Shree Shreyans Nath
11th Jain Tirthankar
11th Jain Tirthankar
Tirthankara Nam Karma offers the soul to come to the earth as a Tirthankara. There 24 Tirthankara for every half cycle of Time according to Jain scriptures. They are blessed souls who help people attain Mukti. They are born as an individual human being. They grow as a prince and become a king. Due to their spiritual powers, they realize the purpose of life. Tirthankaras are highly noble souls who get liberated from the mundane life. They also preach people to win all the miseries in life. They help all their followers to attain the state of eternal bliss.
The Jain cosmic calendar has two kaals namely the Ascending period
called Utsarpini and Descending time cycle called Avsarpini. The Jains
believe that the period has twelve wheels sharing six each by Utsarpini
and Avsarpini Kaal. Each half cycle of time will have six Ara and may
not have the same duration. But during Utsarpini people enjoy all
positive developments. On the other hand during the descending time
cycle, everything gets reversed from the best to the worst stage.
Tirthankaras are incarnated to educate people even during the worst
time to attain Nirvana. The present age is the fifth Ara of Avsarpini.
Sixth Ara will follow next and will continue for 21000 years. Then First
Ara of Utsarpini will begin to last for 21000 years.
Birth and Childhood of Shreyansnath
King Nalingulm belonged to the town of Kshema located in Pushkarvar
Island. He took care of his subjects very well. He was pious and peace
loving. His accumulated Tirthankara Nam Karma made him come to this
earth as the Eleventh Tirthankara of the Jain religion. Yes, King
Nalingulm was born as Tirthankar Shreyansnath.
According to the Mahashakra dimension of the gods, his soul entered
the womb of Queen Vishnudevi. Simhapur near Sarnath was ruled by King
Vishnuraja. His wife Queen Vishnudevi dreamt fourteen things in her
dream. The King enquired their Guru Kaudinya about the interpretation of
the dream. The Guru explained that according to Digambar Jain sect the
dream would have sixteen things. This vision confirms the birth of a
Tirthankara. The King knew his wife has conceived. Thus the birth of
pious souls got confirmed by their kula-guru. The King happily thanked
the Queen for giving the pride to him as the father of a Tirthankara.
The Queen delivered a boy baby during the waning moon on the twelfth
day of the Bhadrapad month. The entire Kingdom celebrated the happy
moment. The King named the baby as Shreyans Kumar. He was always calm
and humble. Everyone praised him for his composed nature. He had great
faith in God. He was brave and straightforward. He grew as a prince. He
got married.
His father King Vishnu decided to travel in search of salvation. Even
though he knew that his Shreyans would become a Tirthankara, still he
coronated him as the king. Then he left the kingdom to practice
religious penance. He wanted his subjects to enjoy Shreyans ruling.
Prince Shreyans accepted the Kingship and started taking care of his
people. He did not rule the kingdom but guided individuals and showed
them direction to live. All people lived in peace for many years. King
Shreyans now saw his son Sudharma grown big.
Shreyansnath – Ascetic Life
King Shreyans started feeling about the liberation. He did not like
the material comforts. He decides to give the kingdom to his son and
leave the country to attain omniscience. Though people felt sorry for
his leaving, they agreed to his decision. Many people followed his path
and embraced asceticism.
He practiced religious penance. He also gave away all wealth to
people. He even left his fistful of hair stating ‘Namo Siddhanam’ and
wandered in the forest. He meditated profound and long. He became a
Shraman and continued practicing penance. After two months he achieved
Nirvana. He sat under the mango tree to attain omniscience. On the
fifteenth day of Krishna Paksham (Period between the Full moon and New
moon) of the Magh month, he attained Nirvana. Krishna Paksham gets also
referred as the dark half of the month or the waning moon.
Nirvana
He preached and insisted people to follow the tenets of the Jain
religion. He started spreading Jainism. He taught his followers about
kindness and ahimsa. He told them the three code of conduct namely Right
Act, Right Manner, and Right Knowledge. After several years of his
continuous discourses and lectures, he achieved Nirvana during the
Krishna Paksham. On the third day of the waning moon of the Shravan
month, he attained Mukti at the top of the hill Sammed Shikhar.
It was believed that during the period of Shreyansnath Lord Mahaveera
swayed as the first Vasudev Triprishtha. Soon after Triprishtha died,
his brother Baldev Achal became the follower of Dharmaghosh.
Dharmaghosh, in turn, followed Shreyansnath. Baldev Achal attained
liberation during that birth.
Conclusion
The sign of Shreyansnath is rhinoceros. Bhagavan Shreyansnath came to
the earth to uplift humanity. He with all his compassion and love
purified the land. Such realized souls make the atmosphere calm and
pure. Every Tirthankara come with the purpose teaching people detachment
from materials. To cross the sea of birth and death cycle and attain
Nirvana, everyone must fight their internal enemies. Yes, Tirthankara
means ford maker. Tirtha means Ford. One who happens to create a path in
the ocean of misery to offer salvation becomes a Jina. Jina means a
conqueror of material existence. He attains liberation through
self–discipline. Jinas also helped all humankinds to battle their
struggle and educate them to achieve freedom from worldly life.
India has got the blessings from God to have such Tirthankaras exist
in the country to purify the entire nation. Blessed souls including
Bhagavan Sreyansnath and the twenty-three other Tirthankaras have helped
people to cross the ocean of Samsara. Samsara in Sanskrit means mundane
existence.
Follow the preaching of Tirthankaras to attain salvation from all the
misery and trouble caused by living. With spreading Peace to the world,
God incarnated such realized souls in India.
Father: | Vishnu |
---|---|
Mother: | Vishnudri (Vishna) |
Dynasty: | Ikshvaku |
Birth: | Simhapuri |
Nirvana: | Sammed Shikhar |
Colour: | Golden |
Symbol: | Rhinoceros |
Height: | 80 dhanusha (240 meters) |
Age: | 8,400,000 common years |
Yaksha: | Manuj |
Yaksini: | Vatsa |
Shree Shreyans Nath 11th Jain Thithankar
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Oleh
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