The God of Peace: Lord Mahaveer

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The life of Lord Shri Mahaveer was full of compassion, truth, Ahimsa and austerity which aided by transcendental meditation of the highest order and of the purest form culminated into the attainment of Nirvana. In the doctrines preached by him lies the path of salvation. What is needed is its proper assimilation and translation into actions. His message of practice of Animas in the field of action, reasoning with the aid of Aneckant of Syadvad, and acceptance of spirit of austerity on the planes of mind, speech and action can usher in the era of eternal bliss. Herein lies truly the answer to all the conflicts, either individual of group. Considering the universal application of his message, it will be necessary to bear in mind necessary that he belonged not to a particular sect of province of Country. His message is for the humanity as a whole. Tirthankar Mahaveer was the last and the twenty-fourth Tirthankar of this epoch. There were twenty-three Tirthankars before him e. g. Rishabhdev and others.

Lords (Gods) are infinite, but Tirthankars in one epoch and in Bharatkshetra are twenty-four only. Every Tirthankar, as a rule, is a Lord, but every Lord is not a Tirthankar. A soul can attain godhood without being a Tirthankar. Every soul can become a God. That which leads to the attainment of perfection is called Tirtha and those who reach that supreme state themselves and show others the path of emancipation are called the Tirthankars.

Lord is not born, he grows to be one. Nobody is a Lord since his birth. Mahaveer also was not a Lord since his birth. He became a God, when he conquered himself. To conquer delusion, attachment and aversion is to conquer oneself. Lord Mahaveer was reborn 27 times to become the en-lightened one; karma even does not leave any one. There is a saying :

The seed cannot know what is going to happen; the seed has never known the flower. And the seed cannot even believe that he has the potentiality to become a beautiful flower. Long is the journey, and it is always safer not to go on that journey because unknown is the path, nothing is guaranteed. Nothing can be guaranteed. Thousand and one are the hazards of the journey, many are the pitfalls and the seed is secure, hid- den inside a hard core. But the seed tries, it makes an effort; it drops the hard shell, which is its security, it starts moving. Immediately the fight starts: the struggle with the soil, with the stones, with the rocks. And the seed was very hard and the sprout will be very, very soft and dangers will be many. There was no danger for the seed, the seed could have survived for millennia, but for the sprout many are the dangers. But the sprout starts towards the unknown, towards the sun, towards the source of light, not knowing where, not knowing why. Great is the journey of life to be carried, but a dream possesses the seed and the seed moves. The same is the path for man. It is arduous. Much courage will be needed. Lord Mahaveer was the Twenty fourth and the greatest of all Tirthankars of the Jain religion.

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