Jainism by Vividus

Author(s): Ramnik V Shah
Publisher: Ramnik V Shah Canada

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of one mother to that of another. "The divine commander of the foot-troops of Sakra, the Chief and King of the Gods, at the order of the latter then effected the transfer of the embryo from the womb of Devananda to that of Trishala: he first transformed himself through his magical power of transformation and stretched himself out for numerous yojanas like a staff, then for a second time he transformed himself through his magical power of transformation and produced the definitive form which Gods adopt on entering the world of men and passed right through numberless continents and oceans and arrived in Jambudvipa, in Bharatvarsha in the brahmnical part of the town Kaundinyapura at the house of Rshabhadatta. He made his bow in the sight of Mahavira, cast Devananda and all her attendants into a deep sleep and saying: "May the Venerable one permit me" took Mahavira in the folded palms of his hands without hurting him. Then he went to Kshatriya part of the town to the house of Siddhartha where Trishala dwelt and casting her and attendants into deep sleep effected the transfer and thereafter repeating the process with Devananda returned in that direction in which he had come, with that excellent divine m of the Gods. He flew upwards through numberless continents and oceans taking thousands of yojanas in each motion and arrived in the Saudharma Kalpa in the divine abode called Saudharma Avatamsaka where Sakra, the chief and king of the Gods lived."
In Jaina prayers, they do not invoke the powers of these Tirthankaras to help them because they know that the latter are liberated souls and shall not be embodied again. They are vitaraga, i.e. devoid of any attachment whatsoever. By prayers however, to Tirthankaras, more correctly the prayers are only before Trithankaras, they meditate on themselves and keep Tirthankaras as ideals, develop thier own latent powers to help them. By the very fact of birth, a person is deemed to be bound by karma matter from eternity, having his long-cherished opportunity to destroy the karma and liberate himself once and for all. Jainism prescribes many practices to achieve this end,
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