Bhagvana Mahavira

Author(s): Tulsi Acharya
Publisher: Jain Vishva Bharati

Page 47

Kaivalya (Omniscience) and the Bhagavān's Sermons
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and devoid of any kind of obstruction. The dividing line between the knower and the known had disappeared. He had a direct perception of his own self as well as the entire world. He became omniscient. THE FIRST SERMON The fourfold path
After he had attained kaivalya Bhagavān Mahävira id the first sermon explained the fourfold path of self-realisation :1. Samyak darśana–Spiritual experience of Reality or
Faith in Truth, 2. Samyak jñāna—Knowledge of Reality, 3. Samyak caritra-Spiritual Discipline, and 4. Samyak tapa—The washing off of the effects of
accumulated karmas through right
austerities. The world consists of two types of basic substances : the soul and the non-soul. A soul or åtmā bound by a body is called jīva or an embodied soul. A free or a disembodied soul is called Paramātmā (Perfect Soul). That which causes transformation of the soul into the perfect soul is called dharma or religion. Muni-Dharma (Asceticism)
The Principle of Equalitarianism comprises dharma and its opposite is adharma. All the living beings are equal to each other insofar as their potentialities are concerned. No 1. There are two traditional views about the first sermon. According
to the first view, Bhagavān Mahāvjra delivered his first sermon at Vipulācala. King Srenika and Queen Chelanā were present there to hear the sermon. According to the second view, Bhagavān Mahāvira delivered the first sermon at the very spot where he had attained kaivalya. Only the heavenly beings were present then ; there was no human being and therefore nobody took the major or the minor
VOWS.