Lord Mahavira Vol 02

Author(s): S C Rampuria
Publisher: Jain Vishva Bharati Institute

Page 55

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Lord Mahavira
oldest part of the Jaina canonical literature, appears to be quite authentic. It contains no exaggerations; no supernatural elements, are introduced in it. So, it will be better if we take that as a base for our account of his ascetic life.
If we want to describe Mahâvîra's ascetic life in one word we should turn to that apt epithet Dirghatapasvi. But we should properly understand the real meaning of this word. It is said that during his twelve years of an ascetic life he had taken food for not more than 350 days in all. This may be true but that is simply the external aspect of austerity, which should not be given undue importance. It was there no doubt. But that was means to the internal austerities, viz. meditation, etc. He was interested in purifying his self by destroying all passions. Of all passions it is desire or greed that is very difficult to uproot and he engaged himself in uprooting it, unmindful of anything else; hence he never paid any attention to food, etc. Thus his not having or taking food for months together is not important in itself. According to his own spiritual mandate he roamed about for begging. And if he did not get food within a short period of time, he stopped his begging tour and engaged himself in deep meditation. He was really interested in his meditation. So, he did not allow any interference in that; he did not allow even sleep to interfere it. He kept himself awake day and night and if by chance the attack of sleep was there he would walk to and fro.
He would not stay at one place except in monsoon. And his resting places were open places under the tree, the cremation ground, deserted buildings etc.
His principle for life was not to hurt any one, not even the beings which are not seen by our eyes. So he performed his activities in such a manner that no being is hurt as far as possible. This is the reason why he did not take anything which was prepared for him. And there is no item which can be prepared without hurting any living being, so he preferred fast to breakfast. For him to take food meant to be a party to kill living beings for food. This is the reason he took no food for so many days and he observed fast for days and months.
In order to test his equanimity which was his foremost vow he travelled far and wide and visited even the places like Radha and Vajjabhumi which were regarded in those days as the Anarya