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      Lord Mahavir and Jain Religion  (B50) 01/19/93      MAHAVIR.A01
      Complied by Pravin K. Shah,  Jain Study Center of North Carolina


                    Lord Mahavir and Jain Religion
                    ------------------------------

      Lord Mahavir was the twenty-fourth and the last Tirthankara of the
      Jain religion.  According to Jain philosophy, all Tirthankaras were
      born as human beings but they have attained a state of perfection
      or enlightenment through meditation and self realization.  They are
      the Gods of Jains.  Tirthankaras are also known as Arihants or
      Jinas.

      Tirthankara - One who establishes the four fold order (Monk, Nun,
                   Layman, and Laywoman) of religion.

      Arihant - One who destroys his inner enemies like anger, greed,
                passion, ego, etc.

      Jina - One who conquers his inner enemies like anger, greed, passion,
             ego, etc.  The followers of Jina are known as Jains.

      Mahavir was born in 599 B.C.  as a prince in Bihar, India.  At the
      age of 30, he left his family and royal household, gave up his
      worldly possessions, including clothing and become a monk.

      He spent the next twelve years in deep silence and meditation to
      conquer his desires and feelings.  He went without food for long
      periods.  He carefully avoided harming or annoying other living
      beings including animals, birds, and plants.

      His ways of meditation, days of austerities, and mode of behavior
      furnish a beautiful example for monks and nuns in religious life.
      His spiritual pursuit lasted for twelve years.

      At the end he realized perfect perception, knowledge, power, and
      bliss.  This realization is known as keval-jnana.

      He spent the next thirty years travelling on bare feet around India
      preaching to the people the eternal truth he realized.  He attracted
      people from all walks of life, rich and poor, kings and commoners,
      men and women, princes and priests, touchables and untouchables.

      He organized his followers, into a four fold order, namely monk
      (Sadhu), nun (Sadhvi), layman (Shravak), and laywoman (Shravika).
      Later on they are known as Jains.

      The ultimate objective of his teaching is how one can attain the
      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, nirvana, absolute freedom, or
      Moksha.

      He explained that from eternity, every living being (soul) is in
      bondage of karmic atoms, that are accumulated by its own good or
      bad deeds.  Under the influence of karma, the soul is habituated to
      seek pleasures in materialistic belongings and possessions.  Which
      are the deep rooted causes of self-centered violent thoughts,
      deeds, anger, hatred, greed, and such other vices.  These result in
      accumulating more karma.

      He preached that right faith (samyak-darshana), right knowledge
      (samyak-jnana), and right conduct (samyak-charitra) together will
      help attain the liberation of one's self.

      At the heart of right conduct for Jains lie the five great vows:

        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.


      Jains hold these vows at the center of their lives.  The monks and
      nuns follow these vows strictly and totally, while the common
      people try to follow the vows as far as their life styles will
      permit.

      At the age of 72 (527 B.C.), Lord Mahavir died and his purified
      soul left the body and achieved complete liberation.  He became a
      Siddha, a pure consciousness, a liberated soul, living for ever in
      a state of complete bliss.  On the night of his salvation, people
      celebrated the Festival of Lights (Dipavali) in his honor.
      ==================================================================

      Significant points of the life and teachings of Lord Mahavir.
      --------------------------------------------------------------
      The spiritual power and moral grandeur of Mahavir's teachings
      impressed the masses. He made religion simple and natural, free
      from elaborate ritual complexities. His teachings reflected the
      popular impulse towards internal beauty and harmony of the soul.

      His message of nonviolence (Ahimsa), truth (Satya), non-stealing
      (Achaurya), celibacy (Brahma-charya), and non-possession
      (Aparigraha) is full of universal compassion.  He 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 perfect perception
      (Anant-darshana), perfect knowledge (Anant-jnana), perfect power
      (Anant-virya), and perfect bliss (Anant-sukha)."  Mahavir's message
      reflects freedom and spiritual joy of the living being.

      Mahavir was quite successful in eradicating from human intellect
      the conception of God as creator, protector, and destroyer.  He
      also denounced the worship of gods and goddesses as a means of
      salvation.  He taught the idea of supremacy of human life and
      stressed the importance of the positive attitude of life.

      Lord Mahavir also preached the gospel of universal love,
      emphasizing that all living beings, irrespective of their size,
      shape, and form how spiritually developed or under-developed, are
      equal and we should love and respect them.

      Jainism existed before Mahavir, and his teachings were based
      on those of his predecessors.  Thus, unlike Buddha, Mahavir was
      more of a reformer and propagator of an existing religious order
      than the founder of a new faith.  He followed the well
      established creed of his predecessor Tirthankara Parshvanath.
      However, Mahavir did reorganize the philosophical tenets of
      Jainism to correspond to his times. Lord Mahavir preached five
      great vows while Lord Parshva preached four great vows.

      In the matters of spiritual advancement, as envisioned by Mahavir,
      both men and women are on an equal footing.  The lure of
      renunciation and liberation attracted women as well.  Many women
      followed Mahavir's path and renounced the world in search of
      ultimate happiness.

      In a few centuries after Mahavir's nirvana, Jain religious order
      (Sangha) grew more and more complex.  There were schisms on
      some minor points although they did not affect the original
      doctrines as preached by the Tirthankars.  Later generations saw
      the introduction of ritualistic complexities which almost placed
      Mahavir and other Tirthankars on the throne of Hindu deities.


      Idol Worship
      ------------
      The idols of twenty-four Tirthankaras in the temple are the same
      because they represent the quality and virtues of Tirthankaras not
      the physical body.  However, at the bottom of each idol a unique
      symbol is placed to differentiate them.  Lord Mahavir's idol is
      recognized by the symbol of a lion.


      Prayer of Jain religion:
      ------------------------
      Every day Jains bow their heads and say their universal prayer,
      the Navkar-mantra.  All good work and events start with this prayer
      of salutation and worship.

       Namo Arihantanam:          - I bow to the enlightened souls
       Namo Siddhanam:            - I bow to the liberated souls
       Namo Ayariyanam:           - I bow to religious leaders
       Namo Uvajjayanam:          - I bow to religious teachers
       Namo Loe Savva Sahunam:    - I bow to all monks of the world

       Eso Panch Namukkaro:       - These five salutations are capable of
       Savva Pava Panasano:         destroying all the sins and this is
       Mangalancha Savvesin         the first happiness among all forms
       Padhamam Havai Mangalam:     of happiness.

      In the above prayer, Jains do not ask for any favors or material
      benefits from their Gods, the Tirthankaras or from monks and nuns.
      They do not pray to a specific Tirthankara or monk by name.  By
      saluting them, Jains receive the inspiration from the five
      benevolent for the right path of true happiness and total freedom
      from the misery of life.

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