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Shri Ashtapad Maha Tirth_
Introduction
The Jain religion is one of the oldest religions in the world. It originated in India and spread all over the world. It derives its name from the word Jin which means the conqueror or the Victorious ones. These spiritual victors are also known as Tirthankars. They are the ones who established the religious order-Chaturvidh Sangh.
Places where we worship Tirthankars for spiritual salvation are called Tirth. Even the Tirthankars bow to the Tirth - which are of two types: spiritual and physical. Spiritual ones are Arihant, Siddha, Acharya, Upadhyaya, and Sadhu. Physical ones are the temples, stupas, caves, and chaityas. There are many temples- places of Worship, all over India. Out of all of these there are five main ones where all 24 Tirthankars attained salvation as per following verse from scripture given below.
अष्टापदे श्री आदि जिनवर, वीर पावापुरी वरूं, वासुपूज्य चंपानयर सिद्या, नेम रैवत गिरि वरूं; सम्मेत शिखरे वीस जिनवर, मुक्ति पहुंच्या मुनिवरूं, चउवीस जिनवर नित्य वंदु, सयल संघ सुखकरूं.
Adinath Bhagawan attained Nirvana at Ashtapad, Mahavir Swami at Pavapuri, Vasupujya Swami at Champapuri and, Neminath Bhagawan attained Nirvana at Girnar. The other 20 Tirthankars attained Nirvana at Sametshikhar. I always bow down with reverence to all the twenty four Tirthankars, which brings eternal happiness to all.
Four of these Tirths are in existence now where one can go and worship but the fifth one, Ashtapad Maha Tirth, is lost lupt) in time, which members of Jain Center of America are trying to rediscover. We are going to talk about this Tirth in detail in the following pages.
SHR CHAMPAPURI MAHATIRTH
Shri Sametshikhar Tirth
Shri Champapuri Tirth
Shri Sametshikhar Tirth
Shri dimar Tirth
Shri Girnar Tirth
Shri Pavapuri Tirth
Ratna Mandir
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