Page 16 - Jain Jyotirdhar Chitra Darshan

[16] KURGADU NAGDUTTA
(Self introspection)

(1) Kurgadu was a Jain monk who couldn’t fast. He would take food &
water at the time of Navkarshi (48 minutes after Sunrise which is the
earliest time a monk can have food) & serve all other monks who did
severe penance with fast. The other monks always criticized him for
this weakness. (2) Once Kurgadu brought food & showed it to the other
senior monks who severely contempt him and spat in the bowl
containing rice. Yet Kurgadu praised the monks’ penance. He went on
repenting himself from heart and while eating he attained Supreme
Knowledge (Kewal Gyan). (3) Knowing about Kurgadu’s Kewal Gyan
the other monks asked for forgiveness & repented severely. They too
received supreme knowledge (Kewal Gyan).

MAITARYA
(Kindness and Forgiveness)

(1) Prince of the King, nephew & the son of the brahmin used to harass
and beat the Monks. To save him from such sins, the Monk (uncle of
the prince) went there to seek food. The Monk danced when they
asked him to do so. Taking out nephews mistake in the music, The
Monk punished them by removing the connection of the bones. They
started crying in pain. The King pleaded the Monk to relieve his
nephews of this pain. The Monk agreed, only if the nephews would
renounce this world. The Monk cured both of them. (2) The Monk
made both of them Monks. The son of the Head Brahmin said “Its good
to become Monk and religious but the Guru should not force for it.” He
hated the uncleanness in the Monk’s life. Due to this disrespect for
Guru, he became a sweeper named Maitarya in next birth in heaven
and for many years he didn’t even wish to renounce the world. (3)The
Deity who had promised “to forcibly make Maitarya a Monk” made him
to renounce the world. Once Maitarya went to a goldsmith for food.
There he saw a bird eating golden grain.” The goldsmith may kill the
bird for the golden grain”. So he didn’t tell the truth. (4) The goldsmith
thought that Maitarya was thief in Monks clothes and hence he caught
him and tied wet leather straps on his head and made him stand out in
Sun. As the leather dried it got tighter and tighter, until his eyes rolled
out of his head. He tolerated and attained tranquil death and attained
the Supreme Knowledge.