Shree Ara Nath 18th Jain Thithankar

Shree Ara Nath
18th Jain Tirthankar

Aranath was born as King Dhanpati. Every soul keeps coming to earth till they attain Mukti. Likewise, Aranath ruled Sushima city located in Mahavideha area. He ruled for several years. He lived a simple and calm life. He always focused on God and prayers. He obtained Diksha from Samvar Muni.

He underwent a painstaking penance for several numbers of births and had accomplished a highly dignified state of clarity. Then such souls will come to earth as an Arihant. Arihant means destroyer. Tirthankara’s destroy the internal ill qualities like greed, ego etc. and become Arihantas.

Aranath was reincarnated in the Gods Graiveyak dimension. After that, his soul came down in the womb of Queen Mitradevi. She was the spouse of King Sudarshana and Queen of Hastinapur. The Queen had dreamt about fourteen things in her dream which is believed to be sixteen according to the Digambar sect. The Queen shared details about her dream to the King. The King briefed her regarding the birth of a Chakravrthi and Tirthankara. They felt proud of becoming parents to such a great soul. They celebrated his birth and enjoyed every moment by thanking God for blessing them with a great soul to be born as their son.

On the tenth day of the waning moon of the Margshirsh month, Queen Mitradevi delivered a boy baby. Along with the fourteen dreams, the Queen repeatedly imagined a wheel studded with gems most of the time during her pregnancy. This made the king name the child as Ara Kumar. Arah means wheel studded with gems. He believed that the soul in the womb was the reason for such a dream to the Queen.

Ara Kumar grew as a man, and his father wanted him to become the king of Hastinapur. He gave him his throne and left for the forest to embrace asceticism. King Ara was brilliantly ruling the kingdom. When the Chakra the “disc like weapon” appeared, he along with thirty-two thousand kings followed the chakra. With his mighty army, he conquered the chakra and became the Chakravarthy. He won over the six continents.

Aranath – Ascetic Life

After many years of his favourable ruling, he started thinking about birth and death cycle. One day while sitting under a mango tree all his previous birth came in his mind. He felt detached from the mundane existence. He could not focus on ruling the kingdom any further. So he decided to crown the throne to the next generation. As he knew without focus one cannot do justice to any work they perform. He did not want his subjects to suffer. He then gave away all his wealth. He started his journey towards asceticism. Many people followed his path of renunciation. He spent most of the time wandering in the forest. He meditated under the mango tree. He attained omniscience after three years of meditation in the Sahasrara forest that is outside Hastinapur.

Nirvana

He started his preaching duty. He preached Jain philosophy to people. He taught them the ill effects that will happen when one fails to get detached from the mundane life. He showed them light to their mind that was clouded with darkness due to desires. He educated them on the real purpose of existence.

He continued to explain the three codes of conduct namely Right deed, Right opinion and Right behaviour. He told people that, with the power of deeper meditation they could get released from four vitiating Karmas. That includes illusion, frustration, perception, and energy obstruction.

His first speech after attaining Nirvana was about the ways to conquer the internal qualities like attachment and hatred.

During the first spiritual meeting, thousands of people started following him in the ascetic life. The thirty-two chief disciples who were headed by Kumbh also were part of the thousand people.

After spending several years, precisely more than twenty-one thousand years of serving as a preacher he attained liberation at Sammed Shikhar Ji.

Few Renowned Followers of Bhagwan Aranath

The Sixth Vasudevas

The Seventh Baldevas

The eighth Chakravarti (Subhum)

Temples Built for Bhagavan Aranath

Madhyapradesh – Jain temple at Bajrangarhi Guna
Uttar Pradesh – Shri 1008 Digambar Jain Atishaya Kshetra Navagarh at Nabai, Sojana Taluka, Lalitpur , Shri Hastinapur Teerth Kshetra at Hastinapur.
Maharashtra – Shri Digambar Jain Atishaya Kshetra Nemgiri Samsthan at Jintur Parbhani.

Conclusion

Symbol of Bhagavan Aranath is fish. Bhagavan Arahnath exhorted his disciples to perform the spiritual penance. He taught them to love and compassion. He made them realize the truth that only by getting detached from carnal pleasures one can attain Mukti.

Self-discipline comes first to realise one self. One must work hard towards crossing the ocean of life and birth cycle and attaining moksha. Soul of every individual will look for such an elevated state.

God created such divine souls to help humanity attain liberation. Such souls help humankind to free them from the bondage of illusion. They helped people to purify one’s words and deeds. Upon purification, every soul will get closer to attaining Mukti.

Family
Father:	Sudarsana
Mother:	Mitra devi
Dynasty:	Ikshvaku
Places
Birth:	Hastinapura
Nirvana:	Sammed Shikhar
Attributes
Colour:	Golden
Symbol:	Fish/Nandavarta
Height:	30 dhanusha (90 meters)
Age:	84,000 years
Attendant Gods
Yaksha:	Yakshendra
Yaksini:	Dharini