Jainism For All

 Suparsvanath is the seventh Jain tirthankara of the present avasarpini time cycle. His complexion is golden and symbol is swastika. The chaitya tree under which he attained omniscience is shirisa tree. In his previous incarnation, Suparsvanath was known as King Nandisena of Ramaniya province near East Videha within Bharatvarsha. He was noble-minded, soft-hearted and always tried to reduce the pain of the afflicted. Dharma was his minister who had the power of taking decisions. King Nandisena was not in favour of taking stern decisions on the people and showed his anger for Dharma. As time passed, Nandisena became tired of the material world and took initiation under Arindamana Acharya. Observing his vow zealously, he improved his soul to become tirthankara in his next birth. Suparsvanath was born in Varanasi, in the ikshvaku clan on the twelfth day of bright moon under Visakha constellation in the month of Jyestha. His father was king Pratistha and mother queen Prithvi. When he ...

 Padmaprabha is the sixth Jain tirthankara of the present avasarpini time cycle. His complexion is red and symbol is lotus. The chaitya tree is chhatra under which he meditated to attain omniscience.  Padmaprabha, in his earlier incarnation was king Aparajit who ruled over Susima town in the east Videha area within Bharatvarsha. He was a pious and peace-loving person. A religious discourse by Jain monk changed his life. He decided to take initiation from acharya Pihitashrava and embraced ascetism. He practiced deep spiritual penances during his previous births which helped him in this birth to become tirthankara. Padmaprabha was born in Kaushambi, his father was king Dhara and mother queen Susima. During his growing up in the mother’s womb, the queen had the desire to sleep on the petals of lotus. Thus the child was born with pink glow like lotus and his name was given as Padmaprabha. He was born on the twelfth day of the dark half of moon in the month of Kartik. He grew up ...

 Lord Sumatinath is the 5th Jain tirthankara of the avasarpini time cycle. His complexion is golden and symbol is goose. The chaitya tree under which he attained omniscience is shala tree. Sumatinath in his previous incarnation was named Purushsinha. He was the son of king Vijaysen and queen Sudarsana in the city of Sankhapura in East Videha within Bharatvarsha.  Once Prince Purushsinha had the opportunity to listen Acharya Vinaynandan while he was explaining the religion to his followers. The lectures of the acharya impressed him and inspired him to realise the purpose of life. He sensed detachment from the physical world and became motivated towards spiritualism. He attained a high level of spiritual enlightenment by practicing rigorous rules of penances. This helped his soul to take birth as the would be tirthankara.  Sumatinath was born as son of queen Mangala and king Meghrath of Ayodhya on the eighth day of the bright half of moon in magha constellation in the month...

Abhinandannath or Abhinandan Swami is the 4th Jain tirthankar of the avasarpini cycle. His complexion is golden and symbol is  ape (monkey). The chaitya tree under which he got omniscience is priyangu. Abhinandan in his previous birth was the king of Manglavati province in the city of Ratnasanchay situated in East Videha, within Bharatvarsha.  His name was Mahabal. He had wealth like Kuber and strength like strong wind but his nature was simple and humble.  He had regard for the Arhat and the religion preached by them. He was highly influenced by the teachings of Acharya Vimal Suri and embraced ascetism. His spiritual attainments of earlier births helped him to become tirthankara in the present birth. Abhinandan was born in Ayodhaya , his mother was queen Siddhartha and father king Samvar. When he was in the mother’s womb, the people of the entire kingdom became very happy and greeted each other with the feeling of brotherhood. This created a peaceful atmosphere and prosp...

Sambhavanath is the third Jain tirthankara of the present avasarpini time cycle. His complexion is golden and symbol is horse. His chaitya tree under which he got omniscience is prayala.   Sambhavanath was born in a Rajput family in Shravasti. His parents were King Jitari and queen Susena. He was born on the 14 th day near full moon in the month of agrahayan when moon was in mrigashira constellation. His father, the king was distressed because of plague and famine which ravaged his dominion extensively. While he was in the embryo, situation started improving. The paddy fields were full of growing crops. When the king came to know about the child birth, he had the feeling that there was a chance (sambhava) of better time ahead, hence , his father decided the name of his son to be Sambhava. Sambhava got married and soon after became the king. During his period, the kingdom was free from calamities, diseases and people lived a healthy normal life.  As Sambhavanath was growing ...

  Ajitnath is the 2nd Jain tirthankara of the present avasarpini time cycle. His complexion is golden and symbol is elephant.  The chaitys tree under which he got omniscience is shala. Ajitnath was born in Ayodhya in Ikshvaku clan. His father was king Jitashatru and mother Vijaya Devi. Ajitnath was born on the eighth day of the bright moon in the month of Magh when moon was in rohini constellation. The meaning of the name Ajit is that who has won the worldly vices e.g., anger, pride, deceit, greed etc. Even the names of his parents signify the word ‘victory’.    From his early age, Ajit was not inclined to the normal princely life. After his father took mendicancy, Ajit became the king. But as soon as his cousin brother Sagara became grown up, Ajit handed over the whole kingdom to Sagara and himself became an ascetic. He practiced meditation and penance in deep forest where no human can enter. All the animals of that forest used to sit around him without making any ...

 Adinath Rishavdev, the 1st tirthankara  Rishavdev is the 1st tirthankara in the avasarpini time cycle, according to Jainism. He is also known as Adinath which means "Lord of beginning". He is mentioned in the Rig-veda by the Hindus. He was perhaps the first religious leader on earth. His complexion is golden and symbol is bull. The chaitya tree is vata under which he meditated and attained omniscience (kevaljnan). Adinath Rishav is the first tirthankara mentioned in the Adipuran. He was born when the world had passed out the happiest stage Sushma and was in the 3 rd era of Sushma Dushma.   Rishav belonged to Kasyap gotra. He was born in Kosala as the son of Marudevi (mother)  and (kulakara) Nabhi (father) . He is familiar by the following names: Adinath, Rishav, first monarch, first mendicant, first Jina and first Tirthankara. He is thought to be the human avtar of Lord Shiva according to Hindus. The mother of Rishavdev in her dream had seen a bull (rishav) co...

  Jain community is divided into two sects, Digambar and Swetambar . The division took place in AD 79 or 82.   Swetambar means “white-clad” and refers to its ascetic practitioners wearing white clothes. Digambar means “sky-clad”, whose ascetic practitioners go nude. Swetambar sect was led by Sthulabhadra who was based in Magadh. The Swetambars cover their mouth and nostrils with mask to avoid the contact of germs and small insects during respiration. Swetambars do not believe in extreme penance and austerity. The Digambar sect was led by Bhadrabahu . The monks belonging to the Digambar sect do not cover their body with clothes showing their detachment from worldly pleasures. They are the orthodox followers of Mahavir and live an extremely austere life. Shwetambars again divided into subsects ( gaccha ). They are Kharataragaccha founded in 11 th century AD and Tapagachha founded in 13 th century AD. Gacchas worshipped the idols of tirthankars which was not like...