Shalibhadra-Motivational Story

Once upon a time, there lived a poor mother and her son in a small village. One day, there was a festival in the village and all the kids, including the poor son gathered to play. After playing, everyone started to eat kheer (sweet rice pudding and milk) which they brought with them from home. This poor boy did not have anything with him. He felt bad and ran back to his mother. He asked her if she would make him the kheer since all the children were eating it. His mother said that she could not make kheer and told him to eat whatever she had cooked. He started crying and insisted on the kheer. His mother did not want to see him cry, so she went to the neighbor's house and borrowed some milk, sugar and rice to make the kheer for her son. She poured the kheer into a dish and left to get the water from the well. As the boy was about to start eating, he heard the words, "Dharma Labh," (meaning, you be blessed with the spirituality, usually spoken by a Jain Sadhu). He saw a monk at the door for the alms (food). Without any hesitation, the hungry boy invited the monk in and offered him the kheer. While pouring the kheer all of it slipped into the monk's pot. He was happy that he could offer this to the monk even though nothing was left for him to eat. His good intention brought him good karmas, and in his next life, he was born as a famous Shalibhadra.

Shalibhadra's mother was Bhadra Shethani and his father was Gobhadra Sheth. His father had left the house when the boy was young and became a monk. Shalibhadra was a born multimillionaire. His life was like being in heaven. It was said that even the heavenly angels were jealous of his lavish lifestyle. He had 32 beautiful wives. His mother never let him out of his palace in a fear that he might become a monk like his father.

One day, some merchants from Nepal came to sell some very expensive sarees. They went to King Shrenik's court where the king told them that he could not afford to use his citizens' money for such expensive sarees. They were going back with disappointment because they had the high hopes about this city. When Bhadra Shethani came to know about this, she sent for those merchants. The merchants were reluctant to go because if the King could not buy, how any resident could buy such expensive thing. But they went there anyway. Bhadra Shethani asked, "What do you have?" They said they had sixteen sarees. She said, "Only sixteen? I need thirty-two saris because I have thirty-two daughter-in-laws." The merchants thought she was joking and would not buy even one. She said, "What are you waiting for. Take out those sarees." They took out those sixteen sarees. The merchants were surprised that without any second thought she bought all sixteen sarees. They were further dazed to see her tearing such precious sarees into two pieces in front of them and giving a piece to each of her daughters-in-laws to wipe their feet. The merchants were stunned but left with joy. The daughters-in-laws used these pieces once and threw them away.

One of the servants of Shalibhadra took one of the pieces for the Queen. The Queen was surprised but happy that such rich people lived in her Kingdom. She told this to King Shrenik. He also felt very proud of such rich people who uphold the good name of his Kingdom. He invited Shalibhadra to his court to honor him. When Bhadra Shethani found out, she went to the King and told him her son was very shy and invited the King to come to their palace to honor Shalibhadra. King Shrenik accepted the invitation and went to Shalibhadra's palace. When King Shrenik reached there, he realized that his palace was nothing compared to Shalibhadra's palace. Bhadra Shethani offered him a place to sit and asked Shalibhadra to come down to see the King. Shalibhadra did not know anything about King or Kingdom and thought that there was some sort of merchandise that his mother wanted to show him. So he said, "I do not want to see that but go ahead and buy it." His mother said, "This is not the merchandise. He is our King, our master, and you need to come down to greet and honor him." The word "master" started ringing in his ears. He wondered, "Why should I have a master over me. I should be the master of myself." While thinking like this, he came down, and paid respects to the King, but he could not stay very long and went back.

He kept on thinking that he was not free because there was someone over him. He started to think about his father (who had become a monk) and the real meaning of life. He decided at that moment to become a monk and told his family about the decision. His mother and wives tried to convince him to spend some more time with them and maybe later think about it. But he did not listen. At last, he agreed that instead of leaving all thirty-two wives at once, he will leave one wife at a time, and then he would definitely become a monk. He started to do that the very same day.

A few days passed by. One day, his sister Subhadra was giving her husband Dhanna a bath and suddenly tears rolled down from her eyes and fell on him. He looked up, and saw his loving wife crying. He asked her what had happened. She told him that her brother had decided to be a monk and he had been leaving one wife every day. Dhanna laughed and told Subhadra, "Her brother was a coward. If he wanted to leave his wives, why wait?" Subhadra was upset to hear that, and told her husband, "It is easier said than done." This sparked awareness in Dhanna's mind, and he told her, "I am leaving all eight of my wives right now, and I am leaving right now to be a monk." Subhadra was taken by a surprise. She told him that he must be joking. But Dhanna said, "It is too late now. I am determined to be a monk. If you all want to join me you are welcome." Seeing Dhanna determined, Subhadra and the rest of his seven wives, also decided to become nuns.

Now, Dhanna came to his brother-in-law Shalibhadra's place and challenged him, "Hey coward! If you really want to leave the family and become a monk, then what are you waiting for? Join me."

Shalibhadra heard and accepted the challenge. He told his wives, "Sorry, but I am leaving you all today." He went down to join his brother-in-law. His wives joined him too. All of them went to Lord Mahavir and took Diksha.

What an incredible ending to such a luxurious life! After observing the penance as monk, Shalibhadra was born as an angel in Svarthsiddha Viman. From there, he would be born in Mahavideh Kshetra and ultimately attain liberation, Moksh......

UPADHAYAY SHRI YASHOVIJAYJI MAHARAJ SAHEB

Shrimad Yashovijayji Upadhyay was born in a small village Kanoda in North Gujarat. Narayan was his father and Saubhagyadevi was his mother. Saubhagyadevi was so deeply religious that she would not have her food without listening to the recitation of Bhaktamar stotra. Once, because of heavy rains, she could not go to upashraya. Thus failing to listen to the recitation of the ‘stotra’ from the nun she had to do without food and water. Jashvant, the son, came to know about it and he told her mother that as he had been accompanying her to the upashraya and had been listening to the recitation of the stotra he knew it verbatim.

About five years of age, the boy recited the entire Bhaktamar stotra. Thus Jashvant, the darling son of the mother, came to be loved by all in the village. Once Jashvant joined the monk in expiatory recitals (pratikramam – i.e. penitential retreat) and he had learnt all the sutras that he heard only once. The religious parents dedicated such a bright child to the service of the religion.

