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Shri Mahavir Jain Aradhana Kendra
MAKEUPAY
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www.kobatirth.org
Acharya Shri Kailassagarsuri Gyanmandir
and life after death and Prabhasa's doubt about Ultimate Release. This debate about the Truth, which Mehavira had with the eleven great pundits, came to be known as 'Ganadharavada'.
Mahavira cleared the confusions of the pundits with love and on the basis of universal experience. Mahavira's method of synthesis and his cathclic outlook recognized truth in every view, and these were the logical counterparts of his ethical doctrines of universal love and equanimity. Five hundred pupils of each of the first five pundits, three hundred fifty pupils of each of the next two pundits, and three hundred pupils of each of the last four pundits surrendered themselves to Mahavira. Thus four thousand four hundred and eleven blessed men accepted Mahavira's teachings and became Jaina ascetics. This auspicious event took place on the eleventh day of the bright half of the month of Vaishakha in the 500th year before the Vikram Era.
A Merchant becomes a Jaina Monk
Two rich men lived in the city of Rajgruhi - Shalibhadra and his brotherin-law Dhannasha. They had as much wealth as the god Kubera, the treasurer of gods. Their merrymaking, sensual enjoyment and prosperity was wellknown in the city. Shalibhadra's father Gobhadra had become a Jaina ascetic under the leadership of Tirthankara Mahavira. His young son Shalibhadra had been brought up by his mother and was very spoilt. Shalibhadra lived in absolute luxury. He remained sc indulged in the enjoyment of sensual pleasures that he never found time to step out of the seventh storey of his grand mansion. One day a merchant arrived in Rajagruhi. He was our to sell sixteen shawls embroidered with precious jewels, the price of each one being one lac and twenty five thousand gold coins.
He first approached Kirg Shrenika. But the king could not afford even one shawl. So the merchant went to the grand palatial mansion of Shalibhadra. Shalibhadra's mother Bhadra, who managed all the household affairs, told the merchant that she had thirty two daughters-in-law. She took immediate delivery of all the sixteen shawls and asked the merchant to send her another sixteen shawls later. She asked her accountant to settle the bill without waiting to know the exact amount to be paid.
Next day King Shrenika's wife, Queen Chelana, insisted that he buy at least one shawl embroidered with jewels for her. King Shrenika asked his men
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