Mahavira

Mahavira (महावीर; c. 599 – 527 BCE) was an Indian philosopher of antiquity that is the originator of a universal system of thought called Jainism.

Around 570 BCE, Mahavira left behind a life of affluence to pursue asceticism. Mahavira believed in the doctrine of transmigration of souls (samsara, metempsychosis) and taught a methodology for the liberation (moksa) of souls from the wheel of life through the renunciation of the karma of materialism. The core values of Jainism include that of harmlessness (ahimsa) and chastity. Jainism also advocates for relative pluralism which is the doctrine that there is no absolute frame of reference.

It is believed that success in liberating oneself from the false world of illusions will result in the development of clairvoyance, telepathy, and eventually omniscience in the seeker.

Jainism embrases the set of core values of asceticism, including truth, non-violence, non-stealing, celibacy, and non-possession. Jainist philosophy also advocates for veganism and vegetarianism.

Mahāvīra (Skt., mahat, ‘great’, + vīra, ‘hero’) Indian guru of the Jain tradition was an Indian ascetic philosopher and the principal founder of Jainism—one of the major religions of the Indian subcontinent.

Other Names

Vardhamāna Jnātṛputra, the 24th tīrthaṅkara. known in Buddhist sources as Nigaṇṭha Nātaputta "the naked ascetic of the Jnatrika clan. Jaina "Victor"

Life

Time Span

599 - 468 BCE

Birth

Born Vardhamāna to Siddhārtha and Triśalā, at Kuṇḍagrama just north of modern Patna (Bihar State, India)

Marriage

Princess Yośodā

Children

daughter, Priyadarśanā

Death

Mahāvīra died and passed to mokṣa at the age of 73 at Pāvāpurī, near Patna He died near Patna at the age of 73.

Early Life

Born into the kshatriya (warrior) caste Mahavira's father was chief of the Jnatrika clan, an indigenous oligarchical tribe. Vardhamana Mahavira was born in northern India during the turbulent religious and political upheavals of the middle of the 1st millennium B.C. Traditional religious practices were centered in an archaic magical and sacrificial cult dominated by a hereditary priestly elite.

Initiation

Despite his royal upbringing, his religious sensibilities drove Mahavira inexorably to renounce his worldly ties at the age of 30 and embark on a search for ultimate spiritual truth. at the age of 30 left his home on a spiritual quest After 12 years of wonders and accomplishments in the spiritual life he was given the name Mahavira or Great Hero. For 12 years Mahavira lived a life of radical physical asceticism, mortifying the flesh and struggling to purify his soul of its Karmic burden. After twelve years of severe fasting to cleanse his body, of silence to improve his speech, and of meditation to clear his mind, he gained omniscience (kevala jāna) and became a jina. At the age of 30, Mahāvīra renounced family life to become a wandering ascetic in the tradition of Pārśva—for a time in company with Makkhali Gosala.

Teachings

For the next thirty years he travelled throughout NE India, teaching by word and example the path of purification.

Cosmology

But for Mahavira and for many others the external rites could not solve the basic spiritual enigmas defined by the problem of transmigration: the soul of every sentient creature is entrapped in the phenomenal world, suffering an endless round (samsara) of deaths and rebirths as a result of inward moral defilements engendered through perverted attitudes and acts (karma). First, it is a basic tenet of the teaching that in the transmigratory process the soul attains rebirth in human form only once in a vast spectrum of cosmic time; and it is in this human state that one is privileged to hear and practice the Jina's message of salvation; consequently this lends immense dignity and urgency to the human life. Every discrete natural phenomenon has a life-force (jiva), a soul which is a substantial entity. This includes gods, demons, human beings, animals, insects, plants, and even inanimate objects like stones. All contain souls, originally pure and translucent, entrapped in the material stuff of the phenomenal universe, moving up and down the scale of life-forms, from birth to birth—higher or lower—as the result of karma. In Jainism, karma is pictured as a sticky substance that adheres to one's life force and prevents liberation. It is in itself a kind of malevolent and defiling substance which adheres to the soul like dirt. This substance is attracted by violence and the most violent are said to be covered in black karma. The goal was to obtain spiritual release from this karmic bondage through an inward self-discipline (the yoga) designed to eliminate its libidinal and material causes. Finally, at the age of 42, he achieved spiritual purification and enlightenment; he was now the Jina (conqueror)—the source of the traditional name applied to his followers, the Jains.