The personality of Shri Yashovijayji had an aura about it. Pujya Shri Nayvijayji, the guru of Shri Yashovijayji, was also very happy with the pursuit of knowledge of his disciple. He thought that such a brilliant monk could achieve eminence if he could be sent to the learned scholars of Varanasi. At this juncture a Jain layman named Dhanji Sura requested the monk that in case Yashovijayji was allowed by the guru to go to Varanasi for further studies, he should be given the privilege of sharing the responsibility of looking after the arrangements for Yashovijayji’s stay at Varanasi. On the banks of river Ganga in Varanasi, Yashovijayji got the blessings of goddess Sarasvati. He studied the subject of Nyay (logic) and impressed by his deep knowledge even the non-Jain scholars conferred the titles of ‘Nyayacharya’ and ‘Nyayavisharad’ on Shri Yashovijayji. As he exhibited eighteen types of concentration (avadhan) before the suba (administrator) of Ahmedabad, the latter was surprised by Yashovijayji’s power of concentration and memory.

In A.D. 1687 he had his last chaturmas (four months’ of stay during monsoon at one place) on the sacred land of Dabhoi. He passed away after a very devoted life of 55 years. Upadhyay Shri Yashovijayji, who had composed works on logic, grammar and meditation and spiritual philosophy in Sanskrit, Prakrit and Gujarati, is known as ‘Laghu Haribhadraji’ or diuitiya (the second) Hemchandracharya. Because of his rich and diverse literary creations, Upadhyay Yashovijayji can be recognised as ‘antim shrutpargami’ just as Shri Bhadrabahuswami is known as the ‘antim shrutkevali’ in Jainism.

If someone utters the word upadhyayji it would mean Shrimad Yashovijayji Upadhyay. ‘So says Upadhyayji’ is regarded as the final word and ultimate authority in scriptural matters. His contemporary monks regarded him as the sarvajna (omniscient) in matters of the scriptures and also as shrutkevali (scripture – omniscient). Author of more than 100 books in Sanskrit, Prakrut and Gujarati, he also earned the titles of Tattvavisharad and Kurchatsharda. Besides writing the books that were theoretical and academic, he composed poems that were immensely popular. As Shri Bhadrabahuswami was known as antim shrutkevali so also Upadhyayji can be regarded as antim shrutpargami (last knower of all Jain canonical scriptures). Since his time, there has been no other scholar as learned and competent as him.

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Some Western People who attracted towards Jainism

Jainism was introduced to Germany and rest of European countries by some scholars of Indology in 17th to 19th Century. It was Virchand Gandhi, a Barrister from India who introduced this religion to North America and the world through World Parliament of Religions at Chicago in 1893. Barriester Champatray Jain, another Jain scholar from India, introduced Jainism to England.

Lot of research was done by European scholars in 18th to Early half of 20th Century. But all this was limited to promotion of just knowledge.Then came the second half of last Century. A large number of Jains from India, Uganda, Kenya and some other countries migrated to Europe and North America. Although they were not interested in propagating Jainism in non-Jains, people of other faiths slowly got attracted towards this less known religion.A small but increasing number of people started to adopt Jainism.Here I am introducing some of the great western individuals, who have converted to Jainism.

Pop Singer Claudia Pastorino

Claudia Pastorino is a famous Pop Singer from Italy. Claudia was born in Genova. She was attracted to Jainism and dedicated herself to study of this faith.
She has written many books on Jainism in Italian language.
She learned Prakrit language and translated Saman Suttam in Italian.
She also translated the famous book on Jainism, The Book of Compassion, in Italian language.
She works for Animal Rights and is a staunch vegetarian

Patrick Krueger from Germany

Patrick F. Krueger, born 1972 in Tübingen, is head of the Center for Jaina Studies (CfJS) of Freie Universität Berlin. He attended Rudolf Steiner School of Anthroposophy (Theosophy) until 1990 and spent afterwards several years in Sweden, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Afterwards he studied Ancient and Modern Scandinavian Philology, Norse History and Archaeology at Ernst-Moritz-Arndt Universität Greifswald and assisted in a research project on old Icelandic language (computational linguistics) as well as in the development of a dictionary of modern Icelandic language.

Subsequently, he graduated in History of Indian Art (including Sanskrit) and East Asian Art (including Tibetan language) at Freie Universität Berlin and Ancient and Modern History of South Asia at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.

At Freie Universität Berlin he was introduced to Jainism and Jaina Studies by Prof. Klaus Bruhn who is one of the leading experts in Jainology and was once a student of Ludwig Alsdorf and Walther Schubring. Patrick Krueger is focused on Jaina Art, History and Religion. In 2011 he
founded the Center for Jaina Studies at the Department of History and Cultural Studies of Freie Universität Berlin. In addition to his academic activity he is committed to spread the knowledge of Jainism and Ahimsa to the non-academic public. Hence he joined in 2010 the team of the Jaina web portal and online magazine HereNow4U.net.

Pierre Amiel A French Jain

Pierre Amiel is a retired Public Administrator from France. He first heard about Jainism at the age of 22. After retirement in 1993, he decided to promote Jainism in French language, and started to right articles in Jain Spirit, a Jain magazine published from England. in1998 his first book on Jainism, French translation of Lord Mahavira: A Study in Historical Perspective was published. In very next year, his another book Le Jainisme, Philosophie et Religion de L’Inde a translation of Dr. Vilas Sangave's English book Aspects of Jain Religion was published. In 2003, his own book Les Jains aujourd’hui dans le monde was published which later got translated in English and published as Jains Today in The World by a Jainology research Institute from India. In 2008 his another book B.A.-B.A. Jainisme was published. He has also introduced Tavarth Sutra, Samay Sar and Niyam Sar in French language.
He has given several lectures on Jainism in seminars.
Pierre Amiel became my penfriend in 90's. At that time, I remember, he wrote that he wanted to spread the message of Jainism in all the French Speaking world. He has really taken strong steps to fulfill his ambitions.

Film Maker Author Dr. Michael Tobias

Dr. Michael Tobias is a Film Maker, Author and Ecologist. He has written several books on Ecology, Animal Rights, Jainism and other subjects. One of his famous book on Jainism is Life Force: The World of Jainism, which is known as the Best book on Jainism.
He produced a film on Jainism Ahimsa –Nonviolence which was release all over United States and appreciated on large scale.
He regularly writes on various subjects in American print media, including the Forbes magazine.

