Shree Mahavir Bhagwan: Upsargas on the Twenty-fourth Tirthankara

Lord Mahavir was the last Tirthankara of this time cycle. Among the twenty-four Tirthankaras, Lord Mahavir faced the most upsargas (externally induced afflictions/sufferings). Remaining unwavering through all of them, He exhausted all His karmas. Such was the bravery of the Lord that even the celestial beings honoured Him with the name ‘Mahavir’. We have read about Lord Mahavir’s garbh haran aashcharya, His birth, and His life up to the time of renunciation. Now, we will read about upsargas on Lord Mahavir by a cowherd and a Yaksh Dev.

Cowherd’s Upsarga on Shree Mahavir Swami

After Diksha, once Lord Mahavir was deeply absorbed in Kausagga (standing in an upright position and meditating on the properties of the pure Soul after renouncing the mind, speech and body) and Self-meditation in a forest. Just then, a cowherd arrived and assumed that since Lord Mahavir was standing there, He would look after his cows. The cowherd had some other work, so he said to Lord Mahavir, “I’ll be back in a little while. You take care of all the cows.” But Lord Mahavir was in deep meditation, absolutely detached from all worldly matters. He was unaware of what the cowherd had said. After two to three hours, the cowherd returned but couldn’t find a single cow. He became extremely angry and started searching for them, growing increasingly frustrated and restless.

While the cowherd was out searching for his lost cows, they had, in fact, wandered back and sat near Lord Mahavir. The cows felt a sense of peace and coolness in His divine presence, so they settled there, quietly chewing their cud. The cowherd returned once again, fuming with anger, and saw the scene: “Oh! My cows are right here! He must have done something deceitful. Surely, after I left, he must have hidden them somewhere and then brought them back when I was gone.” Lord Mahavir was still in deep meditation, completely detached from the happenings around Him. Enraged, the cowherd lost control and, in a fit of anger, violently beat the Lord, inflicting upsarga upon Him.

Bhagwan Mahavir, could have easily cast the cowherd away, had He wished. But He remained calm, immersed in equanimity. At that moment, Indra Dev became aware of what was happening and thought, “Oh no! What is this? It seems Bhagwan Mahavir is facing some torment.” So Indra Dev, rushing down from the celestial realm, came straight to the spot and sternly confronted the cowherd: “Do you even realize who this is? This is Lord!” The cowherd, struck with realization and filled with remorse, begged Bhagwan Mahavir for forgiveness and quietly left with his cows.

Indra Dev, through His Avadhi Gnan (direct knowledge of corporeal things without the help of the sense organs and the mind, but within some limit of space and time), could see everything clearly. So, seeing all this, Indra Dev humbly pleaded to Lord Mahavir, “Lord, You are going to face many severe upsargas ahead, how will You endure them all? Please grant me permission to remain by Your side, in constant service, so that I may protect You from these upsargas.” At that moment, Tirthankar Lord Mahavir replied, “Have you ever heard of a Tirthankar attaining Moksha by relying on someone else's help to exhaust their karmas? This has never happened in the past, is not happening now, and will never happen in the future. Every liberated Soul has exhausted His karmas through His own inner strength and so shall I. Tirthankars are indeed courageous! They exhaust all their karmas; They do not fear karmas but rather, They help others become free from fear.” So, even though Lord Mahavir clearly declined, Indra Dev still appointed one Vyantar Dev to remain in service of Lord Mahavir, ready to appear whenever the Lord faced any difficulty. But Lord Mahavir was absolutely detached, He needed no assistance. Freed from that place, the Lord continued His journey ahead, resolute in exhausting His karmas.

After Diksha, a certain period of Lord Mahavir’s life was spent in exhausting various types of karmas. People subjected Him to numerous kinds of upsargas. No other Tirthankar had to face as many upsargas as Lord Mahavir did. But nothing ever touched Lord Mahavir internally and He remained in complete equanimity.

At the time of Lord Mahavira’s Diksha, the celestial beings applied divine fragrant substances on His body. These were such extraordinary divine applications that their fragrance continued to emanate from His body for about a year. Wherever the Lord went, that divine fragrance would spread all around. If the Lord wandered in the forest, swarms of bees would be drawn to Him by the scent and would sting Him repeatedly, troubling Him a lot. If He entered a city, groups of young men would follow Him like bees, demanding to know the source of the fragrance. When the Lord remained silent, they would get annoyed and beat Him. Young women too, drawn by the fragrance, would come near the Lord, mesmerized by His presence. The Lord endured all of this while remaining in equanimity.

