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48
Shrimad Rajchandra's Message
MOKSHA Liberation from the cycle of birth and death
Bhagwan Mahavir, at the age of seventy-two, forty-two years after adopting monkhood and twelve years after attaining omniscience came to spend his last monsoon at Pavapuri. The celestial angels created a grand podium for his discourse. Bhagwan's nectar-filled discourse which was to be his last, continued uninterrupted for 48 hours. This discourse became the “Uttaradhyayan Sutra', one of the Jain scriptural canons. This canon with its 36 chapters covers 36 subjects. The first chapter starts with the code of conduct, the foundation of spirituality and ends in the last chapter with the attainment of moksha. This Sutra shows the path of spirituality to seekers. In the first verse of the third chapter, Bhagwan Mahavir says -
चत्तारि परमंगाणि दुल्लहाणीह जंतुणी । माणुसत्तं सुई सुद्धा संजमम्मि य वीरियं ।।
The four things most difficult to attain in this world are a human life with qualities that can lead to moksha
(manushyatwa); the opportunity to listen to true religion (shravan) complete faith in the religion (shradhha) and the ability and desire to strive for
spiritual development (purushartha).
Jainism places great emphasis on three fundamentals, these are: attainment of a human form, striving for the fulfilment of this human birth and progress on the path to liberation. Shrimad