Charlotte Laws: a Multi Dimensional Personality

Charlotte Laws is an American author and Animal Rights Activist. She is also a politician from Los Angeles.
She also host some TV shows and is an actress too.
She has written two books on Jains and Jainism.
Really she is a multi dimensional personality

Dr. Robert Zydenbos is a renowned scholar of Jainism and Dravidian studies. He was born in Canada and is of Dutch origin. He has written several books on Jainism, including Moksha in Jainism, and Jainism Today and its Future.
He regularly visits Dharmasthala and Shravanabelagola in Karnataka, India, the sacred places of Jains.

Dr Natalia Zheleznova: Russian Scholar

Dr Natalia Zheleznova is research scholar of Jainism inMoscow State University Russia. She has a deep study and faith in the literture of Acharya Kundkunda. Has visited Shravanabelagola. Recently she got Kund Kund Bharati Award from Kund Kund Bharati, a Prakrit research institute from New Delhi.

Dimitris Gf Jain from Greece

Dimitris Gf Jain: A Jain from Greece

Dimitris Gf Jain was born to orthodox Christian couple of Greece, but he never embraced Christianity due to philosophical reasons. He embraced his own lifestyle, and later got to know it matched with Jain philosophy and its teaching.
He is a Vegan Jain, knows Greek, English and Hindi languages. He is probably the only Jain in Greece.

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Acharya Shri Bhuvanbhanu Soorishwarji Maharaj

Shri Kantibhai(Acharya Shri Bhuvanbhanu Soorishwarji Maharaj) was born on the 6th day of the bleak fortnight of Chaitra in Vikram Era 1968, in a highly cultured and distinguished family in Ahmedabad. He was the second son of Shri Chimanbhai and Shrimati Bhuriben. He received academic education and passed, with distinction, a Banking Examination of England of those days and thus showed his in-born intellectual brilliance.

When he was a buoyant and brilliant youth of 23 years; with overflowing intellectual potentialities, he, along with his younger brother Popatlal renounced the splendor of the worldly life; and received initiation into the Charitradharma at the holy feet of the Venerable Acharya Shri Premasoorishwarji on the 12th day of Paush Sud (the bright fortnight) in the year 1991 of the Vikram Era, in Chanasma, in Gujarat; and become Muni Bhanu Vijayaji. His younger brother become Muni Padma Vijayji, Later, another younger brother of his become a muni under the name of Tarunvijayji; and his younger sister received the Deeksha and became Sadhvi Hansakirtishriji.

Bhanuvijayji made on in-depth study of the Jain Agams and the various systems of the Western philosophy; and he attained mastery over such branches of knowledge as logic (Nyayshastra), while he was carrying out scriptural studies and teaching the scriptures, his innate talent for delivering elevation discourses also began to blossom forth into blissful dimensions; and a large number of educated youngsters become his disciples (Shishyas). He organized training camps (Shibirs) and through them he showed the way of discipline, culture and noble conduct to thousands of youngsters and inspired in them lofty spiritual ideals.

Besides, carrying out such lofty tasks as scriptural studies and meditation, he established a permanent record by carrying out a special Jain spiritual austerity called the Vardhaman Ayambil Tap.

It is a unique experience to hear him singing devotional songs with his sweet but lofty voice, swaying with devotion, taking its origins from the depths of his poetic genius; or to see him writing out his reflections late into the night in the dim moonlight.

He is the spiritual head of a hundred and eight five disciples who are Sadhus; and has written one hundred books. Bhuvanbhanu Soorishwarji became on Acharya on the second day of Magasir (bright fortnight) in the year 2029 of the Vikram Era. He carried out Padyatra in Bihar, Bengal, Gujarat, Maharashtra, U.P., walking thousands of miles; and now even at the age of 77, he has been showing the right path to thousands of people to attain serenity and felicity. His writings appear regularly in " Divyadarshan" a Gujarati weekly and thus the mighty stream of his lofty contemplations keeps flowing.

Bhuvanbhanu Suri Smruti Mandir is located at Pankaj society,Ahmedabad.


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Jambu Vijayji Maharaj Saheb-A Moving University

Jambuvijay Maharaj Saheb (1923–2009), also known as Muni Jambuvijayji Maharajsaheb, was a monk belonging to the Tapa Gaccha order of Svetambara sect of Jainism.Jambuvijay was born as Chunilal Bhogilal Joitram in 1923 in town of Mandal, Gujarat. His father's name was Bhogilal Mohanlal Joitram (1895–1959) and his mother's name was Aniben Popatlal (1894–1995). He was born in a deeply religious family. His father took vow oflifelong celibacy in 1925 and was initiated as a Jain monk Muni Bhuvanvijaya in 1932. His mother took initiation as Sadhavi Manoharashriji in 1939 under her own sister Sadhavi Labhashriji. All of Jambuvijayaji's aunts were initiated as sadhavi's and there were a number of initiations in his mothers family.

Image courtsey-deshgujarat,com

In Ratlam in 1937, at the age of 14 he took initiation as a Jain monk under his father, Acharya Bhuvanvijaya, who became his teacher. Later on he studied under Acharya Punyavijaya and assisted him cataloging various Jain manuscripts. After the death of Muni Punyavijaya, he became the chief editor of the Jain Agama series. Muni Jambuvijayji was a polyglot and knew 22 languages. Among them were Sanskrit, Prakrit, Pali, Apabhramsha, Gujarati, Hindi, Tibetan and some others.

Image courtsey-herenow4u.net

There was a unique thing about Jambu Vijayji’s learning and teaching process. When he wanted to teach something to a scholar visiting him, he would seat higher. But when he wanted to learn something from the scholar, say a foreign language, he would make the foreign scholar seat on a height. It is Indian tradition that Guru always seats on a seat and a person who has come to Guru to learn something from him seats on floor. Jambuvijayji was so humble to seat on lower place when he wanted to learn something from a scholar visiting him. That is how he mastered about 22 languages - Gujarati, Hindi, English, Sanskrit, French, German, Sinhali, Tibetian, Japanese etc.

