Tirthankar Mahavir

Author(s): Kumarpal Desai
Publisher: Jaybhikkhu Sahitya Trust

Page 24

Acharya Shri Kailassagarsun Gyanmandir
was : Wars or fights with others will not help; fight with yourself and annihilate the enemies within : desires, possessiveness, attachment. violence. Conquer them and you will be happy, was his message. The way to supreme bliss lies in conquering one's ownself.
Mahavira tested his body and soul during his life-time. During his period of penance of about twelve years and six months, he ate food for only 349 days and that too once a day. Rest of the days he fasted and even abjured water for about four thousand days. He must have walked thousands of miles barefooted and bare-bodied. He, thus, demonstrated soul-force, and triumph of will.
Mahavira founded the sangh of sadhu (mendicant), sadhvi (a nun of the svetambara or sthanakvasi sect), shravak (a jain layman) and shravika (a jain laywoman) known as tirth (four fold order) and hence he is known as tirthankar (builders of the ford). Attachment, he said, is the source of all sins : violence, falsehood, carnal desires etc. The modern age witnesses an unprecedented proliferation of violent tendencies caused by man's instinct of possessiveness. It is this instinct which has rendered human beings inhuman, violent. True happiness lies in “The less I have, the more I have" but who listens ? The principle of aparigraha
(nonpossessiveness) advocated by Mahavira appealed to Mahatma Gandhi so much that he thought of the principle of trusteeship. "You are just a trustee", he said, "of what extra you have; you are a protector of that extra and you have to distribute it fairly among the people to whom it rightfully belongs."
Follow the five yama, says Mahavira. Just as fire burns everything, allow your desires to be burnt and follow some ideals and principles and you are sure to taste the fruit of happiness.