Mahavira’s Story

Prince Vardhamana

According to tradition, Vardhamana, the boy who would become Mahavira, was born at midnight on March 30th, 599 BCE into a royal family in the area of modern Bihar, India.

All royal families were considered to be part of the Ksatriya caste, the warrior caste.  As was typical of the time, young princes were groomed to both live a life of luxury and to master the arts of weaponry and warfare.  Vardhamana was no exception to this tradition. In fact, it was during his arms training that Vardhamana first began to demonstrate a mastery and level of concentration that was far superior to his peers.  Tradition states that his arms-trainer was quickly surpassed by his pupil and that the local community recognized the unique abilities of the young prince.

Although he could have easily concentrated on becoming a master of arms, Prince Vardhamana instead began to gravitate more and more towards meditation.  His penchant for solitude and self-study would eventually culminate in his decision to abandon his luxurious life for the pursuit of extreme asceticism.

At the age of 30, Prince Vardhamana left his kingdom and entered into the forest.

Becoming Mahavira

Vardhamana took asceticism to its utmost extreme.

For twelve years he gave up all wordly possessions including clothing.  Knowing that Vardhamana had already been practicing meditation and concentration for years, we can assume his choice to go to the ascetic extreme served the purpose of advancing his concentration and will-power to the point where he could meditate even in the midst of bodily pain and suffering.

(Later yogic traditions would strip extreme asceticism down to its theoretical core and turn it into a more comfortable practice known as Pratyahara, sense withdrawal. But that’s a story for another day…)

Some of the severe austerities that the ex-prince practiced include:

1. Meditating naked in open fields during the winter months.
2. Standing still and in complete silence for extended periods.
3. Avoiding killing any insects.
4. Sleeping in cemeteries, crematoriums, and deserted lands.
5. Fasting up to two months at a time.

After twelve years of these practices, Vardhamana was overcome by the experience of enlightenment and thereupon was referred to as Mahavira (Great Hero in Sanskrit) by his first disciples.

For the remainder of his life, Mahavira traveled around India teaching others the realizations he had experienced during his twelve years of asceticism. It is said that at one point he had gathered over 400,000 followers.  This amount of followers is unprecedented for any guru of this time period, and it speaks volumes about why Jainism, the tradition that developed around Mahavira’s teachings after his death, survived for the next two millenia.

Mahavira’s Teachings

Mahavira’s teachings are said to be positive in that they emphasize the inherent existence of individuality as a result of an infinitely diverse universe.  This is counter to Buddhist teachings which are negative and emphasize the lack of inherent existence or individuality of any given object, regardless of the universe’s apparent diversity.

Mahavira’s teachings can be summed up in eight cardinal principles:

1. Non-Absolutism (Anekantavada) – Reality is perceived differently from different points of view.  Therefore, no single point of view is ever the complete truth.
2. Relativity of Thought (Syadvada) – It is impossible to determine the truth of a system within its own thought structure.  Therefore, the truth of any given system can only be found in comparison to other systems.
3. Atomic Nature (Karma) – The universe is pervaded by very subtle microscopic particles.  Mental dispositions and their resulting activities of thought, speech, and bodily action attract or repulse these particles. In this way events unfold in exact accordance to each individual’s current evolution.
4. Non-Violence (Ahimsa) – All living beings are of equal worth and should thus be treated accordingly.
5. Truthfulness (Satya) – Speak only the harmless truth.
6. Non-Stealing (Asteya) – Take nothing that has not been given.
7. Chastity (Brahmacharya) – Sensory pleasures lead to attachment and thus should be avoided.
8. Non-attachment (Aparigraha) – Detachment from people, places, and material objects should be developed.

Mahavira’s philosophy of pluralism is easy to understand in this age of science where we are all well aware that the universe is amazingly diverse and full of unique evolutionary twists and turns.

All eight of the principles listed above are based on the recognition that all living beings are of equal worth though of infinite variety, and that sensory pleasure ultimately leads to a mental state which views some objects as of greater worth than other objects.  It is for this reason that asceticism, and withdrawal from sensory pleasure, has always been the cornerstone of Mahavira’s teachings.

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Thanks for reading…

References

Flood, Gavin (2001). An Introduction to Hinduism. UK: Cambridge University Press

http://www.dalsabzi.com/Message/mahavira.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahavira

Images used in this Post

Shravanabelagola – Jain Temple photo courtesy of Flickr user albany_tim published under the CC license.

Strangely enough – a Jain tirthankara on the HazaraRama Temple photo courtesy of Flickr user soham_pablo published under the CC license.