Jambu Vijay Ji was not in favor of building new and newer Jain Mandirs here and there. He was also not in favor of throwing money during Varshidan procession. Once he said, Swami Vatsalya was meant to visit poor houses and distribute food or needed things there, so that really poor people would be happy and bless the Diksha ceremony. In typical Varshidan nowadays, only those who are powerful grab the money.

Contrary to recent trend of urban savvy Jain monks, Shri Jambuvijay would always prefer to spend majority of his time in rural areas. He always preferred to halt in village so that large amount of visitors would not disturb him frequently in his reasearch work. He used to select a place where Jain Upashraya and Jain Mandir are located side by side, so that he and his mother would be able to have darshan every day in morning.

In 2007, Italian scholar Michel stayed 2 months in a small village near Rann of Kutch to get authentic guidance for her study on Jainism from Shri Jambu Vijay Ji Maharaj who was staying there for Chaturmas. Michel became permanently vegetarian and started chanting Jain Navkar Mantra every day during her stay. Today Michell is in Italy, but she orders Gujarati Khakhara from Ahmedabad to continue her pledge of being vegetarian as there are few choices for vegetarians in Italy.

Image courtsey-Jainsamaj,org

To become vegetarian is next to impossible for a person born and living in country like Japan. But he was Jambu Vijay Ji who made a Japanese scholar Shin Fujinaga a vegetarian. Fujinata first met Jambu Vijayji in 1982 and he was frequent visitor to Maharaj Saheb in all these years. He has Jain monk’s daily usage objects there in his house in Japan. Fujinaga is actually a telecom engineer. He is involved in Japan Jain Sangh activities. Jambu Vijayji’s last foreign disciple Hiroko is still here in Gujarat.She is here for her scholarly work about Buddhist manuscripts.

In last 10-12 years Shri Jambu Vijay Maharaj spent his Chaturmas(four-month period every year during which Jain monk would limit himself at one place) in areas around Shankheshwar.  One place - Surel where his 3.00 pm discourse was attended by all the village people, most of them non-Jains. It was like shut-down in whole village to listen to Maharaj Saheb.He lastly decided to spend Chaturmas periods in villages of his Diksharthi disciples. His next Chaturmas was scheduled at Mandsor(Madhya Pradesh) as Namaskar Muni who died with him in accident was from Ratlam. His visited Dhanpura village in recent past for Diksha of a Rajput boy. As Dhanpura is located just 11 km away from Dethali, we requested Maharaj Saheb to visit Dethli. And he replied that for saisari people it’s easy to push accelerator of a vehicle, but for Jain monks, the life is on legs, and the monks have to do many important things. When Jambuvijayji visited Badrinath in northern Himalayan area, the military people stationed there were amazed to know how a person could walk 3,000 kms in old-age barefoot to Himalaya from Gujarat!

 He was known for his pioneering work in research, cataloging and translations of Jain Agamas and ancient texts. He was responsible for discovering and publishing many ancient Jains texts lying in different forgotten Jain jnana bhandaras). He was a disciple of Muni Punyavijay. Both Muni Punyavijay and Jambuvijay had worked all their life in the compilation and publication of our ancient Jain Agama literature and cataloging ancient Jain jnana bhandaras. Muni Jambuvijay was a scholar who devoted his entire life to critically editing the Jain scriptures.

Prof. Dr. John Cort mentions the difficulties faced and the persistence shown by Muni Jambuvijay in ensuring that ancient manuscripts which were under lock and key were brought to light. Many bhandaras like the one at Patan were unopened for decades or centuries and Muni Jambuvijay had to often use his mendicant charisma to convince the trustee to open up the libraries.

Shree Jambu Vijay Ji Maharaj, disciple of Shri Bhuvan Bhanu Ji Maharaj worked almost all their life in the compilation and publication of our ancient Jain Ägam literature. Many learned scholars worked under the leadership of Shri Jambu Vijay Ji Maharaj in the compilation and publication of Jainism’s most authentic literary treasure. The partial list of such scholars are; Muni Shri Dharmachandvijay, Late Pundit Shri Bechardas Doshi, Late Pundit Shri Amrutlal Bhojak, Late Pundit Shri Dalsukh Malvania, Dr. Sagarmal Jain, Dr. Nagin Shah, Late Dr. Harivallabh Bhayani, Pundit Rupendra Pagariya, Pundit Suresh Sisodiya, Dr. V M Kulkarni, and Dr. Vasudevsharan Agrawal.

Scholars not only from Jain community but other communities as well are deeply shocked by sudden demise of such a towering personality.Jambu Vijayji was a moving University completely irreplaceable. 

About Author
Umang Shah

I'm not addicted to twitter,+Umang and Facebook. I only tweet/posts when I have time: lunch time, break time, off time, this time,that time, any time, all the time.

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સિધ્ધસેન દિવાકરસૂરિ

ઉજ્જૈન નગરીના વિક્રમરાજા ના પુરોહિતને મુકુંદ નામે પુત્ર હતો,તેની માતાનું નામ દેવસિકા હતું. મુકુન્દપંડિત એક દિવસ વાદ કરવા ભરૂચ જતો હતો, માર્ગમાં તેને વૃદ્ધવાદી સૂરિ મળ્યા.તેમની સાથે ગોવાળો ની સાક્ષીમાં વાદ કર્યો, તેમાં તે મુકુંદ હાર્યો.પછી સૂરિજી તેને રાજસભામાં લઇ ગયા,ત્યાં પણ વૃદ્ધવાદી સૂરિજીએ તેને ફરીથી હરાવ્યો.એટલે મુકુંદે પ્રતિજ્ઞા પ્રમાણે એ સૂરિજીનો શિષ્ય બન્યો.તે વખતે ગુરુએ તેનું નામ કુમુદચંદ્ર પડ્યું.પછી અનુક્રમે તેમને જયારે સૂરિપદ આપ્યું ત્યારે તેમનું પૂ.શ્રી સિધ્ધસેન દિવાકર નામ પાડ્યું.

