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In the series of Tirthankaras, Mahavira was the 24th and last one. His other name was Vardhaman, and he was a prince who was born 12 years before Buddha in 599 B.C. He lived for 30 years in the palace, but he saw the pain, sorrow and suffering of the world outside. And he thought, "What is the meaning of this worldly pleasures which has diminishing return, while mankind is suffering? Can I not use my life to bring light of enlightenment to show the cause of sorrow and suffering?" So he asked his brother Nandivardhan to give him permission to renounce the world, and then he left his home.* He went into the wilderness and for 12 years he remained in tune with three things—the body, the mind and the soul. To purify his body, he used fasting. To purify speech, he used silence, and to purify mind he used meditation. When these three means are complete, you reach what you want to reach, the freedom and experience of Self, the pure soul.
In reality there is nothing to reach. We are not with ourselves, that is why we think we will "go" somewhere, that there is something to reach. But there is nothing to reach. All is here. All is now. All is you. Here is where it is. Now is when it is. You are what it is. All is completion in awareness. But our body always desires comfort and sensual pleasure and our mind is busy with innumerable objects. This creates
*Mahavira's parents had already died, and so, according to tradition, he sought the permission of his elder brother before renouncing family life.
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