JANISM

Subject: *JANISM* 2008-07-18, 21:52

!! Jainism !!

Twenty-Four Tirthankaras

Just as Buddhism is associated with Buddhism. Lord Mahavir is linked to Jainism. However, most people are not aware that Jainism existed before Mahavir. However, 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. In jainism there are twenty-four tirthankars and they are:

1] Shri. Rishab dev
2] Shri. Ajit nath
3] Shri Sambhav nath
4] Shri Abhinandan swami
5] Shri Sumati nath
6] Shri Padam prabhu
7] Shri Suparash nath
8] Shri Chandra prabhu
9] Shri Suvidhi nath
10] Shri Sheetal nath
11] Shri Shreyans nath
12] Shri Vasu pujya swami
13] Shri Vimal nath
14] Shri Anant nath
15] Shri Dharam nath
16] Shri Shanti nath
17] Shri Kunthu nath
18] Shri Aarnath
19] Shri Malli nath
20] Shri Munisuvrat Swami
21] Shri Naminath
22] Shri Neminath
23] Shri Parasav nath
24] Shri Mahavir swami

According to the principles of Jainism, all Tirthankaras were born as human beings but they have attained a state of perfection or enlightenment through meditation and self-realization. Tirthankaras are also known as Arihants or Jinas.

Lord Mahavir

*JANISM* Dilwara-jain-temples-mt.abu

Lord Mahavir and Gautam Buddha have a remarkably similar history. Like Gautam Buddha, Mahavir too was from a royal family. He was born in 599 B.C. as a prince in Bihar. At the age of 30, he renounced his family and his luxurious life and became a monk. He spent the next twelve years in deep silence and meditation in a bid to overcome his material desires and baser feelings. He went without food for days at a stretch. He tried his best to avoid harming other living beings including animals, birds, and plants. At the end of twelve years, he realized perfect perception, knowledge, power, and bliss. This realization is known as keval-jnana.

Once he had achieved enlightenment, he devoted the next thirty years of his life travelling barefoot around India preaching his message of eternal truth to the people. His teachings crossed all barriers, rich and poor, kings and commoners, men and women, princes and priests, touchables and untouchables.

Jainism- His teachings

He organized his followers into four groups: monks or Sadhus, nuns or Sadhvis, laymen called Shravaks and laywomen known as Shravikas. These four categories of followers came to be known collectively as the Jains.

Lord Mahavir did not ascribe to idea of a god as the ultimate creator, protector and destroyer. He did not believe that ritualistic idol worship would put the human soul on the road to salvation. He believed that when a living being destroys all his karmas, he possesses perfect knowledge, vision, power, and bliss. He becomes omniscient and omnipotent. This living being becomes a God according to Jain religion. Hence Jains do not believe in one God. Gods in Jain religion are innumerable and the number is continuously increasing as more living beings attain liberation. Every living being has a potential to become God of the Jain religion.

Lord Mahavir also preached the gospel of universal love and believed that all human beings were equal and did not differentiate between men and women. He believed that both sexes could attain nirvana if they followed his teachings.

In a few centuries after Mahavir's nirvana, Jain religious order moved away from the simplistic path preached by Mahavira and grew more and more complex. While the basic doctrines of the Jain philiosophy remained unaffected, the followers began to follow out over minor points as time went bv. Slowly ritualism and idol worship crept into Jainism and the follower placed Mahavira and other Tirthankaras on pedestals like Hindu deities.

Today you will find idols of twenty-four Tirthankaras in Jain temples. All these idols represent the same qualities and virtues. However, at the bottom of each idol a unique symbol is placed to enable devotees to distinguish between them. Lord Mahavir's idol is recognized by the symbol of a lion.

The search for nirvana

Lord Mahavir believed that the human soul was bound by its karma or its good and bad deeds. Driven by karma, the soul is attracted towards material desires and worldly possessions. This gives rise to violence, anger, hatred, greed, and other vices. As a result, the soul enters an endless cycle of birth, life, pain, misery and death. Lord Mahavir aimed to teach people how to free themselves from this endless cycle and achieve a permanent state of bliss. This is also known as liberation, nirvana, absolute freedom, or Moksha.