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CONCLUSION
HP
Born and brought up in a Society informed with democratic ethos and in an age of great intellectual stir, social dissatisfaction, philosophical doubts and religious confusion, and deeply influenced by the ethical tradition of Pārsva, Mahavira chose, when he was thirty, the life of an ascetic seeking after truth and enlightenment. After twelve years of penance and suffering and rigorous practice of spiritual detachment, he attained such knowledge as was perfect and absolute, and developed such compassion for the afflicted world and strove so much for its redemption that he came to be regarded a Tirthankara. Mahavira showed wonderful ability in the organization of his Sangha which consisted of the ascetic as well as the layman, men as well as women. He did not consider the layman as incapable of spiritual uplift, and, therefore, accorded an honourable place to him in the Sangha. The layman is as important a limb of the Sangha as the ascetic, and it is incumbent upon both to cooperate and push the Sangha forward towards spiritual uplift. Mahavira's Sangha was open to all irrespective of caste, colour and sex. Merit and not birth was the determinant of status in society. Ability and not sex was regarded as the criterion fo admission into the higher order. Superstitious ritualism and belief in the capacity of gods to help man were discarded. The existence of God as the Creator of the world was denied, and man was held responsible for his own fortune as well as misfortune, freedom as well as bondage. Sacrifice of the animal was replaced by the sacrifice of the brute self. Mahavira's life is a symbol of the mortification of the flesh for the development of the Spirit. It is spiritual joy, and not heavenly pleasure, that is worth pursuit. Mahavira did not encourage acquisition of supernormal powers for the victimization of the weak. He prohibited the use of such powers even for self-protection. He dis
paraged social iniquity, economic rivalry and political Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
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