Shree Mahavir Bhagwan: Past Lives Part-1 of the Twenty-fourth Tirthankara

In the life of Shri Mahavir Bhagwan, the last Tirthankara of this time cycle, we can witness extraordinary equanimity and absolute detachment. In His first birth, He attained Samkit (right belief) through exceptional hospitality and respectful service. In His birth as Marichi, due to pride in His lineage and utsutra prarupana fault, He bound extremely severe karmas. In His birth as Vishvabhuti, due to ego and anger, He developed enmity with Vishakhanandi. Let us read in detail about the first to seventeenth past lives of Lord Mahavir.

The First Birth

Naysar was a woodcutter. He was a very religious and pious person. He used to do a lot of manual labour in the jungle. He cut wood and gave it to the King for use in the kingdom. He was very poor, but generous at heart. He heartily helped anyone he met. Every day, before he ate, he would look for someone who needed food. He would only eat after having fed such a person.

While cutting wood in the jungle, it so happened that he once saw a group of Sadhus passing by. A Sadhu is someone who has attained Self Realization. It is one of the five levels of enlightened beings (panch Parmeshthis) to whom we pay our obeisance when we recite the Navkar Mantra.

The sadhus had lost their way in the jungle. It was lunch time. So, Naysar approached them and insisted that they eat. He served the sadhus with a lot of love and devotion. In return, the sadhus taught him about true religion. Because of his noble virtues such as being respectful towards everyone, feeding the hungry with love and serving the sadhus with great devotion, Naysar attained samkit, also known as samyak darshan or Self Realization. He experienced that, “I am the permanent Soul and the mind, speech and body are all temporary.” His inner vision changed, the right belief to see temporary things as temporary and permanent things as permanent was established within him.

From the moment one attains samkit, a person’s worldly life ends and their journey on the path of liberation begins. Until this right vision is not attained, it does not matter how much one chants, fasts and meditates, one keeps getting caught in the vicious cycle of birth and death due to the binding of karmas. Self Realization is only possible when one finds a Self-realized person or a Gnani; so, one should always seek a Gnani. Then, one day, like Naysar, we too will be able to attain Self Realization.

The Second Birth

Because of his good deeds, Naysar, in his next birth, was born in the celestial world.

The Third Birth as Marichi and Other Twelve Births

Thereafter, he was born as Marichi, the grand-son of Rushabhdev Bhagwan (the first Tirthankar of the current time cycle) and the son of King Bharat. When Lord Rushabhdev took Diksha, imitating Him, Marichi also took Diksha from the Lord. However, he could not endure the strict rules of conduct, severe penance, etc. laid out for Sadhus. Therefore, he established a separate religious sect called Tridandi, whose rules were somewhat relaxed compared to that prescribed for Sadhus. Despite establishing his own sect, he continued to travel with Rushabhdev Bhagwan.

On one occasion, King Bharat asked Lord Rushabhdev who else from their family would become a Tirthankar. Bhagwan was keval Gnani; hence, He had the knowledge of everything. So, He replied that from our family, your son Marichi will become the final Tirthankar of this Chovisi. Not only that, before becoming a Tirthankar, he will be the first Vasudev of this time cycle and will also become a Chakravarti. Hearing this, King Bharat was very happy. He went to Marichi, bowing down, he said, “I am not bowing down to you because you have renounced the world. However, I am bowing down to you because in the future you are going to become the last Tirthankar, and before that you shall also become a Vasudev and a Chakravarti.” Upon hearing this, Marichi felt very proud that, “I was born into such a great family wherein my grandfather is the first Tirthankar, my father is the ruling Chakravarti, and I am going to become a future Tirthankar.” Because of this, he binds karma.

Although Marichi was part of the Tridandi sect, he preached the religion that Bhagwan Rushabhdev laid out. He would direct those who desired to take Diksha from him to Lord Rushabhdev and suggested that they take Diksha from the Lord. After Lord Rushabhdev attained nirvana, someone who desired to become his disciple, asked him, “What is the difference between Bhagwan Rushabhdev’s and your preachings?” Out of the greed to gain one disciple of his own, Marichi replied to him, “The religion that is there, is the same religion here too.” Because of this false statement, he bound karma as a result of which he had to take multiple births; births as a Brahmin and births as a male celestial being in the celestial world. This cycle continued for a long time.

His Sixteenth Birth as Vishwabhuti and His Seventeenth Birth in the Celestial World

He was born as Prince Vishwabhuti in the city of Rajgruhi (now known as Rajgiri). His cousin brother was Vishakhanandi, whose father was the King. The two brothers were not very attached to each other; of the two, Vishwabhuti was more powerful.

Once Vishwabhuti, accompanied by his Queens, went to a famous park, which was his favourite place. A little while later, Vishakhanandi went there with his Queens. Now, according to their family’s tradition, if one prince is in the garden, then the other is not allowed to enter. So, Vishakhanandi didn’t mind waiting outside for his turn. But, when one maid saw Prince Vishakhanandi waiting outside, she went and falsely instigated Vishakhanandi’s mother. The maid said that, even though you are the Queen, your son had to wait outside for his turn. Hearing this, the Queen was very angry. She told her husband to get Vishwabhuti out of the park immediately.

To fulfil the Queen’s wish, the King played a dirty game with Vishwabhuti. He told Vishwabhuti that one of their Subordinate Kings had revolted and refused to accept him as the King. So, he would have to wage war against him and make him submit. Vishwabhuti told his uncle to rest and proposed that he go and fight on his behalf against the Subordinate King. The King agreed. So Vishwabhuti left to make all the preparations to wage war against the Dissenting King.

However, there was no limit to his surprise when, the Subordinate King gave him a warm welcome and said that from his side there was no question of dissent. Vishwabhuti returned and narrated this to the King. Thereafter, when he went back to his favourite park for recreation, he saw that his cousin was there with his Queens. Therefore, as per family tradition, he could not go inside. He understood the whole game, that the King played with him. All this made him angry. With a lot of anger, he hit a nearby tree, and said that, “You are my close relatives, or else I would have crushed all of you like this.”

He developed dispassion towards the worldly life and immediately renounced it. He went to a forest and did a lot of penance there. After many years, he passed by a place where Vishakhanandi had come to attend his cousin's wedding. They saw each other, but just then a cow hit Vishwabhuti and he fell there. Vishakhanandi mocked him with bitter words, “You are so powerful that you can crush us all, and one cow has knocked you over, so where has your strength gone?” With that, everyone present started laughing at him. This mockery made Vishwabhuti very angry. He forgot about all his penance and renunciation and grabbed the cow, and as a show of strength he smashed and crushed it. Then, he left there but he was unable to forget the mockery from his brother, Vishakhanandi. And because of that, he resolved to take extreme revenge towards Vishakhanandi in his next birth. Because of his great penance, his next birth was in the celestial world.

Let us now continue reading about the remaining lives of Lord Mahavir, starting from His birth as Triprushtha Vasudev.