એક દિવસ વાદ કરવા આવેલા એક ભટ્ટને સંભળાવવા માટે નવકારને બદલે નામોર્હત સિધ્ધાચાર્ય ઉપાધ્યાયે સર્વ સાધુભ્ય:એ પ્રમાણે ચૌદપૂર્વના પ્રારંભમાં કહેલું સંસ્કૃત વાક્ય કહ્યું.તથા એક દિવસ ગુરુને કહ્યું " આ સર્વ આગમ પ્રાકૃતમાં છે તે હું સંસ્કૃતમાં બનાવું " ત્યારે ગુરુએ કહ્યું," બાળ,સ્ત્રી,મંદબુદ્ધિવાળા અને મુર્ખ જનો કે જેઓ ચારિત્ર લેવાની ઈચ્છા વાળા હોય તેમના હિતને માટે તત્વજ્ઞાનીઓ એ સિધ્ધાંતના ગ્રંથો પ્રાકૃતમાં રચ્યા છે તે યોગ્ય છે,છતાં તમે આવો વિચાર કર્યો તેથી મોટી આશાતના કરી છે,અને તે માટે પ્રાયશ્ચિત પણ ઘણું મોટું લાગ્યું છે"એમ કહી તેમને ગચ્છ બહાર કર્યા.તે સાંભળી સંઘે એકઠા થઇ ગુરૂને વિનંતી કરીકે"આ શ્રી સિદ્ધસેન દિવાકરસૂરિ મોટા પ્રભાવક છે, માટે તેમને ગચ્છ બહાર રાખવા યોગ્ય નથી." આ પ્રમાણે સંઘે અતિ આગ્રહ કર્યો ત્યારે ગુરૂ શ્રી વૃદ્ધવાદી સૂરિજીએ કહ્યું કે - " જયારે તે અઢાર રાજાઓને પ્રતિબોધ કરી તેમને જૈન બનાવશે ત્યારે તે ગચ્છ માં આવવા લાયક થશે."

આ પ્રમાણે ગુરુની આજ્ઞા અંગીકાર કરી સિદ્ધસેનસૂરિ ઉજ્જૈની નગરીમાં ગયા.ત્યાં વિક્રમ રાજા અશ્વ ક્રીડા કરવા જતા હતા,રાજાએ સૂરિજીને પૂછ્યું કે તમે કોણ છો ? સૂરિજીએ જવાબ આપ્યો કે હું સર્વજ્ઞપુત્ર છું.તે સાંભળી રાજાએ તેમની પરિક્ષા કરવા માટે મનથી નમસ્કાર કર્યા, એટલે સૂરિજીએ હાથ ઉંચો કરી રાજાને ધર્મલાભની આશિષ આપી.રાજાએ પૂછ્યું કોને ધર્મલાભ આપો છો ? સૂરિજી બોલ્યા જેણે અમને મનથી નમસ્કાર કર્યા તેને અમે ધર્મલાભ આપ્યો છે.તે સાંભળી પ્રસન્ન થયેલા રાજાએ તે સૂરિજી ને એક કરોડ સોનૈયા આપવા લાગ્યા.તે સૂરિજી એ ન લેતાં ધર્મકાર્ય માં વપરાવ્યા.

કેટલાક વર્ષ વીત્યા બાદ એક વાર શ્રી સિદ્ધસેન દિવાકરસૂરિજી ચાર શ્ર્લોક બનાવી રાજદ્વારે ગયા.ત્યાં તેમણે રાજાને પુછાવ્યુ કે તમને મળવા માટે એક ભિક્ષુ ચાર શ્ર્લોક હાથમાં રાખીને આવ્યો છે, તે આવે કે જાય ? રાજાએ કહેરાવ્યું કે દસ લાખ સોના મહોર અને ચૌદ હાથી હું તેમને આપું છું.હવે તેને આવવું હોય તો આવે અને જવું હોય તો જાય.પછી સૂરિજી રાજા પાસે જઈ અનુક્રમે ચાર શ્ર્લોક બોલ્યા.તે સાંભળતાં રાજાએ એકેક શ્ર્લોક બદલ એક દિશાનું રાજ્ય આપવાનો સંકલ્પ કર્યો,પરંતુ સૂરિજીએ તે નહિ લેતાં એટલુજ માગ્યું કે જયારે હું આવું ત્યારે મારો ધર્મોપદેશ સાંભળવો. રાજાએ તે વચન અંગીકાર કર્યું.

એક દિવસ તે સૂરિજી મહાકાળના મંદિરમાં જઈ શિવલિંગ પર પગ રાખી સુતા.તે જોઈ ઘણાં શિવભકતો ક્રોધ પામી તેમને ત્યાંથી ઉઠવા ઘણું કહ્યું,તોપણ તેઓ ઉઠ્યા નહિ.છેવટે રાજા પાસે ફરિયાદ પહોચી,રાજાએ સેવકોને મોકલ્યા અને બળાત્કારે પણ તેમને મંદિર માંથી કાઢી મુકવા ફરમાવ્યું.રાજસેવકો સૂરિજી પાસે પહોચ્યા અને કહેવા છતાં સૂરિજી ત્યાંથી ઉઠ્યા નહી.ત્યારે સેવકોએ તેમને ચાબુક મારવા લાગ્યા,પરંતુ ચાબુકના પ્રહાર સૂરિજીને ન લાગતાં રાજાની રાણીઓને વાગવા લાગ્યા,તેથી અંત:પુરમાં મોટો કોલાહલ થયો.તે જાણી રાજા આશ્ચર્ય પામી મહાકાળના મંદિરમાં આવ્યા,ત્યાં સૂરિજી ને ઓળખી રાજાએ કહ્યું કે આ મહાદેવ તો પૂજ્ય છે,છતાં તમે તેનાપર પગ શામાટે રાખ્યા છે ? સૂરિજી બોલ્યા કે આ મહાદેવ નથી મહાદેવ તો જુદા છે તેથી આ દેવ મારી કરેલી સ્તુતિને સહન કરી શકશે નહિ. રાજા બોલ્યા તો પણ તમે આની સ્તુતિ કરો.ત્યારે સૂરિજીએ કહ્યું ઠીક હું સ્તુતિ કરું છું.તમે સાવધાન રહી સાંભળો.એમ કહી સૂરિજી શ્રી સિદ્ધસેન દિવાકરે કલ્યાણ મંદિર સ્તોત્ર રચવા માંડ્યું તેમાં અગિયારમો શ્ર્લોક બોલ્યા ત્યારે પૃથ્વીકંપ થયો.ધુમાડો નીકળવા લાગ્યો અને પછી શિવલિંગ ફાટી તેમાંથી ધરણેન્દ્ર સહિત પાર્શ્વનાથ સ્વામી ની મહા તેજસ્વી પ્રતિમા પ્રગટ થઇ.આચાર્યે શ્રી સિદ્ધસેન સૂરિજી સ્તોત્ર સંપૂર્ણ કરી રાજાને કહ્યું કે ભદ્રા શેઠાણીનો પુત્ર અવંતિ સુકુમાલ અનસન કરી,કાર્યોત્સર્ગ માં રહી,કાળ કરી નલિનીગુલ્મ વિમાનમાં ગયો છે.તે સ્થાને તેની યાદગીરી માટે તેમના પુત્રે મહાકાલ નામનું આ નવીન ચૈત્ય બંધાવી તેમાં પાર્શ્વપ્રભુની પ્રતિમા ભરાવી સ્થાપન કરી. કેટલેક કાળે મિથ્યા દ્રષ્ટીઓએ તેના પર શિવલિંગ સ્થાપીને પ્રતિમા ઢાંકી દીધી.તે મારી સ્તુતિ થી પ્રગટ થઇ છે. 

