrespecting deities, gurus, and Dharma leads to a short lifespan.
  • Long Life: Not harming beings, having compassionate thoughts, giving charity joyfully, and praising deities, gurus, and Dharma leads to a long lifespan.
  • Lack of Enjoyment (Bhog Rahit): Not giving generously, regretting donations made, and preventing others from donating leads to a lack of enjoyment and suffering.
  • Enjoyment (Bhog Samriddhivan): Offering essential items to ascetics, giving alms to the poor and distressed, and promoting Jainism leads to prosperity and enjoyment.
  • Fortunate (Saubhagya): Showing reverence to deities, gurus, and Dharma, speaking kindly, and refraining from criticizing Dharma and using hurtful words makes one fortunate and loved by all.
  • Unfortunate (Durbhagi): Being without virtues, arrogant, criticizing the virtuous, being sensual, showing pride in one's lineage, and causing suffering to others makes one unfortunate and condemned by all.

• Intellect and Knowledge:

  • Intelligent (Buddhiman): Studying scriptures, contemplating with gurus, listening to scriptures, teaching others, and helping students leads to great intelligence.
  • Unintelligent (Kubuddhiman): Belittling ascetics, knowledgeable persons, and virtuous individuals, and speaking dismissively of their knowledge leads to being unintelligent and not respected.
  • Wise (Pandit): Serving elders, understanding punya (merit) and papa (demerit), and devotion to scriptures, deities, and gurus leads to being wise.
  • Foolish (Murkha): Encouraging theft, meat-eating, alcohol consumption, and declaring religion useless leads to foolishness in future lives.

• Courage and Fear:

  • Brave (Dheer/Sahsik): Liberating beings from fear and distress, helping others overcome fear, and alleviating suffering makes one brave.
  • Cowardly (Bhiruk/Darpok): Caging birds and animals, constantly disturbing all creatures, leads to cowardice in future lives.

• Effectiveness of Knowledge and Wealth:

  • Fruitless Knowledge (Vidyaye Nishphal): Learning from a guru with deceit, not honoring them, concealing their identity when asked, or criticizing them renders knowledge fruitless.
  • Successful Knowledge (Vidyaye Safal): Honoring gurus and taking leave from them with humility makes knowledge successful.
  • Loss of Wealth (Lakshmi Nasht): Donating and then regretting it leads to the loss of wealth.
  • Acquisition of Wealth (Lakshmi Milti): Giving charity according to one's capacity and inspiring others to donate leads to abundant wealth.
  • Stable Wealth (Lakshmi Sthir): Giving cherished possessions to ascetics without regret leads to stable wealth.

• Progeny and Physical Attributes:

  • Childless (Putra Nahi Jeete): Causing separation from children (of animals, birds, or humans), committing grave sins, leads to not having children or losing them.
  • Having Children (Putravan): Being compassionate and not causing separation from children leads to having fortunate children.
  • Deaf (Bahire): Speaking about things not heard, backbiting, and finding fault with others leads to deafness in future lives.
  • Blind from Birth (Janmandh): Claiming to have seen something without seeing it, being irreligious, and harming others' eyes leads to blindness from birth.
  • Indigestion (Ahar Nahi Pachta): Offering stale or impure food and water to ascetics leads to indigestion.
  • Leprosy (Kodh): Destroying beehives, setting fires, harming creatures, spoiling gardens, uprooting and cutting green trees, and plucking flowers and fruits unnecessarily leads to leprosy.
  • Hunchback (Kubde): Overloading animals like bulls, buffaloes, donkeys, and camels with heavy burdens causes suffering and leads to a hunchbacked form.
  • Low Social Standing (Nich Goth): Being proud of one's lineage, intoxicated with pride, and criticizing others while praising oneself leads to a low social status.
  • Servitude (Das): Buying and selling living beings, and being ungrateful leads to servitude.
  • Poverty (Daridra): Lacking humility, discipline, and vows, being devoid of charitable qualities, harboring negative thoughts, speaking falsehoods, and engaging in sinful actions leads to poverty.
  • Wealthy/Lordly (Ishwar): Being charitable, humble, virtuous, practicing partial vows, and being respected by many leads to immense wealth and lordship.
  • Diseased (Rogi): Committing treachery and not seeking atonement from a guru with a pure heart leads to various diseases.
  • Healthy (Nirogi): Protecting trustworthy beings and sincerely confessing all sins leads to being healthy in future lives.
  • Deformed Limbs (Hinaang): Engaging in dishonest trade, using incorrect weights and measures, giving less and taking more leads to having deformed limbs.
  • Mute (Gunge): Speaking ill of ascetics, virtuous individuals, and celibates leads to being mute or stammering.
  • Lame (Lule): Disrespecting religious teachers and true ascetics with their feet leads to being lame.
  • Deformed Body (Angheen): Cruelly loading animals, whipping them, and striking their vital points leads to being lame or crippled.
  • Well-formed (Swarupvan): Having a simple nature, a mind focused on Dharma, protecting beings, and devotion to deities, gurus, and the community leads to a well-formed body.
  • Ugly (Roop Vihin): Being crooked, enjoying sinful deeds, being eager to harm living beings, and harboring hatred towards deities, gurus, and Dharma leads to ugliness.
  • Great Suffering (Bahuvendna): Torturing living beings with wood, ropes, swords, spears, and other weapons, and using instruments of torture leads to immense suffering.
  • Pain-free (Vedna Rahit): Saving beings from bonds and fear of death leads to being free from pain and suffering.

• Cycle of Existence:

  • One-sensed Beings (Ekendriya): Excessive attachment to family due to Mohaniya karma, considering possessions as one's self, and engaging in ignorant activities leads to rebirth as one-sensed beings and a long journey in the cycle of existence.
  • Long Samsara (Dirgh Sansari): Disbelieving in non-living entities, merit, demerit, Dharma, Adharma, heaven, hell, liberation, and God, and acting wildly leads to being trapped in samsara for a long time and experiencing the suffering of many births and deaths.
  • Short Samsara (Alpa Sansari): Understanding the nature of reality, believing in the fruits of Dharma and Adharma, and abandoning wrong actions to follow righteous conduct leads to a shorter cycle of existence and quicker attainment of the ultimate goal.
  • Liberation (Siddhpur/Moksha): Possessing pure knowledge, perception, and conduct, practicing them without flaw, and continuously refining one's conduct leads to crossing the ocean of samsara and reaching liberation, free from the suffering of birth and death.

Concluding Message:

The text concludes with a reiteration that Lord Mahavir answered all of Gautam Swami's questions concerning the results of Dharma and Adharma. It urges listeners to understand these principles and actively engage in the path of Dharma to achieve a successful human life and attain the immortal state (moksha).

Structure and Style:

The text is presented as a clear and direct dialogue. The language is accessible, explaining complex karmic principles through relatable actions. The use of exemplary figures from Jain lore (e.g., Subhum Chakravarti, Anand Shravak, Ashokdatt Kunwar, Sagar Chand) helps illustrate the karmic consequences. The repeated invocation of "Namah" to Tirthankaras and Acharyas signifies the devotional and reverential tone.

Overall Significance:

"Gautam Pruchha" serves as a vital guide for understanding the Jain doctrine of karma. It emphasizes that every action has a consequence, shaping an individual's present and future lives. By detailing the specific actions that lead to different outcomes, the text aims to guide individuals towards righteous conduct, ethical living, and ultimately, spiritual liberation.