|
|
Bhagavân Mahavira (श्रीमहावीर)
Lakshan Sign - Loin
|
|
Bhagavan
Mahavira was the last and the twenty fourth Tirthankara of this era in the
Jain tradition.
Name
.....................Mahavira Prabhu
Father's Name....................Siddhartha (Priyakarini)
Mother's Name.................. Trisala
Birth Place ....................Kundalpur
Birth Thithi ...................Chitra Sukla.13
Diksha Thithi ....................Marghshirsh ku. 10
Kevalgyan Thithi.............. ..Baishak ku.10
Naksharta
....................Hasthotar
Diksha Sathi ................ ...Ekaki
Shadhak Jeevan ........... ....42 years
Age Lived ................
... 72 years
Lakshan Sign ................ .....Lion
Neervan Place ............... .... .Pavapuri
Neervan Sathi ................ .... .0
Neervan Thithi................ ..... Kartik ku. 15
Colour
..................... Golden Yellow
Life of Lord Mahavira
Lord Mahavira was a prince whose childhood name was Vardhaman.
According to the Digambar traditation, Lord Mahavira was born in the year
615 BC, but the Swetambaras believe that he was born in 599 BC. Both sects
however agree that he was the son of Siddhartha and Trisala. It is said
that mother Trisala had sixteen auspicious dreams before the child
was born (only 14 according to the Swetambaras). Astrologers interpreting
these dreams, stated that the child would be either an emperor or a
Tirthankara. As the son of a
king, he had many worldly pleasures, comforts, and services at his command.
However at the age of thirty he left his family and the royal household, gave up
his worldly possessions, and became a monk in search of a solution to eliminate
pain, sorrow, and suffering from life of all beings.
Lord Mahavira spent majority of the following twelve and one half years in deep
silence and meditation to conquer his desires, feelings, and attachments, and to
eradicate all four Ghati Karma. He carefully avoided harming other living beings
including animals, birds, insects, and plants. He also went without food for
long periods of time. He remained calm and peaceful against all unbearable
hardships. During this period, his spiritual powers developed fully and he
realized perfect perception, perfect knowledge, perfect conduct, unlimited
energy, and unobstructed bliss. This realization is known as Keval-jnän or the
perfect enlightenment. Lord Mahavira spent the next thirty years traveling barefoot throughout India
preaching the eternal truth he had realized. The ultimate objective of his
teaching is how one can attain total freedom from the cycle of birth, life,
pain, misery, and death, and achieve the permanent blissful state of one's self.
This is also known as liberation, Nirvän, absolute freedom, or Moksha. At the age of 72 (in 527 BC), Lord Mahavira attained Nirvän and his purified soul
left his body and achieved complete liberation. He became a Siddha, a pure
consciousness, a liberated soul, living forever in a state of complete bliss. On
the evening of his Nirvän, people spiritually celebrated the Festival of Lights
(Dipävali) in his honor. This is the last day of the Jain calendar year.
Lord Mahavira was the head of an excellent community of 14,000 monks, 36,000
nuns, 159,00O male lay votaries and 318,OOO female lay votaries. The four
groups designated as monks, nuns, laymen and laywomen constitute the four fold
order (tirtha) of Jainism. Of the eleven principle disciples (ganadharas) of Lord
Mahavira, only two, viz., Gautam Swami and Sudharma Swami survived him. After twenty years of Nirvän of
Lord Mahavir, Sudharma Swami also attained emancipation. He was the last of
the eleven gandharas to die. Jambu Swami, the last omniscient, was his pupil.
He attained salvation after sixty four years of the Nirvän of Lord
Mahavira.
Lord Mahavira made religion simple and natural, free from elaborate rituals. His
teachings reflect the internal beauty and harmony of the soul. Lord Mahavira
taught the idea of
supremacy of human life and stressed the importance of a positive attitude towards life.
Lord Mahavira's message of nonviolence (Ahimsä), truth (Satya), non
stealing (Achaurya), celibacy (Brahmacharya), and nonpossession (Aparigraha) is full of
universal compassion.
Lord Mahavira said that, "A living body is not merely an integration of limbs and
flesh but it is the abode of the soul which potentially has infinite perception
(Anantdarshana), infinite knowledge (Anantjnäna), infinite power (Anantvirya), and infinite bliss (Anantsukha).
Mahavira's message reflects freedom and spiritual joy of the living being.
Lord Mahavira emphasized that all-living beings, irrespective of their size,
shape, form, and how spiritually developed or undeveloped, are equal and we
should love and respect them. In this way, he preached the universal love.
Lord Mahavira taught that the true nature of reality is timeless, with no beginning or end and rejected the concept of God as a creator, a protector, and
a destroyer of the universe. He also taught that worshiping heavenly gods and
goddesses, as a means of material gain and personal benefits is contrary to the
path of liberation.
Once Lord Mahavira was asked what is the religion from a realistic point of
view. Lord Mahavira said, “ the realistic religion consists of four parts: 1)
equality of all living ones, 2) every living soul has right to put self-effort
to improve itself and should not to be stripped of that right, 3) no one should
rule over other living beings, and 4) all situations should be viewed with equanimity - without like or dislike." If one adopts only one of these four,
other three will automatically be adopted.
The Teachings of Lord Mahavira
-
Every
soul is independent. None
depends on another.
-
All
souls are alike. None is
superior or inferior.
-
Every
soul is in itself absolutely omniscient and blissful.
The bliss does not come from outside.
-
All
human beings are miserable due to their own faults, and they
themselves can be happy by correcting these faults.
-
The
greatest mistake of a soul is non‑recognition of its real self
and can only be corrected by recognizing itself.
-
There
is no separate existence of God.
Everybody can attain Godhood by making supreme efforts in the
right direction.
-
Know
thyself, recognize thyself, be immersed by thyself you will
attain Godhood.
-
God
is neither the creator nor the destructor of the universe. He is
merely a silent observer and omniscient.
-
One
who, even after knowing the whole universe, can remain unaffected and
unattached is God.
-
Fight
with yourself, why fight with external foes?
He who conquers himself through himself, will obtain happiness.
-
All
beings hate pain, therefore one should not hurt kill them. Ahimsa (non-violence)
is the highest religion.
-
A
man is seated on top of a tree in the midst of a burning forest. He sees all living beings perish.
But he doesn't realize that the same fate is soon to overtake
him also. That man is
fool.
|
