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Beginning, not of the world but of inner awareness. He was the one to feel the inner awareness of peace, richness and completion of living and to experience the summit of life where there is no struggle, no war, no need to go anywhere, no desire even to search for anything because one realizes that all the wealth and treasure is within. He was prehistoric, so we don't know his date. Sometimes he may be called Adam. but he is the man who first found the inner wealth.
There are 24 such Tirthankaras, and the first one was Adinath, thousands and thousands of years ago. The 22nd Tirthankara was known as Neminath. He was a cousin of Krishna. According to some Indian historians, they lived around 11,000 B.C. Another opinion is that they lived at about 5,000 B.C. Nemi felt compassion and left his home after seeing the agony of all the animals about to be butchered for his wedding feast and ceremony. When he saw the animals crying out in pain and fear, he thought, "All this misery and torture for a marriage feast? A joy for one causes pain to so many? For a few hours of pleasure? This is not fair. No, I do not want this marriage." So he turned his chariot around and went away to Mount Girnar. There he worked for inner peace. Then his beloved, Rajula, was told that the man who had planned to marry and live with her had seen the pain of the animals and had left the material world for enlightenment. She also felt Reverence for life and went along to work for enlightenment, and both found themselves and became enlightened in that life.
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