Lord Mahavira Vol 02

SR No.: 023277
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: S C Rampuria
Publisher: Jain Vishva Bharati Institute
Publication Year: 2001
Total Pages: 244
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 21 MB

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Lord Mahavira importance was aparigraha. This means complete restraint on acquisitivenes which manifests itself in the shape of sexual pleasure and amassing property. Pleasure has no end and so the ideal of aparigraha is of great importance for the Jainas. Human power of mind has little capacity to grasp the philosophy fully. What one says may be correct only from a particular point of view. This means that what others say deserve to be heard patiently. The Seven Proposition
The Jaina philosophy may be summed up in one sentence: The living and the non-living, by coming into contact with each other, forge certain energies which bring about birth, death, and various experiences of life; this process could be stopped, and the energies already forged can be destroyed by a course of discipline leading to salvation. A close analysis of this brief statement show that it involves seven propositions:
1. there is something called the living; 2. there is something called the non-living; 3. the two come into contact with each other: 4. the contact leads to the production of some energies; 5. the process of contact can be stopped; 6. the existing energies can also be exhausted; 7. salvation can be achieved.
These seven propositions are called the seven tattvas or realities by the Jainas. The first two great truths are that there is a Jiva or soul and that there is an ajiva or nonsoul. These two exhaust between them all the that exists in the universe. Development of Jainism in India
Jainism caught a tartar in Buddhism in the sixth century B.C., and Mahâvîra and the Buddha both extended their network of propaganda in eastern India. Ajatesatru's son Udayin and the Nandas and probably Chandragupta Maurya were patrons of Jainism. Towards the close of the reign of the Nandas, there were two heads of the Jaina Church- Bhadrabahu and Sambhutavijaya who were later succeeded by Sthulabhadra. A twelve-year-old famine during the reign of Chandragupta Maurya was the occasion when a section of the Jainas went with Bhadrabahu to south India which event created the difference