One Step to Enlightenment

Lord Rushabhdev or Adinatha, was the first Tirthankara of the Jains. After a successful long reign as a king, he decided to renounce the world and took Diksha (monkhood) to attain Moksha. He had a hundred sons. He entrusted the throne to his eldest son Bharat and gave the city of Vinita, also known as Ayodhya, whereas Bahubali the second eldest was bestowed with another large territory of the kingdom Takshashila. To the remaining 98 sons, he gave different parts of his vast kingdom.

Bharat was an ambitious ruler and intended to become emperor of the six continents. He formed a large and strong army to conquer the world. He possessed a divine wheel called Chakraratna that would never miss its target. He embarked upon his journey of conquest and won most of the kingdoms in the six continents.

He returned home to Ayodhya, but to his dismay, the Chakraratna stopped at the gates of the City. Bharat wondered

“Haven’t I conquered all the continents?” His minister pointed out that his brothers had not yet surrendered.

 He sent letters to his brothers to acknowledge and accept his superiority. All the 98 brothers turned to Lord Rishabhadev to ask for advice. He explained about conquering their inner enemies (attachment & hatred) and striving to attain liberation, a “True Kingdom”. They all realized the futility of fighting with their elder brother; so they surrendered their territories to him. They renounced worldly life and became disciples of Lord Rishabhadev.

Now only Bahubali remained and he would not surrender. He was conscious of his right to rule the kingdom handed over to him by his father. He was physically very strong amongst the brothers. When he received Bharat’s request to accept his superiority, he refused. War seemed inevitable and both the brothers brought their armies on the battlefield. Everyone shuddered at the prospect of the heavy casualties that would result from the imminent war. 

Indra the king of the demigods came and tried to counsel both the brothers but none would budge. Indra then suggested, instead of assembling a large-scale war, a fight between the two brothers would just as easily settle the issue and would avert unnecessary bloodshed. Both brothers immediately agreed. 

They held a contest with three rounds. The first round was the contest of staring. Both had to stare at each other without batting an eyelid. The one who blinked first would lose. Bahubali won the first contest.

The second round was a water-fight. It was a contest of hitting each other with water. In this contest too, Bahubali won.

The final round was wrestling. All attempts of Bharat to defeat Bahubali failed. His ambition to rule the entire world was at stake. He grew desperate and ignored the rules of the duel by unleashing his divine wheel, the Chakraratna at Bahubali. But the characteristic of the wheel was that it would not harm any blood relatives of the bearer. The wheel returned to Bharat and Bahubali remained unharmed. 

Bahubali was now fuming with anger by Bharat’s violation of the rules. He thought of smashing the elder brother with his mighty fist. As he raised his hand, the onlookers trembled at the thought of Bharat’s imminent death. Just then a thought occurred to Bahubali – 

“What am I doing? Trying to kill my elder brother and that too for some worldly possession which my father and brothers have given up? How can I do such a lowly act? What a shame. I must conquer this anger instead”

 His mind changed and instead of hitting Bharat with his fist, he pulled out his own hair as a symbol of giving up everything and renouncing worldly life. Bahubali thought of going to his father Rushabhdev and get initiated into monkhood but his ego and pride got in the way. He thought, 

“I will have to bow down to all my younger brothers and be subservient to them as they are senior in monkhood. I rather get enlightenment first and then go to them, that way I can avoid bowing down to them.” 

He went to the jungle and started to meditate. He stood there like a rock as days turned to weeks but there was no sight of enlightenment. Creepers started growing around his legs, ants built anthill around him. As a year went by, Tirthankar Rushbhadev sent his two daughters Brahmi and Sundari who had also renounced the world to preach Bahubali. They went where Bahubali was meditating and said to him – 

“Get down from the elephant dear brother!”. Bahubali could not understand, he wondered, “where is the elephant, where am I sitting on an elephant?” 

Just then he realized that his sisters were referring to his Ego as an elephant!. He understood his mistake and immediately decided to go and bow to his younger brothers. As he lifted his first step, he got enlightenment! 

Bahubali had overcome all his demerits and passion in his one year of penance but his Ego was the only thing that remained between him and his enlightenment.