Lord Mahavira Vol 03

SR No.: 023278
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: S C Rampuria
Publisher: Jain Vishva Bharati Institute
Publication Year: 2001
Total Pages: 232
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 20 MB

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172
Lord Mahâvîra
At the age of 28, Mahàvîra lost his father and mother. He determined to renounce the world and lead the life of a mendicant, but his elder brother Nandivardhana, peronaded him to remain at home for another two years. He accepted his brother's advice and became an ascetic at the age of thirty.
According to Jain tradition, self-enlightened persons are never initiated by anyone. They initiate themselves. Mahâvîra acquired super-psychic knowledge which is only acquired by those who dedicate their whole life to the realisation of truth, practise self-control and are on the way to eradicated all their bondages.
At first he was alone. He wandered in the forests and lived there for days together, completely engrossed in deep meditation and concentration. For twelve years and six months he led a life of severe hardships and bore all the tortures with equilibrium of mind. At last, one fine morning, while seated in meditation, a light flashed in him; he became omniscient. Now nothing was concealed from him. His knowledge was straight and infallible. He attained his goal. We shall now view him in different phases of Sadhka and Meditation.
Meditation means direct realisation of the soul-force. Mind and the senses are the two means of our knowledge. They always hanker after the objects. Meditation takes them to the inner sphere of the soul, where the tank of bliss is full to the brim. This introspection reveals the truth in its totality.
Mahâvîra was a man of deep meditation. In his Sadhana of twelve and a half year, it is related, he hardly slept far an hour. He was fully immersed in meditation day and night. He selected lonely places for meditation. There, standing straight, stretching his hands up skyward, he meditated for days together, without interruption. While thus standing in meditation he never cared for his body, but stood all hardships unperturbed. It is a fact that one who meditates and lives deep into the inner ocean of the soul, knows no inflictions of the body. He becomes one with the consciousness. He feels no pangs of hunger and thirst. He gets full nourishment from the elixir of meditation. In effect, he becomes one with the pervasive consciousness.
Mahâvîra withstood all the physical hardships which