Bhagvana Mahavira

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

Page 53

Kaivalya (Omniscience) and the Bhagavān's Sermons
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soul itself is the Perfect Soul by dissolving karmas. Bhagavān Mahāvíra aroused the Perfect Soul immanent in the Soul of all living beings. Puruşārtha (Spiritual Exertion)
People afflicted with passivity and laziness were inspired with the ideal of spiritual exertion by Bhagavān Mabāvịra. He said to man, "O man, Exert yourself. If you do not use your inherent spiritual powers, you will remain devoid of spiritual wealth."
His message was: “Exert yourself in spiritual discipline so long as you remain unaffected of by old age, disease and senility.” Bhagawan Mahāvīra did not reject the effects of past actions (popularly known as fate) but he tried to free man from the shackles of fatalism, resulting from lack of exerting oneself. Bhagavān Mahāvīra stood for the doctrine of synthesis. He extolled neither absolute fate nor absolute exertion. He synthesised both. This new trend freed the Indian society from faith in miracles, passivity and stupour and inculcated in them the force of realism, manliness and awakening. He enlivened the soul of India.
SECOND SERMON
Eleven Theses
Bhagavān Mahāvīra delivered his second sermon in the Mahāsena gardens of the city Madhyama Pāvāpuri on the eleventh day of the bright half of the lunar month of Vaišākha. In this sermon, he propounded the reality of the human soul.
A Brāhmaṇa named Somila had organised a great sacrifice on that day. Many learned men came to participate in the sacrifice. Indrabhūti Gautama was the chief among these learned Brāhmaṇas. He was apprised of the presence of Bhagavān Mahāvira there. The overweening Brāhınaņa,