Lessons of Spiritual and Inner Peace by Bhagwan Parshvanath

Bhagwan Parshvanath, the 23rd Tirthankara in Jainism, is one of the most revered spiritual figures in Indian religious history. One of his key messages was that true religion is not just about rituals or external practices, but about attaining inner peace, happiness, and harmony with all living beings.  He gave new dimensions to our faith and said that we have infinite power & capability within us. Therefore, he did not give importance to the ritualistic religion and established a living religion.

Bhagwan Parshvanath was born on earth as the seed of revolution in the midst of ignorance, darkness, pomp and rituals. Then in the ascetic tradition, he appeared like the flame of revolution, as if after being absorbed in penance for years, the third eye of knowledge suddenly opens. While his life was the end of the ascetic era, it was the beginning of the second intellectual sadhana. This year is historic and important for Jainism because it is the 2900th birth anniversary and 2800th Nirvana anniversary of the 23rd Tirthankar Shri Parshvanath Bhagwan.

On this occasion, the Government of India is going to issue two pure silver commemorative coins of Rs 900 and Rs 800 respectively and two commemorative postage stamps on 25 December 2024. The coin and postage stamp release ceremony will be held at Shri Ostara Teerth (Bhopalgarh, Jodhpur) under the guidance of Jain Acharya Shri JinPiyushsagar Surishwar Ji. by the hands of Karnataka Governor Shri Thaawarchand Gehlot. This ceremony is receiving the blessings of Gachchadhipati Acharya Shri Vijay Dharmadhurandhar suri Ji.  Due to the efforts of Shri Lalit Kumar Nahata, Founder President of Shri Parsva Padmavati Jinalaya Mahabalipuram Tirtha Nyas, New Delhi and Shri Sukhraj Sethia, President of Shri Jain ShwetambarTerapanthi Sabha, Delhi, the Government of India has expressed its humble tribute by deciding to issue postage stamps and coins.

Lord Parsvanath was born in Varanasi on Paush Krishna Ekadashi. His father's name was Ashwasen and mother's name was Vama devi. King Ashwasen was the king of Varanasi. According to Jain Puranas, Parsvanath had to take nine births to become a Tirthankar. He became the twenty-third Tirthankar due to the accumulated virtues of the previous birth and the penance of the tenth birth. According to the Puranas, in his first birth he became a Brahmin named Marubhoomi, in the second birth an elephant named Vajraghosh, in the third birth a god of heaven, in the fourth birth a king named Rashmiveg, in the fifth birth a god, in the sixth birth a chakravarti emperor named Vajranabhi, in the seventh birth a deity, in the eighth birth a king named Anand, in the ninth birth a king named Indra of heaven and in the tenth birth he became a tirthankar. In his childhood, Parshvanath's life was spent in royal splendour.

Every moment of time is a golden opportunity for development. If someone can recognize it, grasp it and live it wholeheartedly. The person who has faith in his abilities is the real recipient of religion. This real and pure religion was established by the twenty-third tirthankar of Jainism, BhagwanParshvanath, and preached that if religion does not give peace and happiness in this life, then it is futile to imagine the transcendental peace from it. He gave new dimensions to our faith and said that we have infinite power and infinite potential within us. The religion he preached was neither Brahmin religion, nor Kshatriya religion, nor Vaishya religion, nor Shudra religion. It was a pure religion, which was not confined to the boundaries of any clan, caste or class.

Parshvanath was thoughtful and kind since childhood. Parshvanath grew up and his Kshatriyahood was valiant. He was proficient in all subjects. Once he fought a war to help his maternal uncle. He defeated the attacker and captured him, thus demonstrating his bravery. He spread the light of non-violence by controlling the violent situations of his time. It seems that Parshvanath came as a pioneer of life philosophy. His entire journey from beginning to end is an inspiration of manliness and religion. He became a hermit from an emperor, did long penance for years, did karma nirjara, became a tirthankar. He revealed eternal truths in the form of Jain philosophy. His entire personality and work has become an indelible chapter of Jain history.

Parshvanath lived both the world and renunciation. He left material things and set out on the journey of charity. He did rigorous penance for the purification of life. There was simplicity in his penance and the essence of life purification. In reality, penance is that which is neither associated with display nor temptation. In this, neither preaching nor imitation works. Life itself is a penance. Living within limits in comforts and finding satisfaction amidst deprivations is also penance. Tolerating adversities with equanimity, finding the right solution in ideological conflict, making the senses prudent, changing the direction and vision of the mind is also penance and through such penance, Parshvanath not only became a Tirthankar himself but also developed such eligibility in people. The criterion of his sadhana was the stabilization of religion in a pure soul. Without purity, religion cannot become conduct. Just as truth cannot be hidden behind masks, similarly desires, wishes, false narratives and  behaviour cannot cover religion. Therefore, connect it with this point of worship that religion is not in the temple or in worship, religion is in the temple of the mind.

Parshvanath gave the philosophy of non-violence. Non-violence is everyone's right to live, he accepted it. While repeating the ancient proclamation once again, he gave a message to the people- 'Savvepanapiyauva, savve dukkha padikula'- that is, everyone loves life, no one wants sorrow. But we, under the influence of our selfishness, denied nature, things, creatures and environment. Tirthankara Parshvanath was also one of those great men among those religious leaders and Tirthankaras who brought the light of religious principles to the world and established such life values through which religion was presented in a new form. In this religious philosophy, not only the external but also the internal shadows hidden around life are presented as light. Goodness is recognized correctly, a non-violent mind never becomes an obstacle in anyone's happiness.

Lord Parshvanath is revered not only for the Jain community but also for the common man. He is the source of our life philosophy, an inspiring ideal. Every experience of the life he lived became an experiment of sadhana for us. He filled us with the sanskaar of becoming a good person by refining the evils. He gave the formula to change destiny through hard work. Because if we want to become something and do not make efforts, then we will fail like the foolish sailor who rowed the boat all night without dropping the anchor. That is why he gave the message of becoming a Karmaveer.

 He enlightened the people for almost 70 years. At the age of 100, he fasted for a month and attained Nirvana on Shravan Shukla Ashtami at SammedShikhar. On the occasion of his birth and Nirvana Kalyanak year, we need to take a resolution that we should not only read about BhagwanParshvanath in the scriptures, nor listen to him in discourses, but also bring the knowledge read and heard in our lives, only then will we see a great light descending within us. We should prepare ourselves to become Parshvanath.