It’s a national holiday for India. Though every day is a vacation in the quarantine period. Its the birth anniversary of one of the greatest human being ever born in this Universe. The above image is of that spiritual personality.
He was the prince of Kundagrama (present day Bihar). His mother, Trishala, had 14 dreams before her unborn child. The king, Siddharth, invited oneriologists to understand the dreams. They interpreted that he was destined to greatness. He was named Vardhman as, since his mother was pregnant the kingdom was prospering in every way. He was quite but brave in his childhood. During his teenage, he used to play ‘aamlaki’, an outdoor game where one has to climb a tree and return to the starting point. One day while climbing the tree, he saw a snake. His friends were full of fear and rushed to home, but he was fearless. He captured the snake and threw it away.
At the age of 30 he abandoned all the worldly possessions and started his inner journey. It took him around 12 years to enlightenment. During those years, he faced many challenges. For instance, a cowherd nailed Vardhman’s ears, but he didn’t even react or respond. He was deeply involved in his mediation. He was full of patience and overcame the challenges one by one. He lived with minimal eatables. Out of 4515 days, he took food only for 341 days and on other days he observed complete fast.He slept less than 48 minutes altogether in those years. He used to simply walk whenever he felt sleepy.
Lord Mahavir is the 24th tirthankara and is often considered the founder of Jainism. Following are the five basic vows that he and his disciple followed.
- 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.
The goal behind practicing the teachings of Mahavirswami is to attain freedom from the cycle of rebirth. He preached that the real path leading to attainment of liberation from the cycle of Karma is through Samyak Darshan (right faith), Samyak Gyan (right knowledge) and Samyak Charitra (right character).
Wish you and your family an enlightening Mahavir Jayanti!