Lord Mahavira or Mahavir is the spiritual leader of Jainism. His birthday is celebrated every year in the month of March or April. Lord Mahavir is the last or 24th Tirthankara of Jainism. Also known as Vardhamana, he was born to king Siddhartha and queen Trishala in 599 BC in Vaishali. He died at the age of 72 years in 527 BC. Jains all over the country will celebrate the birthday of Lord Mahavir this year on 25th April 2021 as Mahavir Jayanti.
Although being born into a royal family, his quest for inner peace made Lord Mahavir took the spiritual path at the age of 30. He taught many valuable lessons to the people during his times which are applicable to us even today. He believed in honesty, non-violence, and non-attachment to materialistic pleasures in life.
Below are important lessons that one should take inspiration from Lord Mahavir’s teachings:
1) To achieve spiritual discipline, one must come in contact with their inner soul.
2) Appreciating the importance and benefits of earth, fire, water, and vegetation will help people be grateful for their own existence.
3) One can attain self-control by simply practicing the habit of fasting.
4) Accumulation of materialistic things should be only that much how much a person wants in life. Anything in excess is always of no use.
5) Have friends as many as you want but don’t have enemies.
6) Bodies and human forms may be different in nature and qualities but all souls are similar by nature and have alike qualities.
7) Life is important for each and every living being. Do not hurt others just because you want to live happily.
8) Anger will create more anger in you and others. However, forgiveness and love will not transform you but also create the same good qualities in others.
9) Non-violence is the biggest virtue and highest religion of mankind.
