ABHAYKUMAR AND ARDRAKUMAR

Away from Indian main land there was an island. Its king Ardrak was a friend of Shrenik,
the king of Magadh. King Ardrak had a son named Ardrakumar who was brave, youthful,
handsome and well behaved.

Once king Shrenik sent an emissary to Ardrak with valuable gifts. Ardrakumar had never
seen anything from India. He was impressed by the various types of gifts and was curious
to learn about India. He asked king Shrenik's emissary whether his king had any son with
whom he could cultivate friendship. The emissary told him about Abhaykumar who was
the eldest and the most intelligent son of Shrenik and was also king Shrenik's prime
minister. Ardrakumar was interested in establishing friendship with Abhaykumar. He
therefore sent him highly valuable pearls as token of his friendship.

Abhaykumar very much appreciated this gesture. He was aware that the people of that
island knew nothing about the true religion. Abhaykumar thought attracting Ardrakumar to
the true religion could therefore be the greatest gift for Ardrakumar. With that in mind,
Abhaykumar sent to him a very impressive idol of Lord Adinath.

Ardrakumar had never seen such an idol. For him it was simply a statue. He however
faintly felt that he had somewhere seen such a shape. As he tried to think deeply over it
again and again, he remembered his previous life. He remembered that he lived in
Vasantpur in Magadh and had a wife named Bandhumati. Both of them had developed
detachment from worldly life on hearing the sermon of Acharya Susthitji and both had
renounced.

After renouncement, once as they happened to be camping at the same place, he felt an urge
to have sex with her. Of course, Bandhumati did not comply. It was merely a mental lapse
on his part. Still as a consequence thereof he had been born in that island where the true
religion had been unknown.

Ardrakumar started devoutly worshipping the idol in secrecy. He felt very grateful to
Abhaykumar for the gift of the idol and was craving to see him. His father however would
not allow him to go abroad. In order to prevent Ardrakumar from undertaking any
adventure, the king instructed a group of selected soldiers to keep continuous watch over
him.

Over a period of time, Ardrakumar created confidence among them by his reliable behavior
which caused them to relax their alertness. Meanwhile, he made secret arrangements for a
ship and one day making sure that no one was watching him, he sailed to India.

Ardrakumar was keen to undo his lapse of the previous life. Therefore despite the
foreboding indications, he renounced as soon as he arrived in India and started moving as a
possessionless Muni. Once he came to Vasantpur which was his dwelling place in the
previous life. There he meditated in a temple.

Now, Bandhumati was reborn there as daughter of a wealthy trader and was named
Shrimati. While Ardrakumar was meditating in standing posture, she came there to play
along with her girl friends. As a part of the game, each girl had to select one of the poles as
a symbol of husband. When Shrimati's turn came, she somehow caught the feet of
Ardrakumar and stated that that was her husband. Ardrakumar was taken aback by this
incident. Since he did not want to get involved in any way, he left the place as soon as the
girls went away.

As Shrimati attained marriageable age, her father started looking for a suitable match.
However, she had not forgotten her play and wanted to marry that Muni. Her father agreed
with her, but he did not know how it would be possible to locate and recognize the Muni
whom she had seen only for a moment. She told her father that while holding the feet of
the Muni, she had noticed an indelible mark there and could therefore easily recognize him,
if he came around. Thereupon her father arranged for her to give alms to every Muni that
passed through Vasantpur.

That arrangement continued for a long time. However, Shrimati did not lose patience.
Eventually, Ardrakumar came there once again. As he came for Gochari (alms), Shrimati
immediately recognized him by that mark and held his feet. She said that she had selected
him as her husband and had been waiting for him all that time; she could no longer live
without him and would court death, if he tried to leave.

It was hard for Ardrakumar to resist her plea. He recalled that all the indications at the time
of his renunciation were unpropitious. He realized that his renouncement was untimely and
he was destined to lead worldly life for some time. He therefore decided to marry Shrimati.

