Sudha Sagar Hindi English Jaina Dictionary

Author(s): Rameshchandra Jain
Publisher: Gyansagar Vagarth Vimarsh Kendra Byavar

Page 151

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father was Bhānu nṛpa, who belonged to the Kasyapa gotra and the Iksvāku line of ancient Indian kings. Bhanu nrpa himself was a great king whose wife queen Suvratā, was a very pious lady and was celebrated for the numerons acts of piety, which she performed, particularly during the pregnancy. It is why the child, she gave birth to, was named Dharmanatha (the lord of piety). It was moreover, predicted that the new born child would one day become a great saviour and world by his relentless preachings show to the suffering humanity, the path to salvation.
There were great rejoicing at his birth and when he became of young age, he ascended the throne of his father and ruled over his subjects with law and piety. All the time, however, his mind was fixed on the day when he would renounce the world and devote himself to the fulfilment of his mission as a Tirthamkara (one who helps humanity to cross the ocean of life and death). The day of the great renunciation came and shri Dharmanatha, giving up every worldly possession and attachment, went to the nearby forest named SalaVana, and took vows of the order. After practising the severest austerities, he annihilated the karmic forces and attained kaivalya and became the Arhanta. Then he proceeded on his tour of preaching to the suffering humanity the gospel of Ahimsa and showed it, not only by precept but by actual example, the true path to salvation. This great benefactor of all livings fully justified his name, The lord of piety. Like the other śramana Tirthamkaras who went be
fore him and those who came after him Lord Dharmanatha hammered into minds of his contemporaries the truths 'Live and Let live', 'Do unto others what you would want them do unto you, 'Be truthful in thought, word and deed.' "Donot covet that which does not belong to you," 'keep your senses and passions under control', 'Try to realise the value of renunciation, self sacrifice and possessionlessness, and make Ahimsa the true way of life.' There is a shrine, no. 16 at the top of Shri Parsvanath hill which marks the spot of his nirvana. In Rauhani, then called Ratnapuri, the birth place of the Tirthamkara, there is an ancient temple dedicated to him. That this Ratnapuri is a place of great antiquity is also proved by the ancient ruins and archaeological relics found scattered in its vicinity. A. 35-36.
Tirthika-fef - Heretical philosophers.
तीर्थं स्नान Tirtha snana- It is not true that Jainism does not recognise ceremonial baths, because the Jaina hourseholder is enjoined to take a bath before worshipping the Arhat or studying the sacred books or devoting himself to meditation. One must not, however, think that a mere dip in a river or pool of water or a tank or the ocean leads to any religious merit, for in that case it is the aquatic animals that would go to heaven first. It has been rightly said that those who are maddened by passion, hate and pride and addicted to women, are never purified even by bathing at hundreds of sacred sites. Yas. 320.
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