Ethics

Mahavira concluded early in his spiritual quest that the key to spiritual advancement was the avoidance of injury to any life form, a difficult process as life was everywhere. The basics of the life include the successive taking of vows of nonviolence (ahimsa ), truthfulness, non-stealing, sexual abstinence, and nonpossessiveness. Third, the extreme emphasis on noninjury to sentient creatures, even inanimate objects, had an unusual consequence for the laity: occupations involving manual labor, cultivation, cutting, sawing, hammering, and so on, were excluded; and consequently the Jain laity found its social grounding chiefly among the mercantile and banking classes. Added to this was the fact that the ascetic yoga promoted an economic ethic in which disciplined control over economic resources (analogous to the Puritan work ethic) resulted in capital accumulation and mastery for their own sake—not for self-indulgence. In its political theory Jainism was basically patrimonial, but it stressed, as did early Buddhism, the necessity of virtuous self-discipline as a moral precondition for legitimate rule.

Health and Wellness

The greatest ascetic discipline in the tradition is the rite of sallekhana—voluntary self-starvation conducted systematically over a 12-year period. It combines the mandates of both asceticism and noninjury, since the eating of food, even of plants, and the drinking of water entail the ingestion and killing of vegetable and microorganic life. Added to this was the fact that the ascetic yoga promoted an economic ethic in which disciplined control over economic resources (analogous to the Puritan work ethic) resulted in capital accumulation and mastery for their own sake—not for self-indulgence. The only major schisms in the tradition occurred with the formation of the two primary Jain sects: the Digambaras ("space-clad"), holding to the old tradition of ascetic nudity; and the Shvetambaras ("white-clad"), allowing their adherents to wear clothes—probably as an accommodation to the preferences of adherents with middle-class sensibilities. Lay piety is expressed in adherence to a strictly vegetarian diet and in fasts and penance emulating the monastic style at appropriate times during the year.

Human Potential

He eventually reached a state thought of as complete isolation from harmful karma, called kevela. Mahavira questioned the equation of his powers with spiritual enlightenment

Students

After attaining kevala, Mahavira took a student, Makkhali Gosala, who had attained some magical powers. Makkhali Gosala tried to use his powers on Mahavira the two went their separate ways

Followers

Though he lost his first disciple, Mahavira soon gained others, including 11 brahman priests. He was acknowledged as the 24th Great Teacher of his tradition, and his new title, Jaina or Victor, gave the name to the Jaina community. According to tradition, he had half a million followers by the time of his death. Since Mahavira's time Jains have followed a path of liberation that has 14 stages. The basics of the life include the successive taking of vows of nonviolence (ahimsa ), truthfulness, non-stealing, sexual abstinence, and nonpossessiveness. Each vow leads to a releasing of karma.

Legacy

The Digambara and Śvetāmbara sects recount two divergent accounts of his life. Jainism forms an important element of the Eastern teachings that came into the West, especially England, beginning late in the nineteenth century. These teachings influenced the development of various nonviolent perspectives, some of which became identified with Spiritualism and the metaphysical community including the antivivisection movement and vegetarianism. leaving 14,000 monks, 36,000 nuns, 159,000 laymen, and 318,000 laywomen to continue his teaching. Ranked as one of the Six Sectarian Teachers by the Buddhists, he is regarded by Jains as the greatest of all their teachers. The worship of images of the Jain saints is common practice, but the teaching remains basically atheistic; the later incorporation of Hindu deities, however, provides possibilities for theistic worship. DAMIEN KEOWN. "Mahāvīra." A Dictionary of Buddhism. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 9 Jan. 2011 . JOHN BOWKER. "Mahāvīra." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. 9 Jan. 2011 . "Mahavira (540 B.C.E.-468 B.C.E.)." Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. (January 9, 2011). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3403802919.html "Vardhamana Mahavira." Encyclopedia of World Biography. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 9 Jan. 2011 .

Dr. Matthew Marturano offers naturopathic medicine for holistic health and wellness. He serves on the Board of Directors for the Michigan Association of Naturopathic Physicians and is the Director of Strategic Development for Orchid Holistic Search.