Vardhman mahavira biography of barack

Mahavira (Sanskrit महावीर “Great Hero”) is the name most commonly used to refer to the Indian sage Vardhamana .
Mahavira was born in Kundapura near Vaishali. The traditional Jaina date for Mahavira’s birth is 599 – 527 BCE .

According to Jain tradition, Bhagvan Rishab Dev an incarnation of Lord Vishnu was the first Tirthankara,Lord Mahavir was the twenty-fourth and the last Tirthankara of the Jain religion one of the many paths followed by Ascetics “Sanyasis” of Santana Hindu Dharma.

(Ascetic: A person who renounces material comforts and leads a life of austere self-discipline, especially as an act of religious devotion.)

The following, is a legend which is narrated in the Acharanga Sutra and in the Kalpa Sutra. Swamy Mahaveera is referred to as  Arugan  or  Arugadevan. He is also known in texts as Vira or Viraprabhu, Sanmati ,Ativira and Gnatputra.

Birth of Prince Vardhaman

In a place called Kshatriyakunda in the ancient kingdom of Lachuar. Mahavira was born to King Siddartha and Queen Trishala on the 13th day under the rising moon of Chaitra .

Mahavira was conceived in the womb of Devananda, who had fourteen prophetic dreams. These fourteen dreams, were meant to specify that the child would become either an emperor or a great Spiritual Soul. Mahavira was, soon after, divinely transferred to the womb of Trishala, who also had the same fourteen prophetic dreams. Note, how similar it is to the story about how, Krishna’s brother Balarama, was transferred, to the womb of Rohini from the womb of Devaki.

To return to the life story of Mahavira, while the latter was in the womb of his mother, the wealth of the parent household increased. Hence the divine child was called Vardhamana.

While still in his mother’s womb it is believed he brought wealth and prosperity to the entire kingdom[citation needed], which is why he was also known as Vardhaman. An increase of all good things, like the abundant bloom of beautiful

What is Jainism? 

Jainism developed in India concurrently with Buddhism in the sixth century B.C.E., and it is currently practiced by people around the world. 

The Triratna (Three Jewels) structure and guide Jainism: right faith, right knowledge, and right conduct.

Through reincarnations, salvation (mokhsa) is achieved by cycling ever closer to liberating the soul from the contamination of matter (karma). The cycle is: animals → humans → lay people → monks → mokhsa/ nirvana. Mokhsa results in omniscience and eternal delight.

Two guiding features of Jainism are nonviolence and asceticism. All life is sacred, so respecting life is sacrosanct. For some Jain monks and nuns, this means practices such as muhpatti (folded cloths) over their mouths to keep from accidentally harming insects and practicing strict vegetarianism. Monks vow to abstain from killing, stealing, lying, sexual activity, and owning personal property. 

Cyclical Time in Jainism

The universe is eternal, and it passes through cycles which are progressive and recessive. A complete cycle contains twelve units: six progressive and six recessive. The apex of each of these waxing and waning cycles (the third and fourth units of each) are times in which each cycle is at its extreme. It is during these times that Thirthankaras are born.

Tirthankaras (Ford-Markers) are spiritual guides. They are people who achieved mokhsa and now serve as examples for the people. Tirthankaras are not gods; Jains pray to them in temples because they would like to be like them.

We are currently in the fifth unit of the waning side of the complete cycle. Risabha, the first Tirthankara of the current age, was born in the third unit. Mahavira was born in the fourth. The fifth and sixth units of the declining half-cycle each last 21,000 years.

Mahavir Jayanti

Mahavir Jayanti celebrates the birth of Nataputta Mahavira (born Vardhamana Jnatiputra). Mahavira ("Great Hero") was born

Mahavira was born in the 6th century BCE. Growing up in luxury, he abandoned his home at 30 to become an ascetic. At the age of 42, he attained the state of kevalajnana, alone in the world in his supreme knowledge. After a prolific career of teaching, Mahavira passed away at the age of 72, attaining what is called moksha (liberation).

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According to tradition, Mahavira was born in the year 599 BCE as a prince named Vardhamana, “Increaser of Prosperity,” in the town of Vaishali in north India. Legend tells how his mother had a series of dreams or visions that presaged the birth of a spiritual leader. She saw, for example, a white elephant, the Goddess Lakshmi, the full moon, the rising sun, a lotus pond, and a blazing fire. Though the child grew up familiar with pleasure and luxury, he left it all behind at age 30 to follow the path of spiritual purification and realization. Mahavira became an ascetic, renouncing material possessions and family life and, for the next 12 years, wholly devoting himself to the practice of meditation. One passage from the Acharanga Sutra, the oldest Jain scripture, tells of the abuse he suffered at the hands of irate villagers:

“Once when he sat in meditation, his body unmoving, they cut his flesh, tore his hair, and covered him with dirt. They picked him up and then dropped him, disturbing his meditational postures. Abandoning concern for his body, free from desire, the Venerable One humbled himself and bore the pain. Just as a hero at the head of a battle is surrounded on all sides, so was Mahavira there. Undisturbed, bearing all hardships, the Venerable One proceeded on the path of salvation.”

At age 42, Mahavira burned away the remnants of ghati, those karmas that are the residue of past acts and thus obscure the quality of the soul. He attained the state called kevalajnana, or kaivalya, infinite knowledge. For the next 30 years until his death, he taught from

EARLY LIFE OF MAHAVIRA

The preceding description of Indian society in 6th century B.C. has been given in such detail, for it is only with a full knowledge of that background that a correct evaluation of the noble work and achievements of Mahavira is really possible. Mahavira was born in the year 599 B.C. at Kundagrama, which was a suburb of the flourishing town of Vaisali, about twenty-seven miles north of Patna. His father Siddhartha was apparently the chieftain of the place and his mother, Trisala, was the sister of the Vaisali ruler, whose name has been given in the Jaina texts as Cetaka. According to the Jaina belief, Mahavira�s parents were worshippers of Parsva and followers of the Sramanas.

Tirthankara Parsva:

There is a Jaina tradition that Jainism is as old as the human race, that the religion shall remain in existence till eternity, and that it has been and will be revealed again and again in the endless succeeding periods of the world by innumerable Tirthankaras. In each of these periods there are twenty-four Tirthankaras, the first Tirthankara of present age being Rsabha and the last two being Parsva and Mahavira. Historical research in India was so crude and unorganized at one time that all these Tirthankaras, including Mahavira, were looked upon by the historians of ancient India as just mythical personages. The credit of recognizing the historical existence of Mahavira goes surprisingly enough, to a German scholar in the field of Indology, Professor Herman Jacobi, who made an English translation of the first Jaina Anga: Acaranga, and published it with a masterly introduction in the series called the �Sacred Books of the East� in 1884. Ancient historical research has made some progress since then, and today Indian historians are prepared to freely recognize not only that Mahavira was a historic personage but also that the twenty-third Tirthankara, Parsva, and some at least of his predecessors had historical e