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Jaina Sutras, Part II (SBE45), tr. by Hermann Jacobi, [1895], at sacred-texts.com
(Rishabha said to his sons):
Acquire perfect knowledge of the Law! why do you not study it? It is difficult to obtain instruction in it after this life. The days (that are gone by) will never return, nor is it easy a second time to obtain human birth. (1)
See, young and old men, even children in the mother's womb die. As a hawk catches a quail, so (life) will end when its time is spent 2. (2)
(A man) may suffer for the sake of his parents; he will not easily obtain happiness after this life. A pious man should consider these causes of danger and cease to act. (3)
For in this world living beings suffer individually for their deeds; for the deed they have done themselves, they obtain (punishment), and will not get over it before they have felt it. (4)
Even gods, Gandharvas, Râkshasas, and Asuras; animals who live on earth, and snakes; kings, common people, merchants, and Brâhmanas: they all must leave their rank and suffer. (5)
Notwithstanding their pleasures and relations, all men must suffer in due time the fruit of their works; as a cocoa-nut detaching itself from its stalk (falls down), so (life) will end when its time is spent. (6)
Even a very learned or virtuous man, or a Brâhmana or an ascetic, will be severely punished for his deed when he is given to actions of deceit 1. (7)
See, those (heretics) who search for the knowledge of truth, but who do not cross the Samsâra, talk only about the highest good (without reaching it).
How will you understand what is near you and what is beyond 2? In the meanwhile you suffer for your deeds. (8)
He who walks about naked and lean, he who eats only once after a month, if he is filled with deceit, will be born an endless number of times. (9)
Man, cease from sins! For the life of men will come to an end 1. Men who are drowned (in lust, as it were), and addicted to pleasure will, for want of control, be deluded 2. (10)
Exert and control yourself! For it is not easy to walk on ways where there are minutely small animals. Follow the commandments which the Arhats have well proclaimed 3. (11)
Heroes (of faith) who desist (from sins) and exert themselves aright, who subdue wrath, fear, &c., will never kill living beings; they desist from sins and are entirely happy. (12)
It is not myself alone who suffers, all creatures in the world suffer; this a wise man 4 should consider, and he should patiently bear (such calamities) as befall him, without giving way to his passions. (13)
As a wall covered with a plastering (of dried cowdung) 5 is by a shock made thin, so (a monk) should make his body lean by fasting, &c. He should
abstain from slaughter of living beings. This is the Law proclaimed by the Sage. (14)
As a bird covered with dust removes the grey powder by shaking itself, so a worthy and austere Brâhmana 1, who does penance, annihilates his Karman. (15)
Young and old people claim a houseless Sramana as their own, though he begs according to the Law, observes the rules of conduct, and performs austerities. People will even cry themselves hoarse, but they will not captivate him. (16)
Whatever they will do to move his pity, however they will cry about their son, they will not captivate a worthy and virtuous monk or make him return to domestic life. (17)
Though they tempt him with pleasures, and though they should bind him and carry him home, if he does not care for a (worldly) life, they will not captivate him or make him return to domestic life. (18)
His father and mother, his children and wife who claim him, will admonish him: 'See, you are our supporter; care not for the next world in order to support us.' (19)
Some people are (foolishly) attached to others, and are thereby deluded; the unrighteous make them adopt unrighteousness, and they exult in their wickedness. (20)
Therefore a worthy and wise man should be
careful, ceasing from sin and being entirely happy. The virtuous heroes of faith (have chosen) the great road, the right and certain path to perfection. (21)
He who has entered the road leading to the destruction (of Karman) 1, who controls his mind, speech, and body, who has given up his possessions and relations and all undertakings, should walk about subduing his senses. (22)
249:1 The name of this lecture, which occurs in its last line, is vêyâlîya, because, as the author of the Niryukti remarks, it treats on vidârika, destruction (of Karman), and because it is composed in the Vaitâlîya metre. For either word, vaidârika (or rather vaidâlika, cf. karmavidalana) and vaitâlîya may, in Gaina Prâkrit, become vêyâlîya or vêtâlîya. A play of words was apparently intended; it would have been impossible, if both words had not become identical in sound. We may, therefore, conclude that the language of the author obeyed the same phonetic laws as the Gaina Prâkrit exhibited in our MSS., or in other words, that the text has been written down in about the same language in which it was originally composed. The name of the Fifteenth Lecture leads to the same inference; for it is called gamaîya (yamakîya) because each of its verses contains the verbal ornament called yamaka, and because it opens with the words gam aîyam (yad atîtam).
249:2 One MS. here inserts gîvâna giviyam, the life of living beings.
250:1 Abhinûma.
250:2 According to Sîlâṅka, this world and the next, or domestic life and monachism, or the Samsâra and Môksha are meant by the expression 'what is near you and what is beyond.'
251:1 Paliyantam. Another explanation of this word, preferred by the commentators, is palyôpamasya antar: within, i.e. something shorter than a Palyôpamâ.
251:2 Or, acquire Karman which is to result in delusion.
251:3 According to the commentators: practise (control) according to the sâsana (i.e. sûtras); this has been well declared by the Arhats.
251:4 Sahie. This word is explained sometimes by svahita, intent on his spiritual welfare, sometimes by hitena gñânâdinâ sahitah, possessed of knowledge, &c. I translate it 'wise,' and derive the word from Sanskrit sahridaya, the correct Prâkrit for which would be sahiyae.
251:5 Cow-dung is stuck, in the form of flat round cakes, against a wall to dry there. When the cakes are dried a little shake is sufficient to make them come down, whereby the wall will be restored to its original shape and dimensions.
252:1 Mâhana = brâhmana. The commentator derives the word from mâ and root han! The word is a synonym of muni, with which it frequently occurs in the same verse and has then been left out in the translation.
253:1 Vêyâliya-maggam.