Describe the life and teachings of vardhman mahavir
Answers
Tri-Ratna-Mahavira laid the greatest emphasis on a truly good life of the human beings. According to him, the three absolute conditions for good life were the Right Faith, the Right Knowledge, and the Right Action. These principles of life were described as the Tri-Ratna or the three jewels.
For such a good life, man was required to discover his own soul which was ‘The highest, the noblest and the fullest manifestation of all the powers’.
But this remained hidden in the soul of man. The discovery of that power was the real purpose of life. The worship of God or gods, the use of Mantras or prayers, the sacrifices of animals or performance of many rituals were unnecessary for knowing the soul. It was by virtuous living and moral conduct that man could serve his soul’s purpose. Purification of soul was the supreme goal of life.
Mahavira did not bring God into his religious faith. While the universe was eternal, he did not find a creator behind it. Nor did he find the role of a creator to control and regulate the universe. According to him, all manifestations of power lay in the creation itself. The later Jainas came to believe that God might be just a ‘spiritual ideal’ which man could find in his own purified Atma.
When Mahavira did not give any importance to God, his religion kept no place for the priests to work between God and man. Thus came an opposition to the Brahminical supremacy in the spheres of religion. As the worship of Gods, offering of prayers, value of mantras, and the need of priestly class were denied, the Vedas and the Upanishads were also not given importance in the Jain thought.
Karma and Rebirth:
In Jainism, the faith in the theory of karma and rebirth was absolute. Man has to work in order to live. His soul therefore, is engaged in various work. Mahavira gave the maximum stress on Karma. He divided all existing things into two categories, the living and the non-living. All the living beings were described as the Jivas. Each Jiva in the body was the Atma.
Since the Jiva existed in physical or material form, it got bound to action or Karma. Man was thus bound to exist with mental, verbal and physical activities. Naturally, therefore, his Atma became subject to his Karma. It was this Karma which decided the future of the Atma. If man did not do the correct Karma through his mind, speech and body, he was bound to suffer the results of his karma.
The Karma was thus the eternal law. Bad or good karma would go by bad or good results. And, there was no escape from it. Man was bound to suffer punishment for sins through birth and rebirth. The unending cycle of rebirth would continue as long as man did not perfect his thoughts, words and deeds to get released from rebirths.