Basic Thought Of Bhagwan Mahavir

Author(s): Jaykumar Jalaj
Publisher: Hindi Granth Karyalay

Page 8

MAHAVIR'S LIFE
No impetuosity is seen in the life of Mahavir. Events connected with him prove that his life was not wild, but was serenely composed, pre-meditated, impartial, and ready to understand things unbiased, without presumptions. He was neither emotionally impatient to assimilate, nor did he have a heavy weighted repentance of missing matters. His life was neither dramatic nor showy. Life was like a quietly flowing river through the plains.
REALISATION OF TRUTH
Therefore, Mahavir's accepting sanyas (renunciation) at the age of 30 years may not have been the end product of any immediate tear-shedding event, but instead, the culmination of a deeply meditated thought-out process. Oh! This was hardly the age for anyone to tread on the path of renunciation. Was it? Yet, Mahavir may have decided to abandon temporal pleasures and to walk on the thorny path of renunciation. He waited to get the family's consent.
Shvetambars (white-clad) believe that he was married. Digambars (sky-clad) believe to the contrary. When he was 27 years of age, according to Shvetambars, his parents died. Digambars believe that his parents were alive at the time of his renunciation. Mahavir, keen on walking the high path to moksha, sought his family's consent for renunciation. On observing their hesitation, he waited for a time. At last, he left the house for good, with the consent of his immediate family. He took silent penance for twelve and a half years and realized TRUTH through the mode of thinking and contemplation. This event occurred under an Ashok tree at Jrimbhak, a village in Bihar, along Rijukula river on (Vaishakh Shukla Dashami) Monday, 31 March 557 B.C.E. After this, he was called OMNISCIENT (Sarvajña). Journeying by the conveyance of knowledge and thought, the foundation of his thought and conclusions was very solid, deep and eternal.