Arihant

Jina
Lord Mahavir was the twenty fourth and the last Tirthankar of the Jain religion. According to the Jain philosophy, all Tirthankars were born as human beings but they attained a state of perfection or enlightenment through meditation and self realization. They are the Gods of Jains. Tirthankars are also known as Arihants or Jinas. This nomenclature is explained below:

One who establishes the four fold order ( Monk, Nun, Layman and Laywoman) of religion
One who destroys his inner enemies like anger, greed, passion, ego, etc.
One who conquers his inner enemies like anger, greed, passion, ego, etc. The followers of Jina are known as Jains

Mahavir was born in 599 B.C. as a prince in the state of Bihar, India. At the age of 30, he left his family and royal household, gave up his worldly passions and became a monk. He spent next twelve years in deep silence and meditation to conquer his desires. He went without food for long periods. He carefully avoided harming and annoying other living beings including animals, birds, and plants. As a result he realized infinite knowledge and wisdom. This realization is known as keval-jnan.

He spent next thirty years travelling barefoot around India, preaching the truth he realized. The objectives of his teaching is to show how one can obtain the freedom from the cycle of birth, life, pain, misery and death. This is also known as the state of liberation or .nirvan or racks ha . He preached that right faith (samyak-darshan), right knowledge (samyak-jnan), and right conduct (samyak-charitra) together lead to the liberation or inoksha.

He organized his followers known as Jains, into a four fold order, namely; sadhu or monk, sadhvi or nun, shravak or layman, and shravika or laywoman. At the heart of Right Conduct for Jains lie five great vows:

Ahimsa or non-violence

Satya or truthfulness
Asteya or non-stealing
Brahmacharya or chastity
Aparigraha or non-possession
not to cause harm to any living
being
to speak the harmless truth only : not to take anything not given
not to indulge in sensual pleasure complete detachment from people, places, and material things

Jains hold these vows as sacred. The monks and nuns follow these vows strictly and totally, while the common people try to follow the vows as far as practicable.

At the age of 72 (527 B.C.), Lord Mahavir left his mortal body and achieved complete liberation. He became siddha, a pure consciousness, a liberated soul, living forever in a state of complete bliss.