Day 6 of Paryushan was a busy one. I have been slipping in creating and posting, can not explain why, but school is time consuming, even when my daughter is the one in school. I have a daily list of things I have to finish for the home, my daughter and myself.
My morning was spent in doing some exercises in reasoning.
I made some upma, plain with tomatoes for brunch. We had some leftovers from yesterday, mostly rice an daal as well. It would be interesting to explore the eating of leftovers form Jain values. I will check into this when I have some more time.
My husband worked from home and picked up my daughter from school that afternoon.
The rest of the day was a trip to the doctor, spending time with DD [dear daughter], Karate and dinner.
In spite of the busyness of the day, I attended Pravachan in the evening. I had outsourced my dinner to Abha. Dinner was brought by Abha, and was Jain paneer curry with Ajwain paratha.
Today, the speaker shared about Tirthankar Mahavir’s journey from being a Bheel [ Indian tribal] King, to Marichi, son of Chakravarti Bharat, grandson of the first Tirthankar, Rishabhadev, and after whom, the country of India is named, Bharat, to the becoming the 24th Tirthankar.
Bheel King, Purarva, was an Indo Aryan invader, an animal hunting and meat eating King. Once on a hunting trip with his wife, the Queen, he spotted a Jain monk, Sagar Sen Muniraj who imparted the Jain teaching on Ahimsa to him. Listening to the Muniraj, he took 3 vows of no meat, no alcohol and no honey. I did not find any reference to Purarva or this particular birth of Mahavir on my search].
27 significant lives after this, he became Tirthankar Mahavir.
The following appears here.
1. Nayasara: A village headman who secured samyaktva or partial enlightenment in this birth on account of preaching of true dharma by Jain monks.
2. Birth in the 1st Celestial World (Heaven) called Saudharma
3. Prince Marichi: Grandson of Rsabha, the first Tirthankara and Son of King Bharata .
.4. Birth in the 5th Celestial World called Brahmloka
5. Kaushika: A Brahmin
6. Pushyamitra: A Brahmin.
7. Birth in the 1st Celestial World called Saudharma
8. Agnidyota: A Brahmin
9. Birth in the 2nd Celestial World called Ishaan
10. Agnibhuti: A Brahmin
11. Birth in the 3rd Celestial World called Sanatkumar
12. Bharadwaja: A Brahmin
13. Birth in the 4th Celestial World called Mahendra
14. Sthavira: A Brahmin
15.Birth in the 5th Celestial World called Brahmloka
16. Prince Vishvabhuti
17. Birth in the 7th Celestial World called Mahashukra
18. Triprishtha Vasudeva – First Vasudeva of this half-time-cycle
19. Birth in the 7th Hell called Mahatamaha Prabha (pitch dark hued)
20. A lion
21. Birth in the 4th Hell called Panka Prabha (Mud Hued)
22. A human being (Name unknown)
23. Priyamitra: A Chakvartin (The universal ruler of seven continents)
24. Birth in the 7th Celestial World called Mahashukra
25. Prince Nandana: Accepted the vow of self control and gained Tirthankara nama karma
26. Birth in the 10th Celestial World called Pranat
27. Birth as Tirthankar Lord Mahavir, the final birth
Between births 5th as Kaushika Brahmin and 6th as Pushyamitra Brahmin, the soul transmigrated through countless births as insects, animals, plants, birds etc. Those births are not counted in Lord Mahavir’s 27 births.
Why these other births? I will need to explore this more. It is the first time that I have heard about these.
Sharing a pearl with you today: Violence or Himsa is of three types:
Essential: as in breathing, cooking etc
Intentional: as in killing living creatures
Self- Defense: as in armies, or karate
Life, a daily exploration 