Book Title: Jains Today in World
Author(s): Pirre Paul AMIEL
Publisher: Parshwanath Vidyapith

View full book text
Previous | Next

Page 72
________________ Their Revered Beings : 41 statues they view and honour to strengthen their creed in these Tīrthankara. They are their models and guides to attain “mokşa". Concerning these statues, we may see that some like Rşabha (Ādinātha), Nemi, Nami, śānti, Pārśva and Mahāvīra, evoke feelings of special fondness from the devotees. In the Chugan Mandir at Udaipur (Rajasthan), one can see the statue of he who is believed to be the next Tīrthankara: Śreņika, ancient king of Magadha (in modern Bihar). Some devotees already worship him under the name of Padmanābha Prabhu. • The "Siddha” (Perfect Ones) Just after the “Arhat" (Jina, Tīrthankara), Jains pay homage, in their “Great Mantra”, to those who have succeeded to cleanse their soul of all karmic trace and by doing so who have broken the cycle of the “saṁsāra”. Like them, devotees hope not to be born again in our world, where there are passions, violence, illness, attachment, misery, impurity, war, hunger, thirst, decrepitude, fear, natural disasters, death and many other causes of sufferings, ignorance, illusion, struggle, misfortune, etc. In Jain cosmology, all human souls having succeeded to recover their natural purity and perfection enjoy an eternal and everlasting bliss at the top of the universe, which is called the “Siddhaloka” i.e. the place of the “Siddha”. Among the “Siddha" especially revered by the Digambara, quite like a Tirthankara, we must cite Gomateśvara said Bāhubali, one Rşabha's sons. According to Jain legend, at his father's retirement from worldly life, Bāhubali had a dispute with his half-brother Bharata about his part of heritage. A struggle took place between them and he won. Suddenly, understanding the futility of worldly possessions, he regretted his behaviour and decided to become a monk, like his father before him. To shed his offence, he is said to Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.org

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360