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APPENDIX 2
THE BASIS OF BECOMING A TIRTHANKAR :
THE TWENTY AUSPICIOUS PRACTICES
सिंह
To reach the status of a Tirthankar it is not enough to do certain practices during certain birth. It is the result of a progressive process of unvieling the potential energy through endeavours in right direction during a series of incarnations. At what point this pursuit started and how it progressed, is detailed in the scriptures. It seems that the chief disciples or gods must have expressed their curiosity about the journey towards ultimate purity and the Tirthankars must have provided the details. That is why details of earlier births of all Tirthankars are available.
The counting of these births starts from the birth in which the soul gets the first glimpse of righteousness. This is considered to be the most important turning point for a soul because once the right direction is attained, liberation is certain.
वृषभ
लक्ष्मी
The Earning of Tirthankar-nam-karma
The loftiest of the pious category of Karmas is said to be the Tirthankar-nam-karma. It is important to know when and how it is acquired because this is the basis over which the status of Tirthankar is founded. This Karma is acquired one birth earlier. It is the physical or normal human body that acquires this Karma. The aural alternate body (Vaikriya Sharir) does not have the capacity to acquire this Karma. The future Tirthankar descends from the dimension of gods or ascends from the dimension of hell. In both these dimensions the souls have aural bodies. As the aural body does not have the capacity for long-term spiritual practices, this Karma is not acquired during this immediately preceeding birth. That is the reason that all the Tirthankars do their final spiritual practices of acquiring this Karma during their last but second birth as human beings. During that birth they acquire a high degree of purity of perception. They become Kshayak Samyaktvi (the level of purity where the past Karmas are destroyed not suppressed).
The Acharyas say that the goal of spiritual pursuit should not be the status of a Tirthankar. Though its status is very high the Tirthankar-nam type of Karma is still a Karma and as such a tie. On the path of purity an effort to earn pious Karma is not advisible. The spiritualists never indulge in ury activity that leads to bondage. irrespective of its being pious.
All activities by spiritualists are directed toward shedding of the Karmas. As a result of certain activities or practices certain Karmas are wiped and as a consequence this specific bondage is achieved without striving for it. These practices are numbered twenty. These are also known as the twenty practices leading to the Tirthankar status and are believed to be the fundamental guiding factors for attaining the status of Tirthankar. These are
Illustrated Tirthankar Charitra
(820)
सचित्र तीर्थंकर चरित्र
fann
अनन्त
धर्म
शान्ति
अर
K
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