Lord Mahävir
is the last
and 24th Tirthankar
of this era of Jain
religion. He was a prince whose childhood name was Vardhamän.
as the
son of a king Siddhärtha, he had many worldly pleasures, comforts, and
services at
his command. However, at the age of thirty he left his
family and the royal household, gave up his worldly possessions, and
became a monk in search of a solution to eliminate pain, sorrow, and
suffering from his life and from the life of all beings.He spent the
next twelve and one-half years in deep silence and meditation to
conquer his desires, feelings, and attachments and to eradicate all
karma that subdue the original qualities of the soul (four Ghäti
Karma). He carefully avoided harming other living beings including
animals, birds, insects, and plants. He also went without food for long
periods of time. He remained calm and peaceful when facing unbearable
hardships. During this period, his spiritual powers developed fully and
he realized perfect perception, perfect knowledge, unlimited energy,
and a blissful state. This realization is known as the perfect
enlightenment or Keval-Jnän.Lord Mahävir spent the next thirty years
traveling barefoot throughout India preaching the eternal truth he had
realized. The ultimate objective of his teaching is how one can attain
total freedom from the cycle of birth, life, pain, misery, and death,
and achieve the permanent blissful
state of one’s self. This state is
also known as liberation, Nirvana, absolute freedom, or Moksha.At the
age of 72, Lord Mahävir attained Nirvana (the final death) and his
purified soul left his body and achieved complete liberation in 527 BC.
He became a Siddha, a pure consciousness, a liberated soul, living
forever in a state of complete bliss. On the evening of his Nirvana, in
honor of his spiritual attainments, people celebrate the Festival of
Lights known as Deepävali. This is the last day of the Jain calendar
year.
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