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JINESHWAR MAHAVIR SWAMI
-S. K. Jhaveri
Jainism is a logical and scientific school of thought. It expounds a theory and offers an analysis and a convincing explanation of existence; also, it expounds the connection and liberation of the only two elements of which this universe is made, namely. Jiv (Atma or Soul) and Ajiv (Pudgal or matter). This school of thought, which is rightly believed to be eternal and to have existed from time immemorial throughout endless cycles, was brought to light in this Avasarpini, in the early part of the fourth stage of the present period of human existence, by Shri Rishabhdev or Adishwar Swami, the first of the series of 24 Tirthankars of the Jains. Shri Rishabhdev, as long as he was a worldly man, taught the people of his time the way of living a worldly life; but when he renounced the world and became an ascetic in order to attain his liberation from his karmas (which it is taught that he did attain) he taught the way of the spiritual life. This fact is brought out in ancient Aryan history and supported by the Scriptures.
Twenty-two other Tirthankars followed Shri Rishabhdev and promulgated the theories of Jainism. Some Jains hold that the period of the Ramayana concurs with the time of the 20th Tirthankar and that that of the Mahabharat concurs with the time of the 22nd Tirthankar. Then comes the later part of the fourth stage of the present period of human existence, the time of Shri Mahavir Swami, the 24th Tirthankar of the Jains and the founder of the now prevailing philosophy of Jainism.
This was the golden age in the history of Bharat, which was then at a peak of culture and civilization. Many of the people had a great love of freedom, of knowledge, and of the art of living and a desire to reach the goal of existence. At that time Jainism was not merely an exclusive sect but was loved and could be espoused