રાજાએ હર્ષ પામી મંદિરના ખર્ચ માટે સો ગામ આપ્યા અને પોતે સમ્યક્ત્વ અંગીકાર કર્યું.ત્યાર પછી શ્રી સિદ્ધસેન સૂરિજીએ વિક્રમ રાજાના બીજા અઢાર અનુયાયી રાજાઓને પ્રતિબોધ કરી સમ્યક્ત્વ ધારી કર્યા.તેમના ગુણથી રંજીત થઇ વિક્રમ રાજાએ સૂરિજીને બેસવા સુખાસન આપ્યું તે બેસીને સૂરિજી હમેશાં રાજસભામાં જવા લાગ્યા,આ વાત ગુરૂ શ્રી વૃધ્ધવાદી સૂરિજી ના સાંભળવામાં આવી,તેથી તેઓને પ્રતિબોધ પમાડવા માટે ગુરુશ્રી વૃદ્ધવાદીજી ઉજ્જયિની નગરીમાં આવ્યા.

આચાર્ય શ્રી વૃદ્ધવાદી ગુરૂને ઉજ્જૈન આવ્યા પછી શ્રી સિદ્ધસેન સૂરિજી નિરંતર અતિ વ્યવસાયમાં રહેતા હોવાથી તેમની પાસે જવાનો અવસર મળ્યો નહી.ત્યારે તે ગુરુદેવ ભોઈ (ડોળી ઉપાડનાર)નું રૂપ ધારણ કરી ઉપાશ્રય પાસે ઉભા રહ્યા.પછી જયારે શ્રી સિદ્ધસેનસૂરિ સુખાસનમાં બેસી રાજદ્વારે જવા નીકળ્યા ત્યારે વૃદ્ધવાદીએ એક ભોઈને ઠેકાણે રહી પાલખી ઉપાડી;પરંતુ પોતે અતિ વૃદ્ધ હોવાથી ધીમે ધીમે ચાલતાં હતા.તે જોઈ સિદ્ધસેન બોલ્યા કે " ભૂરિ ભાર ભરાકાન્ત: સ્કંધ: કિ તવ બાધિત ? " (મતલબ હે વૃદ્ધ ! ઘણાં ભારના સમુહથી દબાયેલો તારો સ્કંધ શું તને બાધા પમાડે છે ?) અહી બાધતે એવું આત્મને પદનું રૂપ બોલવું જોઈએ તેને બદલે બાધિત એવું પરસ્મૈપદનું અશુદ્ધ રૂપ શ્રી સિદ્ધસેન બોલ્યા.તેને ઉદ્દેશી શ્રી વૃદ્ધવાદી બોલ્યા " ન તથા બાધતે સ્કંધો યથા બાધતિ બાધતે " ( હે સૂરિ ! તમે વાપરેલો બાધિત પ્રયોગ જેવો બાધા -પીડા કરે છે તેવો મારો આ સ્કંધ મને પીડા નથી કરતો.) તે સાંભળી પોતાની ભૂલ જાણી સિદ્ધસેન ચમત્કાર પામ્યા.ભૂલ કાઢનાર પોતાના ગુરૂ જ છે એમ જાણી તરત જ તેઓ પાલખી માંથી નીચે ઉતર્યા અને ગુરુના પગમાં પડ્યા.ગુરુએ તેમને પ્રતિબોધ પમાડી ગચ્છમાં લીધા.

આચાર્ય સિદ્ધસેન દિવાકર સૂરિજી મહાકવિ થયા છે. ત્યાર પછી તેમના જેવા બીજા કોઈ કવિ થયા નથી. 

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Umang Shah

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GURUMA-LION OF JAIN SHASHAN

Chandrashekhar Maharaj Saheb was born in Mumbai, February 5, 1933 in rich family of Ray bahadur Jivatlal Pratapsinh Radhanpurvala. Shri Chandrashekhar Vijayji Maharaj’s real name was Indravadan. His mother’s name was Subhadraben and father’s name was Kantilal.At the age of 18 in Samvat 2008 he took Diksha in Mumbai’s Bhaykhalla and became a jain monk. Maharaj Saheb’s sister is also Jain monk. Her name is Mahanandashriji. Shri Chandrashekhar Maharaj’s Guru was Shri Premsuri Maharaj saheb.

Shri Chandrashekhar Vijayji gave diksha to 87 disciples. He had authored 275 books.He was strong believer in Indian culture and sanskar. He not just only criticized lord macaulay’s education system but was instrumental in creation of Tapovan vidyapeeths that offer alternative education. Thousands of children of Jains and non-Jains have received an education in Indian style in Tapovan vidyapeeths that are located in Navsari and in Amiyapur near Gandhinagar.
Restless Maharaj Saheb once walked upto Vidarbh to save a Jain derasar there which was locked by the government due to dispute. Maharaj saheb stayed there in difficult circumstances but didn’t accept defeat.

