The term Jain comes form the Sanskrit word "jina", which means he who conquers. Specifically it refers to he who has conquered the human tradition of suffering and has found a type of liberation. The underlying philosophy of Jainism is that renunciation of worldly desires and self-conquest leads to perfect wisdom.

The focus of this religion has been purification of the soul by means of right conduct, right faith and right knowledge. This faith also enunciates complete non-violence and the Jain monks can be seen with their nose and mouth covered by a cloth mask to ensure that they do not kill any germs or insects while breathing.

Based in its present form on the life and presumed teachings of Mahavira, this religion has rejected monistic Brahmanism on philosophical grounds

Mahavira was born in 599 B.C. as a prince in Bihar, India. At the age of 30, he left his family and royal household, gave up his worldly possessions, including clothing and become a monk.

He spent the next twelve years in deep silence and meditation to conquer his desires and feelings. He went without food for long periods. He carefully avoided harming or annoying other living beings including animals, birds, and plants.

His ways of meditation, days of austerities, and mode of behaviour furnish a beautiful example for monks and nuns in religious life. His spiritual pursuit lasted for twelve years.

At the end he realized perfect perception, knowledge, power, and bliss. This realization is known as keval-jnana.

He spent the next thirty years travelling on bare feet around India preaching to the people the eternal truth he realized. He attracted people from all walks of life, rich and poor, kings and commoners, men and women, princes and priests, touchables and untouchables.

He organized his followers, into a four-fold order, namely
? monk (Sadhu)
? nun (Sadhvi)
? layman (Shravak)
? and laywoman (Shravika)

Later on they are known as Jains.

The ultimate objective of his teaching is how one can attain the total freedom from the cycle of birth, life, pain, misery, and death, and achieve the permanent blissful state of one’s self. This is also known as liberation, nirvana, absolute freedom, or Moksha.

He explained that from eternity, every living being (soul) is in bondage of karmic atoms that are accumulated by its own good or bad deeds. Under the influence of karma, the soul is habituated to seek pleasures in materialistic belongings and possessions. Which are the deep-rooted causes of self-centred violent thoughts, deeds, anger, hatred, greed, and such other vices. These result in accumulating more karma.

Mahavira was the twenty-fourth and the last Tirthankara of the Jain religion. According to Jain philosophy, all Tirthankaras were born as human beings but they have attained a state of perfection or enlightenment through meditation and self-realization. They are the Gods of Jains. Tirthankaras are also known as Arihants or Jinas.

The spiritual power and moral grandeur of Mahavira’s teachings impressed the masses. He made religion simple and natural, free from elaborate ritual complexities. His teachings reflected the popular impulse towards internal beauty and harmony of the soul.

His message of nonviolence (Ahimsa), truth (Satya), non-stealing (Achaurya), celibacy (Brahma-charya), and non-possession (Aparigraha) is full of universal compassion. He said that,

“A living body is not merely an integration of limbs and flesh but it is the abode of the soul which potentially has perfect perception (Anant-darshana), perfect knowledge (Anant-jnana), perfect power (Anant-virya), and perfect bliss (Anant-sukha).”

Mahavira’s message reflects freedom and spiritual joy of the living being.

Mahavira was quite successful in eradicating from human intellect the conception of God as creator, protector, and destroyer. He also denounced the worship of gods and goddesses as a means of salvation. He taught the idea of supremacy of human life and stressed the importance of the positive attitude of life.

Mahavira also preached the gospel of universal love, emphasizing that all living beings, irrespective of their size, shape, and form how spiritually developed or under-developed, are equal and we should love and respect them.

Jainism existed before Mahavira, and his teachings were based on those of his predecessors. Thus, unlike Buddha, Mahavira was more of a reformer and propagator of an existing religious order than the founder of a new faith. He followed the well-established creed of his redecessor Tirthankara Parshvanath. However, Mahavira did reorganize the philosophical tenets of Jainism to correspond to his times. Lord Mahavira preached five great vows while Lord Parshva preached four great vows.

In the matters of spiritual advancement, as envisioned by Mahavira, both men and women are on an equal footing. The lure of renunciation and liberation attracted women as well. Many women followed Mahavira’s path and renounced the world in search of ultimate happiness.

In a few centuries after Mahavira’s nirvana, Jain religious order (Sangha) grew more and more complex. There were schisms on some minor points although they did not affect the original doctrines as preached by the Tirthankars. Later generations saw the introduction of ritualistic complexities, which almost placed Mahavira and other Tirthankars on the throne of Hindu deities.

Tag: The World’s Religions - Jainism