Vardhamana Mahavira
Vardhamana Mahavira
Vardhamana Mahavira was born of King Siddartha and Queen Trisala of Kundalpura, in 599 BC. Even though he was the price he was virtuous by nature. At the age of 30 (in 569 BC) he abandoned home and spent next twelve years in meditating. He attained omniscience in 557 B.C.
Mahavira lived a life of absolute truthfulness, a life of perfect honesty and a life of absolute chastity. He lived without possessing any property at all.
‘Maha’ means great and ‘Vira’ means a hero. ‘Tirtha’ literally means a ford, a means of crossing over. Metaphorically, it denotes a spiritual guide or philosophy which enables one to cross over the ocean of recurring births in this world. ‘Kara’ means one who makes. The whole word Tirthankara means a Jain holy teacher.
Mahavir preached that right faith (samyak darshana), right knowledge (samyak jnana) and right conduct (samyak charitra) together is the real path to attain the liberation from karmic matter of one’s self.
The right conduct (samyak charitra) include the following:
- Nonviolence (Ahimsa) – not to cause harm to any living beings
- Truthfulness (Satya) – to speak the harmless truth only
- Non stealing (Asteya) – not to take anything not properly given
- Chastity (Brahmacharya) – not to indulge in sensual pleasure
- Non possession/ Non attachment (Aparigraha) – complete detachment from people, places, and material things
Mahavira was the last (24th) Tirthankara. He entered into Nirvana in 527 BC at the age of 72.
His birthday is celebrated as Mahavir Jayanti and is the most important religious holiday of Jains around the world.
Links:
- Jainworld.com
- A web page on Dlshq.org
