Bhagwan Mahavir Janma Kalyanak (Mahavir Jayanti)

Prakash Chand Jain *

Mahavir Jayanti Mahotsav celebration at Thangal Bazar, Imphal on April 4 2012 :: Pix - Bunti Phurailatpam

On April 1, 2015, President of India extended his greeting on the occasion of Mahavir Jayanti. Pranab Mukherjee, HE the President of India said, “When the world is faced with multiple challenges, the philosophy and teachings of ahimsa, truth and compassion enunciated by Bhagwan Mahavira hold great significance. Let us on this auspicious day resolve to ceaselessly strive for harmony and amity in our country and across the world.”

Mahavir Janma Kalyanak, also known as Mahavir Jayanti, is the auspicious celebration of the day when Trishla Mata gave birth to Lord Mahavir, over 2600 years ago. We celebrate it on the thirteenth day of the bright half of the Indian month Chaitra.

Tirthankar Mahavir was the last and the twenty fourth Tirthankar of this epoch. There were twenty three Tirthankaras before him e.g. Aadinath and others.

Bhagwans (Gods) are infinite, but Tirthankaras in one epoch and in Bharatkshetra are twenty four only. Every Tirthankar, as a rule, is a Bhagwan, but every Bhagwan is not a Tirthankar. A soul can attain godhood without being a Tirthankar. Every soul can become a God. That which leads to the attainment of perfection is called Tirtha and those who reach that supreme state themselves and show others the path of emancipation are called the Tirthankaras.

Bhagwan is not born, he grows to be one. Nobody is a Bhagwan since his birth. Mahavir also was not a Bhagwan since his birth. He became a God, when he conquered himself. To conquer delusion, attachment and aversion is to conquer oneself.

Though the principles enunciated by Bhagwan Mahavir are very deep, intricate, impressive and acceptable, his life is very easy, straight and eventless; there is no place for varieties in it. The story of his life, in brief is that he spent the first thirty years of life in the midst of wealth and splendour indifferently as a lotus in water.

For the next twelve years he was engaged in the pursuit of the supreme soul and lived in jungles in deep meditation and during the fast thirty years, he expounded Sarvodaya i.e. the welfare of all living beings, propagated it and spread it throughout the four corners of the land, The life of Mahavir is not eventful.

It is vain to search for his personality in the course of events. However, there can be no event that did not happen in the infinite previous lives through which he had passed.

Bhagwan Mahavir taught a system of truth which is eternal. Bhagwan Mahavir has only revealed the truth which has always existed. He did not establish any new religion. But he restored the faith in the eternal values of religion, which had been lost. At last, on the day of Dipavali, Bhagwan Mahavir, the last Tirthankar of this age, left his body and attained Nirvana at the age of seventy two years. According to Jain belief, Dipavali is celebrated to remember Bhagwan Mahavir attaining Nirvana.

The teachings of Bhagwan Mahavir

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. Not only soul but every object of the universe also, is subject to change by itself, without any external interference.

All human beings are miserable due their own faults, and they can themselves be happy by rectifying the same. The greatest mistake of a soul is non recognition of its real self and it can only be rectified by recognising itself.

There is no separate existence of God. Everybody can attain Godhood by making supreme efforts in the right direction. Know thyself, recognise thyself, be immersed in 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 detached, is God.

Thus we see that the story of the life of Mahavir is the story of the orderly development of the soul to Godhood.