Mahavira Jayanthi 2018 – Read 50 Priceless Thoughts About Lord Mahavira

Team Udayavani, Mar 29, 2018, 10:52 AM IST

“Every soul is independent, none depends on another.” – Marking the Birth of Lord Mahavira- Mahavira Jayanthi is a significant day for the Jain Community across the world and is celebrated on 29^th March this year.

From the tiniest microorganism to the massive creature, Lord Mahavir preached love and respect to all kinds of living beings and was believed to be a follower of non-violence. These values then translated into a religion – Jainism found by him.

Read 50 Priceless Thoughts About Lord Mahavira to enlighten the sense of living, 

1. The greatest mistake of a soul is non-recognition of its real self and can only be corrected by recognizing the self
2. Every soul is independent, none depends on another.  
3. It is better to win over the self than to win over a million enemies.
4. There is no separate existence of God. Everybody can attain god-hood by making supreme efforts in the right direction. 
5. All unenlightened persons produce sufferings. Having become deluded, they produce and reproduce sufferings, in this endless world.
6. The valiant does not tolerate indulgence, nor does he tolerate abhorrence. As he is pleased with his own self, he is not attached to anything.
7. As a tortoise withdraws his limbs within his own body, even so does the valiant withdraw his mind within himself from all sins.
8. The enlightened should contemplate that his soul is endowed with boundless energy.
9. Only that man can take a right decision, whose soul is not tormented by the afflictions of attachment and aversion.
10. One who knows the spiritual (self) knows the external (world) too. He who knows the external world knows the self also.
11. Do not be in dread of the dreadful, the illness, the disease, the old age, and even the death or any other object of fear.
12. There is nothing as fearful as death, and there is no suffering as great as birth. Be free from the fear of both birth and death, by doing away with attachment to the body.
13. The courageous, as well as the cowardly, must die. When death is inevitable for both, why should not one welcome death smilingly and with fortitude?
14. The yogi who is indifferent to worldly affairs remains spiritually alert to his own duty, namely, his duty towards his soul. On the other hand, one who indulges in worldly affairs is not dutiful to his soul.
15. Birth is attended by death, youth by decay and fortune by misfortune. Thus everything in this world is momentary.
16. He who lies idle like a python simply wastes the ambrosia of wisdom. With the loss of his wisdom, he is no better than a bull.
17. Keep yourself always awake. One who keeps awake increases his wisdom. He who falls asleep is wretched. Blessed is he who keeps awake.
18. One should not utter displeasing words that arouse ill feelings in others. One should not indulge in speech conducive to the evil.
19. The discipline of speech consists in refraining from telling lies and in observing silence.
20. The sadhaka (one who practises spiritual discipline) speaks words that are measured and beneficial to all living beings.
21. The bhiksu (ascetic) should not be angry with one who abuses him. Otherwise, he would be like the ignoramus. He should not, therefore, lose his temper.
22. If somebody were to beat a disciplined and restrained ascetic, the latter should not think of avenging himself considering the soul to be imperishable.
23. As gold does not cease to be gold even if it is heated in the fire; an enlightened man does not cease to be enlightened on being tortured by the effect of karma.
24. A thief feels neither pity nor shame, nor does he possess discipline and faith. There is no evil that he cannot do for wealth.
25. On the aggravation of one’s greed, a person fails to distinguish between what should be done and what should not be done. He is a daredevil, who cannot commit any offence even at the cost of his own life.
26. By practising celibacy one can fulfil all other vows – chastity, tapas (penance), vinaya (humility), samyama (self-restraint), forgiveness, self-protection and detachment.
27. Knowing that pleasing sound, beauty, fragrance, pleasant taste and soothing touch are transitory transformations of matter, the celibate should not be enamoured of them.
28. The soul is the Brahman. Brahmacharya is, therefore, nothing but the spiritual conduct of the ascetic concerning the soul, who has snapped out of a relationship with the alien body.
29. An amorous person, failing to achieve his desired objects, becomes frantic and even ready to commit suicide by any means.
30. The sun scorches only during the day, but cupid scorches in the day as well as in the night. One can protect oneself from the sun, but cannot from Cupid.
31. The more you get, the more you want. The greed increases with the gain. What could be accomplished by two masas (grams) of gold could not be done by ten million.
32. Knowing that the earth with its crops of rice and barley, with its gold and cattle, and all this put together will not satisfy one single man, one should practise penance.
33. Just as fire is not quenched by the fuel and the ocean by thousands of rivers, similarly no living being is satisfied even with all the wealth of all the three worlds.
34. Greed even for a piece of straw, not to speak of precious things, produces sin. A greedless person, even if he wears a crown, cannot commit sin.
35. One who, being swayed by wishful thinking becomes a victim of passions at every step, and does not ward off the desires, cannot practise asceticism.
36. External renunciation is meaningless if the soul remains fettered by internal shackles.
37. Living beings have desires. Desires consist in pleasure and pain.
38. One who is constantly careful in his department is like the lily in the pond, untarnished by mud.
39. Objects of the senses pollute knowledge if it is not protected by discipline.
40. Discipline is the means of achieving liberation.
41. Even the noble becomes mean in the company of the wicked, as the precious necklace on the neck of a dead body.
42. The ignoramus is always benighted. The enlightened is always wide awake.
43. The five senses of the awakened always remain inactive. The five senses of the slumber always remain active. By means of the active five one acquires bondage while by means of the inactive five the bondage is severed.
44. Just as everybody keeps away from a burning fire, so do the evils remain away from an enlightened person.
45. One who remains equanimous in the midst of pleasures and pains is a Sramana, being in the state of pure consciousness.
46. Other beings perceive through their senses whereas the Sramana perceives through the Agama.
47. Don’t be proud if you gain. Nor be sorry if you lose.
48. Don’t kill any living beings. Don’t try to rule them.
49. My soul characterised by knowledge and faith is alone eternal. All other phases of my existence to which I am attached are external occurrences that are transitory.
50. The nights that have departed will never return. They have been wasted by those given to unrighteousness