Shree Kunthu Nath
17th Jain Tirthankar
Tirthankara is born as an ordinary person in this world. They attain highly elevated status due to their continuous religious penance. They not only practice penance during one birth but all through their previous birth. They obtain the Tirthankara Nam Karma and come to earth to help people cross the sea of struggles. They also help people to get liberation from the worldly life.
17th Jain Tirthankar
Tirthankara is born as an ordinary person in this world. They attain highly elevated status due to their continuous religious penance. They not only practice penance during one birth but all through their previous birth. They obtain the Tirthankara Nam Karma and come to earth to help people cross the sea of struggles. They also help people to get liberation from the worldly life.
Jain philosophy has strong faith that the time cycle has no end. They
have identified time cycles as two -Utsarpini or successive period and
Avsarpini or reverse cycle. Progression means development. During this
cycle, people see positive development in every endeavour. On the other
hand during Avsarpini everything gets worst.
Further, these two time-cycles has six different periods called Aras.
Total twelve Aras including both half cycle. Each Ara will long for
several years. This duration is not the same across Aras. Set of 24
Tirthankaras come to earth during every one-half of the time cycle.
Birth and Childhood of Kunthunatha
Every individual has many births. Again Jain beliefs mention this.
Per that belief, Kunthunatha was born as King Simhavaha. He ruled the
Khadgi town located in Mahavideha area. He ruled the kingdom
competently. He was God fearing and very sanctimonious. When he felt he
must leave the country, he handed over the kingdom to the younger
generation and obtained Diksha from Samvaracharya.
After his thorough spiritual penances over numerous lifetimes, he
attained an extraordinary state of illumination. Due to his past karmas,
he was born as a Tirthankara in his next birth. He reawakened in the
Sarvarthasiddha aspect of the Gods.
Then his soul entered the womb of Queen Shri Devi. She married the
Hastinapur King Shursen. At the time of sunrise during the ninth day of
Shravan Krishna, the Queen witnessed a propitious fourteen dreams. The
dream included encouraging things like Lakshmi seated on Lotus, a golden
urn, a celestial vehicle moving in space, and much more.
The Queen informed about her dream to the King. The King knew that a
Chakravarthi would come to the earth. Also, he understood that he would
become the next Tirthankara. The Queen knew no bound to joy. She felt so
elated. She was happy because she has got the fortune of carrying such a
great soul in her womb. The time passed by and the Queen delivered a
boy baby on the fourteenth day of Krishna Paksham (waning moon) dark
half of the Vaisakh month. The Queen often dreamt about a bundle of
gemstones during her pregnancy, and hence the king named the baby as
Kunthu Kumar. Kunthu means a bunch of ornaments.
He grew up as a wise and charming prince. Many kings came forward to
marry their princess to him. He got married and lived as an active
devotee of God. The King Shursen crowned his son and left to the forest
to embrace asceticism.
When the Chakra was found in the armoury, he followed it to conquer.
The entire kings agreed to his rule and avoided any quarrel. Kunthunatha
became a Chakravarti without any bloodshed. He came to his country and
ruled the kingdom. He announced celebration for twelve years. He also
said during the celebration period no one needs to pay any tax. Harmony
and Bliss swayed across the kingdom.
Kunthunatha – Ascetic Life
While all were going on well, but his mind started poking him. He
began thinking about the brutal circle of life and death. Soon in his
meditation, he visualized his past birth. He realized that he is a Keval
Gyani. Keval Gyani’s has the power to visualize all the three births.
He understood his purpose of existence.
After several years of peaceful reign, he decided to embrace
asceticism. Precisely, after twenty-three thousand seven hundred and
fifty years he began his journey as an ascetic. More than one thousand
kings followed him in the ascetic life. He then practiced penance, and
after sixteen long years, his omniscience was achieved. On the third day
of the Shukla Pakasham (waxing moon) of the Chaitra month under the
Tilak tree, he attained omniscience. The tree was located in the jungle
of Sahasramara located outside Hastinapur.
Nirvana
His first speech after attaining omniscience was about inner purity.
To cleanse the inner self, one must get rid of possession – possession
of wealth and emotional attachment. He being an Arihant, taught people
to destroy their internal enemies. Arihant means destroyer. Internal
enemies include ego, lust, deceit, greed, and pride. To wash away one’s
sin one must give away the self.
He taught the Jain code of conduct to people – The Right Knowledge,
Right Conduct, and Right Action. He preached for several years.
He finally reached Sammed Shikhar Ji and practiced fasting for one
month. Then he breathed last and his body left the world. All his
followers continued his preaching. Many people were present during his
cremation. He attained Nirvana. The earthly remains of Bhagavan
Kunthunatha were emptied by the gods to worship.
Temples Built for Bhagavan Kunthunatha
- Rajasthan – Jaisalmer – Dilwara Temple
- Uttar Pradesh – Hastinapur – Shri Hastinapur Teerth Kshetra
- Tamilnadu – Kanchipuram – Shri Munigiri Teerth
People believe that he is still present with them and helping them to attain salvation. Such blessed souls have no end.
Conclusion
Symbol of Bhagavan Kunthunatha is the goat. Bhagavan Kunthunatha
insisted his followers to follow the tenets of Jain philosophy. He
taught them the power of ahimsa, truth, love, and brotherhood. He paved
them a way to attain liberation. He preached them the value of life.
Such blessed souls uplift the humankind and provide them ways to
cross the Samudra of struggles. With their Keval Gyani power, they could
see others past, present, and future. Hence they suggest ways to get
rid of all bad qualities.
India is a prosperous country to continuously have set of 24
Tirthankaras during every half cycle of Kaal. Such souls are incarnated
to represent God in the earth. Realising the power of such souls, one
must discipline them to attain Mukti.
| Father: | Surya (Sura) |
|---|---|
| Mother: | Sri devi |
| Dynasty: | Ikshvaku |
| Birth: | Hastinapura |
| Nirvana: | Sammed Shikhar |
| Colour: | Golden |
| Symbol: | Goat  |
| Height: | 35 dhanusha (105 meters) |
| Age: | 95,000 years |
| Yaksha: | Gandharva |
| Yaksini: | Achyuta |
Shree Kunthu Nath 17th Jain Thithankar
4/
5
Oleh
photofun4ucom