The moment Indravadan became Chandrashekhar vijayji maharaj saheb his entire existence changed drastically. He was counted as a dull student in school but immense Guru bhakti and dedication towards Pujya Premsuri Maharaj saheb gave him a new birth in Gnaan Praapti.For the fourteen years of Muni jivan, he never turned to see even his relatives or shraavaks. He was not only the favorite shishya of his Guruji but also was considered as the lifetime best student by the Kashi Vidyapith Nyaay Guruji. It was always a question for the people to judge that his efforts were more or his intelligence? While studying the most difficult Nyaay Granth, he used to write down so many books of homework.Swaadhyaay is said to be the heart of Saadhu Jivan and Pujya Guruma lived the life quite dominantly in this field. Raatri swaadhyaay wa one of the favorite activity of Pujya Prem suri maharaj and to please his Guru, he used to have 4 hours of Raatri swaadhyaay after pratikraman.Gurudev was King of knowledge as he was the owner of 20,000 shloks in his mind. He was also having amazing grip in Tatva Gnaan. His earlier books expose his exclusive depth of Shaastra Gnaan.He was having great nature of being Bold and revolutionary. Whenever he finds anything wrong, he used to oppose it with full force let it be outside or within himself. He was a great confessionary. He used to confess his smallest sins in front of thousands of people which truly require guts inside. Despite of being one of the great names in the history, he was so simple and down to earth personality that whenever he seats with children, no one can separate him from them. He was a forever child.Gurudev was guru of 84 shishyas but he never had a feel of that for a second in life. So many times he used to cry in front of his shishyas by saying that, “Tame moksh ma jaao tyaare aa paapi chandrashekhar ne tamara pag no angutho pakadva dejo!!”He was almost a perfect definition of an ideal Muni jivan. He never requires words to convince someone because his behavior was a mobile pravachan for the world. Panyaas shri Chandrashekhar Vijayji touched all the aspects of Jain shashan with utmost mastery.Samyag GnaanHe himself earned massive Gnaan, he taught people with the help of Tapovan and Sanskrit Pathshala.

During eight days of Paryushan – a festival of Jains, all slaughter houses in Gujarat are closed. Shri Chandrashekhar Vijayji maharaj saheb was instrumental in convincing the government to do so.It is said that Karunaa is mother of all the Tirthankars and Guru Maa was undoubtedly the soul of an Arihant, so Karunaa in his heart was flowing 24×7 and 365 days a year.As we saw in the earlier sections of Guru Maa, he was quite curious and attached to the poor people even in his childhood. The habit drawn by his Mother, Subhadra Devi to feed a Chapatti to Dogs before having food had worked amazingly. Gurudev was full of Karunaa for the entire world. In the late 80’s when there was no rain for land and no grass for the animals in Gujarat, Gurudev took initiative and came to Mumbai. He kept the target of getting 2 Lakh rs. Per day and fulfilled all the requirements of Gaushalas of Gujraat quite successfully.Once he was in Tapovan and a Dog was crying in the late night. The very early morning he called upon all the trustees and cried in front of them by saying that “Chandra shekhar Vijay na jivan ma dhul padi..e ena jivan ma ek kutra ne pan radtaa atkaavi na shakyo!!” He cried in upashray for the entire night for offering condolence to that Dog. There are numerous examples like this.Before 16 years he announced open war against Chimanbhai Patel, the chief minister of Gujraat for the legislation for Gau Vansh ban in the state. After huge oppose and immense awareness in the people, the Chief Minister had to give up.Here is the statement of Chimanbhai Patel to the state, “ I am going to ban Gau Vansh Hatyaa from my state now onwards. I am aware that it will affect immensely to my Muslim Vote Bank but still Chandrashekhar Vijay Maharaj saheb and his huge caliber has left no option for me. He made the entire Government helpless against him. We are at knees to the strength of a Jain monk”!!Even when the BJP Government was in the rule, the Planning Commission planned to create 54,000 new slaughter houses all over India. When the ears of a Karunaa sagar Gurumaa heard it, he immediately announces that if the Government will accept these proposals, he will march towards Delhi and will take a Fire Bath in the streets of Chandni Chowk. His warning and Signature Campaign worked. By just one strong statement, this saint saved millions of animals. Even when Deonar was on the eve of modernization, Guru Maa came to Mumbai and asked Jains to come on the streets to stop this cruelty. Ultimately that proposal also went to the dustbin.The saga of Guru Maa’s Karunaa is endless. We can just say that it is great Karunaa of Lord Vardhmaan that we were able to see, hear and touch the Karunaa-full personality of the world, Guru Maa…. 

Chandrashekhar Maharaj had successfully motivated the movement to stall expansion of Mumbai’s Devnar slaughter house.

Shri Chandrashekhar Vijayji strongly believed and also asked his followers to tell the government during census that Jains are Hindus. He said even if the minority status could bring in incentives from the government, it is not right for Jains to say that Jains are not Hindus. He preached that as Vishnavs are Vaishnavs because they follow Vishnu, the Jains are called Jains because they follow Jineshwar. But live Vaishnvars, Jains too are Hindus.
Shri Chandrashekhar Vijayji maharaj saheb’s main contribution was to attach the Jain youths with Jain faith. He organized numerous youth camps and created channels through which youths came closer to their faith. He was instrumental in creation of Vir Sainik dal, Sanskruti rakshan dal and other small organizations working in this direction.

It is said that Karunaa is mother of all the Tirthankars and Guru Maa was undoubtedly the soul of an Arihant, so Karunaa in his heart was flowing 24×7 and 365 days a year.As we saw in the earlier sections of Guru Maa, he was quite curious and attached to the poor people even in his childhood. The habit drawn by his Mother, Subhadra Devi to feed a Chapatti to Dogs before having food had worked amazingly. Gurudev was full of Karunaa for the entire world. In the late 80’s when there was no rain for land and no grass for the animals in Gujarat, Gurudev took initiative and came to Mumbai. He kept the target of getting 2 Lakh rs. Per day and fulfilled all the requirements of Gaushalas of Gujraat quite successfully.Once he was in Tapovan and a Dog was crying in the late night. The very early morning he called upon all the trustees and cried in front of them by saying that “Chandra shekhar Vijay na jivan ma dhul padi..e ena jivan ma ek kutra ne pan radtaa atkaavi na shakyo!!” He cried in upashray for the entire night for offering condolence to that Dog. There are numerous examples like this.Before 16 years he announced open war against Chimanbhai Patel, the chief minister of Gujraat for the legislation for Gau Vansh ban in the state. After huge oppose and immense awareness in the people, the Chief Minister had to give up.Here is the statement of Chimanbhai Patel to the state, “ I am going to ban Gau Vansh Hatyaa from my state now onwards. I am aware that it will affect immensely to my Muslim Vote Bank but still Chandrashekhar Vijay Maharaj saheb and his huge caliber has left no option for me. He made the entire Government helpless against him. We are at knees to the strength of a Jain monk”!!Even when the BJP Government was in the rule, the Planning Commission planned to create 54,000 new slaughter houses all over India. When the ears of a Karunaa saagar Gurumaa heard it, he immediately announces that if the Government will accept these proposals, he will march towards Delhi and will take a Fire Bath in the streets of Chandni Chowk. His warning and Signature Campaign worked. By just one strong statement, this saint saved millions of animals. Even when Deonaar was on the eve of modernization, Guru Maa came to Mumbai and asked Jains to come on the streets to stop this cruelty. Ultimately that proposal also went to the dustbin.The saga of Guru Maa’s Karunaa is endless. We can just say that it is great Karunaa of Lord Vardhmaan that we were able to see, hear and touch the Karunaa-full personality of the world, Guru Maa….
 