After some time, Shrimati gave birth to a boy. While his son was still young, Ardrakumar
once again thought of renouncing the worldly life. He asked Shrimati to let him go on his
mission as she could happily lead her life in bringing up the son. Shrimati did not like the
idea of his leaving, but she had no grounds to stop him. She sat at her spinning wheel with
tears rolling over her cheeks. When the boy inquired, she said that his father wanted to
leave and they would thenceforth be required to lead the lonely life.

Innocently, the boy said that he would bind his father so that he could not go; and then he
wound the spun yarn round his father's feet. Ardrakumar was so overwhelmed with the
innocent love of the boy that he decided to stay for as many years as the rounds of thread on
his feet. There were twelve rounds. He therefore stayed with them for twelve more years.
Shrimati thereafter gracefully permitted him to renounce.

Ardrakumar, who was now known as Ardrakmuni, was very keen to be a pupil of Lord
Mahavir who was camping at Rajgruhi at that time. He was also very eager to see his
benefactor Abhaykumar. He therefore proceeded towards Rajgruhi.

On the way he came across the men who were entrusted by his father to keep watch over
him. They could not face his father because of their failure to keep proper watch. They had
therefore followed him to India and were looking for him. As it was not possible for them
to go back to their country, they were passing their time aimlessly and were surviving on
burglary. Ardrakmuni felt compassion for their fate and advised them to lead renounced life
like himself. They considered him as their master and were willing to listen to him. The
Muni advised them to join him to go to Lord Mahavir for becoming his pupils.

Later on, they passed by a hermitage where the Muni saw meat being sun-dried. On
inquiring he learnt that its inmates had strange notions about nonviolence. They thought
that they should subsist on meat of elephant, because by killing only one animal they could
get enough food for all of them to survive for many days. The hermitage was therefore
known as elephantine hermitage. One elephant was tied in its compound for being
slaughtered.

As Ardrakmuni realized the fate of the elephant, he overcame with compassion for the
animal. That compassion induced a spark in the elephant to pay his homage to the Muni.
He broke the tie and ran towards the Muni. All the people got scared and tried to hide in
safe place to protect themselves from the wrath of the animal, but the Muni stood there
unafraid.

As the elephant was rushing straight towards him, the people thought that the Muni would
get killed. The elephant however slowed down and calmly approached the Muni and gently
stroked Muni's feet with his trunk. Ardrakmuni blessed him. Then, feeling free and
gratified, the elephant went away towards the forest. The hermits got very enraged at the
Muni who had apparently caused them the loss of their food.

The Muni explained to them that they had misunderstood the concept of nonviolence as
explained in Jain religion. There is no nonviolence without compassion. In fact, they are
two sides of the same coin. Distinction should therefore be made between gross violence
and subtle violence.

There is too much gross violence in killing an animal with highly sensitive nervous system.
Animal life has far greater sensitivity than plant life. As long as a person breathes,
observation of absolute nonviolence is not possible. Therefore, to begin with, nonviolence
should be taken as total avoidance of all gross violence and resorting to minimum possible
subtle violence that may be necessary for survival. Killing an elephant amounts to very
gross violence that cannot be justified.

The hermits understood the truth of his teaching and repented for the violence that they had
indulged in. Since they were receptive, the Muni explained to them the true religion in
detail. In the end, they decided to become his followers. The Muni however advised them
to go to Lord Mahavir for becoming his pupils.

At last Ardrakmuni arrived in Rajgruhi. He first went to Lord's assembly for most humbly
offering obeisance to him.

Then he met Abhaykumar and expressed his utmost gratitude for drawing his attention
towards the true religion by sending the idol of Lord Adinath. Abhaykumar humbly stated
that the Muni was destined to be enlightened and he was simply instrumental in bringing it
about. Abhaykumar showed his deep reverence for the Muni and paid homage to him.

King Shrenik also came to the Muni and praised him for the miracles that he had performed
with the elephant and the hermits. The Muni stayed with Lord Mahavir as his pupil. For
the rest of his life he scrupulously observed all the restraints of a Muni and in the end
attained salvation.