Mahavir

PENANCE

He gave up all his worldly possessions and went to the forest, as a monk. He fasted for several days and constantly reflected on the nature of the soul. He kept moving from one place to another. Most of his meditation was done in standing posture.

He spent twelve years doing intense meditation. At the end of these twelve years, he became enlightened. It is believed that the celestial gods wanted him to reveal to others what he had acquired. However, they realized that because he had not spoken for twelve years, he could not communicate easily in the people’s language. Hence, the Gods sent Gautama, a learned brahmin, to interpret for him. As soon as Mahavir saw Gautama, words began coming from his mouth and Gautama started translating them. Gautama became one of Mahavir’s earliest disciples.

HIS TEACHINGS

For the next thirty years, Mahavir traveled across the country preaching the eternal truths of spiritual knowledge. He traveled barefoot and without clothes, even in very cold climates. People from all over would come to listen to him. He preached that every individual seeks temporary pleasure from material possessions, which result further in greed, anger, hatred and other vices. According to him, every soul is in bondage to karma. To free oneself from karma, Mahavir taught the importance of right faith, right knowledge and right conduct. He preached that to follow right conduct, one must take the five vows – to cause no harm to any living being, to speak the truth always, to not steal from anyone, to indulge in no sensual pleasure and to detach from all material possessions.

Mahavir considered non-violence to be the highest virtue of humans. He said that all living beings desire to live. Hence, no one should take to killing. His concept of non-violence was not limited to killing, but

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