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The rama a Tradition and P r van tha
The rama a tradition is a very ancient Indian tradition. Ones who observe penance from mind and senses are called rama as. The Jain
rama as - Nirgranthas, kya, T pasa, Geru and j vaka. The Jain rama as are called nirgranthas. The foundation of the rama a tradition was laid in the time of Vabhan tha. The term rama a is used in texts like V had ra yaka Upani ada, V lm ki R m ya a and r madbh gavata, etc. The Tripi akas mention the word nirgrantha at various places. This goes to show that the
rgrantha tradition was prevalent even before the time of the Buddha. In the Anuttara-nik ya kya named 'Bappa' is referred to as a nirgrantha votary; he was the Buddha's paternal uncle. This shows that before the Buddha's time there was propagation of the nirgrantha religion in the
kya country. The Buddha was a contemporary of Mah v ra; hence it is proved that the propagation of the nirgrantha religion happened in the time of the predecessor T rthamkara of Mah v ra, P r van tha. Actually, the nirgrantha religion started even before P r van tha's time. There is no basis for considering P r van tha to be the founder of the Jain religion. Lord V abhan tha is considered by all Jains to be the first T rthamkara and founder of Jain religion of the present time cycle which means there must be some historical basis and proof for this. Dr. Radhakrishnan too opined that the Jain religion had existed long before Varddham na Mah v ra and P r van tha.
The Widespread impact of Lord P r van tha
The three streams of compassion, sweetness and peace used to flow in the speech of Lord Pr van tha. Asceticism as the tradition of was prevalent in his time; but common people thought of asceticism as inflicting pain to the body. With his knowledge and detached teachings the Lord showed people the true form of asceticism. The teachings of famous sages of the time such as Pippal da, Bh radv ja, Naciket , Ajita Ke akambata, etc reflect the teachings of the Lord. The influence of Pr va's teachings seemed to have spread even in other countries outside India. Among these the Greek philosopher Pythagoras may be mentioned, who used to believe in rebirth of the soul and the karma principle. He used to speak against flesh eating and used to consider many vegetables inedible.
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