It was a sea of humanity that braved rain and wind to take part in the Palkhi yatra (final journey) of 78-year-old saint Chandrashekhar Vijayji Maharaj that culminated at Tapovan Sanskar Peeth in Amiyapur village in Gandhinagar on August 8,2011 where the saint was laid to rest.

Maharaj Saheb's Palkhi yatra accompanied by thousands of devotees from Ambawadi travelled a distance of 25 kilometres before reaching Tapovan Sanskar Peeth at 5.30 pm. Countless people, including over 5,000 monks from across the country gathered to pay their last respects to the revered saint.

About Author

Umang Shah

I'm not addicted to twitter,+Umang and Facebook. I only tweet/posts when I have time: lunch time, break time, off time, this time,that time, any time, all the time.

If you like this Blog,Please Plus it,Tweet it and Like it.

Virchand Gandhi

BIRTH PLACE AND EARLY ACCOMPLISHMENTS

He was from Mahuva, Gujarat, India. He was a son of Raghavji Tejpalji Gandhi, a bussinessman. A polyglot who reputedly spoke fourteen languages, he was educated as a lawyer. In 1885, at the age of 21, he became the first honorary secretary of the Jain Association of India. During this time the ruler of Gujarat levied a tax on pilgrims visiting Mount Shatrunjay, Palitana. He fought against it. During the course of this fight Gandhi met Lord Reay, the British colonial governor of Bombay, and Colonel John Watson of the Kathiawar Agency. With the help of these two individuals, he ultimately negotiated an annual fixed payment of Rs. 15000, rather than an individual tax on each pilgrim. In 1891 an English, Boddam started a slaughterhouse near Mount Sametshikhar, a holy place of Jain pilgrimage. He spent six months in Calcutta learning Bengali and preparing his case against the factory, and was eventually successful in getting the factory closed.

Trip to the World Parliament of Religions

Virchand Gandhi represented Jainism at the first World Parliament of Religions, held in Chicago in 1893. Gandhi, was most likely both the first Jain and the first Gujarati to travel to the United States and his statue still stands at the Jain temple in Chicago.

Acharya Vijayanandsuri, also known as Acharya Atmaram, had initially been invited to represent Jainism at the Parliament, but as Jain monks do not travel overseas, could not attend. He therefore recommended him to be the emissary for the religion. Atmaram provided six months training to him. His disciple, Vijay Vallabsuri, who is described in Natuji Shah's book "Jainism: The World of Conquerors" also assisted Gandhi in the preparation. He got positive response at Parliament

Strangers In This Land by E. Allen Richardson mentions this Parliament and Gandhi's subsequent interview with The New York Times

He was a contemporary to Swami Vivekananda, who deeply admired him. He faced criticism over his sea voyage, which was at the time considered unholy. Vivekananda, impressed with his adherence to vegetarianism in the face of the cold Chicago climate came to his defense: in a 1894 letter to Haridas Viharidas Desai, Diwan of Junagadh, he wrote “Now here is Virchand Gandhi, the Jain whom you knew well in Bombay. This man never takes anything but mere vegetables even in this terribly cold climate and tooth and nail tries to defend his countrymen and the religion. The people of this country like him very well. But what are they doing who sent him over? They are trying to outcast him.”

Virchand Gandhi quote on world peace "May peace rule the universe; may peace rule in kingdoms and empires; may peace rule in states and in the lands of the potentates; may peace rule in the house of friends and may peace also rule in the house of enemies

Herbert Warren, who studied Jainism under him and adopted the Jain religion, published a book on his lectures titled Herbert Warren'sJainism.

The American newspaper, the Buffalo Courier wrote regarding him, "of all Eastern scholars, it was this youth whose lectures on Jain Faith and Conduct was listened to with the greatest interest and attention". Later, in Kasadova, he delivered a lecture on 'Some Mistakes Corrected' on 8 August 1894, which prompted the citizens of the city to award him a gold medal.

At Parliament he said:

You know, my brothers and sisters, that we are not an independent nation, we are subjects of Her Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria, 'defender of the faith'. But if we are a nation in all that name implies, with our own government and our own rulers, with our laws and institutions controlled by us, free and independent, I affirm that we should seek to establish and forever maintain peaceful relations with all the nations of the world." "It is an astonishing fact that foreigners have been constantly attacking India and in the face of all this aggression the soul of India has stood vital and watchful. Her conduct and religion are safe and the whole world looks at India with a steady gaze." He added "Cultural distinctions, agriculture, art, artistic skill, literature, good conduct, means of knowledge, science, hospitality, feminism, love, and respect - all these are found in India in quite a different form. If that culture was purchasable, England would have purchased it, adopted it. But it has not happened, it cannot happen.

He had studied Buddhism, Vedanta Philosophy, Christianity, and western philosophy. He praised Mogul Emperor Akbar for his equal treatment of all religions.

Death

He founded Gandhi Philosophical Society and the Society for the Education of Women in India (SEWI) for women education. He participated in Pune session of Indian National Congress in 1895 as a representative of Bombay state He lectured on Indian politics and industry in Large Hall of William Science building on December 19, 1898. He also participated at the international conference of commerce in 1899. He settled tax disputes of Palitana and Shikharji piggery case

He died of lungs hemorrhage on 7 August 1901 at Mahuwar, near Mumbai, India.