Deshna - Speech of a Tirthankara

[General Idea] 

In Jain mythology, ‘Deshna’ refers to the speech of a Tirthankara. It is believed that such a speech is understood by all creatures. This speech sounds melodious to all and also brings in behavioral changes in listeners. Creatures who listen such a speech will experience a reduction in negative attributes and behaviors. During this speech, there is extreme peace around the place where the speech is delivered.

[A Theoretical Perspective]

We have devices & tools now-a-days which translates any content into different languages. Even Google Translate performs pretty ok in most cases. We do see species of same type communicate with each other in some way though other species may or may not understand that. But emotions, almost everyone can understand, even different species. If we think at the level of energy carriers or micro-particles, then we can understand how ‘Deshna’ works. ‘Deshna’ emanates from Tirthankara. It is not a lecture or speech in the literal sense. It flows on its own and anyone in periphery can understand it.

[The Karma perspective]

Listening ‘Deshna’ from a Tirthankara depends on the fruition of karmas. ‘Deshna’ will come out only if the listeners karma warrants it. This is why there are special ‘Samosarana’ arranged by celestial beings. It is when people assemble and the karmas fructify that ‘Deshna’ emanates from Tirthankaras. Now why Tirthankaras deliver ‘Deshna’ ? It’s because of the sheer compassion they had for all creatures in their previous lives. They aspired for salvation and well-being of all creatures. They felt whatever knowledge they attained & happiness they attained ,everyone in the entire universe should also be benefitted from the same.