Who Am I

Author(s): Dada Bhagwan
Publisher: Dada Bhagwan Foundation

Page 36

Who Am I?
Who Am I?
too have to bow down to Dada Bhagwan, the Lord within me. Dada Bhagwan and I are separate and we share a neighborly relationship with one another. People think this body of mine is Dada Bhagwan. No. How can this Patel of Bhadran become Dada Bhagwan?
(11) WHO IS SIMANDHAR SWAMI?
THE PRESENT TIRTHANKAR, SHRI
SIMANDHAR SWAMI Questioner: Who is Simandhar Swami? Please explain this to us.
Dadashri: Simandhar Swami is a Tirthankar. At the present time. He resides in another location called Mahavideh Kshetra. Like the previous Tirthankars, Lords Mahavir and Rishabhdev, Simandhar Swami is the present Tirthankar.
Lord Mahavir had told us everything, but what can be done if people misunderstood His message altogether? Alas, it is this misunderstanding that prevents the desired spiritual results.
Most of these people continue to misunderstand the great message of the Arihants. Arihants are the fully-enlightened beings who in a human form have completely conquered their inner 'enemies' of anger, attachment, greed, pride and abhorrence. Upon liberation, the Arihants relinquish their human bodies and become Siddhas.
The twenty-four Tirthankars who have departed from this world and no longer exist as Arihants, have become Siddhas. As Arihants they proclaimed that in their wake, there would be no more Tirthankars on our planet because of the
foreboding time-cycle, but that man should strive to meet the present Tirthankar in Mahavideh Kshetra, where Tirthankars are perpetually in existence. People have forgotten Lord Mahavir's message and so they continue to pay obeisance to the last Tirthankars on earth, who no longer exist anywhere in the universe, in the human form WHEN DOES THE NAVKAAR MANTRA
BRING RESULTS? When people say "Namo Arihantanam" it means 'I am bowing down to the Arihants.' When people ask me where the Arihants are, I tell them to worship Simandhar Swami who is the present reigning Arihant of this Universe. An Arihant must be present in the universe in order for people to benefit spiritually. "Namo Arihantanam' means I bow down to the Arihants, wherever they are in the universe. If you say it with this understanding, you will achieve wonderful results.
*Arihant' means they must be present and living in this universe. Those who have achieved nirvan (liberated from the cycle of birth and death) are called "Siddha'. Once they have achieved nirvan, they cannot be called Arihants again. An Arihant should be in an embodied form.
People ask me why I only talk about Simandhar Swami and not the last twenty-four Tirthankars? I tell them that I do talk about them also but I tell it exactly the way it is. I speak more about Simandhar Swami because He is the present Tirthankar, and when you say, "Namo Arihantanam", this prayer reaches Him. When you say the Navkar Mantra, you must remember Shri Simandhar Swami, and then you would have said the Navkar Mantra exactly the way it should be said. SPECIAL CONNECTION WITH OUR