Science Of Life

Author(s): U S Dugar
Publisher: U S Dugar

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temples and other rituals are secondary. There are no pandit or priest in Jainism.
Jainism is one of the oldest spiritual paths and original systems, independent of all other thoughts, conceived and enunciated by Risabha, known as the first ford, usually called Jina or Tirthankars of a series of twenty-four. He reigned over Indian Sub-continent for many thousands years in the remote past in the earliest development of civilization. He is said to have discovered for all humans the place to ford the stream of unending striving, suffering and reincarnation. As legends record, in his period human life span was very long and diet was meagre in comparison to the huge size of the human body.
Jain thinkers did not limit their world by preconceptions and kept on knowing the way things really are and saw the universe to be eternal working by its inherent laws and continues. There is nothing paranormal in the universe, except our limited understanding of nature and miracles and divinity are the fitments of human mind. It is the correct appreciation of nature, man and God. God is just a natural part of universe.
The twenty-fourth and the last Tirthankara is referred by his epithetic name Mahavira, an epithet conferred upon him for his extra ordinary capabilities, made it equivalent to his personal name. He was born in 599 B.C.in Kaundinyapura near modern Patna (India). He was given the name Vardhman at the time of his birth, because following his conception, the people and nations enjoyed peace and prosperity. He abandoned home in 569 B.C to pursue his ideal of selfconquest. He attained omniscience in 557 B.C. and
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