Lord Mahavir Bhagwan
Lord Mahavir was the last of the twenty-four noble omniscient preceptors who formed an illustrious lineage known as the Tirthankars. He was born to Queen Trishla and King Siddharth just as the fourth era of the current time cycle was about to end and the malevolent fifth was about to begin. The sole aim of this divine child was to sow the seeds of spiritual enlightenment so that they would flower into the wish-fulfilling trees of spirituality.
Renouncing His royal pleasures, He adopted monkhood at the age of thirty-two and spent the next twelve years as a mendicant, practicing intense penances and meditation. He eventually overcame the veils of delusion that had clouded the soul since time immemorial and attained the glory of omniscience. He thereby unearthed the infinite knowledge, perception and bliss that lie dormant within each soul. Thus He had attained liberation while living. Now all that was left for Him was to deplete His remaining karma and thereafter rest in that blissful state of perfection known as moksha or liberation, beyond all confines of mortality and materialistic existence.
Devoid of the least semblance of any egoistic existence and any possessions, Lord Mahavir gracefully traversed the land for the remaining thirty years of His life. He preached the fundamental tenets so as to enable a seeker to realise their true nature, distinct from the body, to realise the nameless, timeless and formless pure awareness, identified by its characteristics of existence, consciousness and bliss.
Universal and selfless love were His guiding principles of ‘Ahimsa paramodharma’ or ‘Non-violence’ and love for all life and these formed the essence of all He preached. His divine legacy lives on unto this day and continues to inspire countless seekers to rid themselves of the shackles of materialistic existence and be free from the wretched cycle of transmigration or life and death.