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CHAPTER 8
A FULLY ENLIGHTENED BEING:
LORD MAHAVIRA
Mahavira is the 24th heroic crossing-maker from this world to the next, in Jainism. He lived during the axial age of history, the 5th century B.C., where so much turned upon the visions of a few remarkable seers, saints, and philosophers, East and West. Mahavira is one of these axial thinkers who saw the great truths of existence. He is partly historical, mythical, and cosmic in his importance as a subject of civilization.
These are many stories about Mahavira in Jain literature. Guruji enjoyed telling some of them. What follows are a few that depict him as a saint, healer, and a god. They also show Mahavira as a person with karmic debts to pay in this life.
If Lord Mahavira had a karmic debt to work through, in this lifetime, why should we think that we are any different? This is one of the many questions and possibilities that Guruji left us, in relating these few stories to me and you.
Remember that we are quite alone in this world in working on our own karma. For the gods are too remote in time and space to directly help us.
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