Tirthankar Mahavir and His Sarvodaya Tirth

Author(s): Hukamchand Bharilla, K C Lalwani
Publisher: Kundkund Kahan Digambar Jain Trust

Page 69

SARVODAYA TIRTHA
The Tirtha created by Mahavira is Sarvodaya Tirtha. He did not found it on the top of some mountain or on the bank of some river His sermon is his Tirtha, his word is his Tirtha, and by dint of these, he became the creator of the Tirtha, Tirthankara. In his revelation of the multi-facettedness of object, the most important thing that has come out is the independence of object. Through his divine words has come out not only the independence of beings, but also of the smallest particles
Everything in the universe is fully independent He is the sole architect of his own transformation In other words, there is not even the minutest interference from outside
He has clearly and succinctly ruled out creatorship This not only means that there is no creator-god of the universe; it also means that no object is the creator of another To accept the existence of a transcendental power as the author of the universe is what may be called one "kartāvāda, and to consider one object to be the author of another, it leads to many kartāvāda
This universe is without a beginning and infinite. No one has created it, no one can destroy it; it is there on its own merit. The universe can never be destroyed, but it changes; and the change does not take place once in a while, it is a continuous process
Though changing, the universe is eternal, and though eternal, it changes In other words, it may be called eternal-non-eternal Its eternality is axiomatic, change is its inherent nature Like eternality, non-eternality is also in the nature of objects. Each object is sat (to be) and sat is linked with genesis-corrotioneternality.1 Genesis and corrotion are words for change; eternality for permanence. An object is an object because it has genesis, corrotion and eternality An object has quality as well
1 utpadavyayadhrauvy ayuktam sat, Tattvartha Sutra, 5/30