Once, while Lord Mahavira was on His journey, He came near the large hermitage of an ascetic who was a close friend of His father, King Siddharth. The ascetic had deep respect for Lord Mahavira, realizing that his friend’s Son had become such a great renunciate. He invited the Lord to stay at his hermitage for the monsoon period. The Lord accepted the invitation and continued on His way. The ascetic, who was Lord Mahavira’s father’s friend, was the kulapati (head) of the group. He arranged a beautiful hut made of grass for the Lord to stay in during the four-month period. Along with the other disciples of the kulapati, the Lord too continued His spiritual practices there. Lord Mahavir’s spiritual practice meant cleansing every single karmic particle adhered to His Soul. These particles exhaust merely by being seen so, in Kausagga, He would turn inward and observe His own particles. The rule is: whatever is seen, starts to fall away.

Lord Mahaveer had decided to stay at that hermitage for four months, but during that time, the region was facing a severe drought-like condition. Due to the scarcity of grass and fodder, the cows were struggling to find grass to eat. The monsoon had just begun, so fresh grass had not yet grown. Herds of cows would wander in and eat grass wherever they found it. Since all the huts in the hermitage were made of grass, they too became targets. The other ascetics would chase the cows away by beating them, but Lord Mahaveer was absolutely detached, He would not harm anyone. He observed the vow of Amari. The rule of Amari was to not harm even the tiniest living being, then how could Lord Mahavir possibly harm the cows? Whenever the other disciples drove the cows away from their huts, the cows would all gather near Lord Mahavir’s hut. The Lord peacefully let them eat as they wished. Eventually, the cows ate up His entire hut. When the other ascetics came to know of this, they became very angry thinking, “We built this hut for Him with so much effort, yet the Lord couldn’t protect it!” The ascetics didn’t say anything out of fear, as the kulapati was a close friend of Lord Mahaveer’s father. But eventually, unable to tolerate it any longer, they complained to the kulapati. The kulapati approached the Lord and said, “Your father was a king; he protected everyone. All our hermitages were safe under his care till now. Why can’t you protect even a simple hut? This much you surely should manage!” After saying this, the kulapati left. Lord Mahavir thought, “My presence here is causing them distress. How can I stay at a place where someone feels displeasure because of me?” So, even though only fifteen days of chaturmas (a period of four months during the monsoon season) had passed, the Lord silently resumed His journey continuing His travel even during the monsoon. Such was the vision of Lord Mahavir that even if someone experienced the slightest discomfort because of Him, not even actual suffering but just a disturbance, He would not stay there. Not only that, He even set aside the strict rule of monsoon conduct observed by Monks. The Lord never rigidly clung to any rule out of stubbornness or rigidity. He always acted with awareness and discernment, understanding what was truly appropriate in each situation. He gave more importance to avoiding harm or disturbance to others than to strictly upholding His own practices.

The five Abhigrahas of Shree Mahavir Swami

After this incident, Lord Mahavir silently resolved five Abhigrahas of His personal conduct in His mind:

1. If my presence causes even the slightest displeasure to anyone, I shall not stay there; shall move away.
2. He vowed to perform Kayotsarga daily without fail.
3. How much food to eat? Only as much as fits in the karpatra (cupped palm), and not even a bit more. This is a principle of ascetic conduct, to collect food in the palm and eat only that much. That all should be mixed together and eaten.
4. To practice maun (maintaining silence) as much as possible. The Lord would not speak while in meditation and usually stayed silent even while traveling.
5. Whom to respect and whom not to? Whom to offer reverence to and whom not to? He remained disciplined in all such matters.

Yaksh Dev’s Upsarga on Shree Mahavir Swami

Once, after completing chaturmas, Lord Mahavir was traveling to another village. On His way, He came across a small village inhabited by extremely poor people. Earlier, it had so happened that a very wealthy merchant was passing through that village with five hundred carts filled with grains and groceries. On the way, there was a small river to cross. To pull all those carts, he had a very powerful bull. The bull managed to pull a few carts across, but while crossing the river, it became exhausted and collapsed right there, stuck in the middle. The merchant tried many ways, but the bull was completely drained; its body had no strength left to move forward.

The merchant couldn’t afford to stay there, so he gave a considerable amount of money to the villagers and requested them to take care of the bull. Then, taking the rest of his goods, he continued on his journey. On the other hand, the villagers were extremely poor and lacked integrity and honesty. So, they secretly divided the money among themselves and did not give the bull any grass to eat. Eventually, the bull died in agony, starving and thirsty, yet inwardly maintained equanimity. Upon death, the bull was reborn as a Vyantar Yaksh Dev.

Celestial beings possess full knowledge of their past lives. The Vyantar Dev, through his knowledge, saw the torment he had suffered by the villagers in his previous birth and intense vengeance flared up within him. The Dev decided to trouble all the villagers. Anyone who entered his territory would be killed by him. He began spreading severe epidemics and diseases throughout the village. The villagers were terrified and utterly distressed.

Everyone began to believe that some celestial being was angry with them, so they all came together in prayer and pleaded, “Punish us if you must, but please don’t torment us like this.” Then the Yaksh Dev reminded them of all the wrongs they had done to him in his previous birth as the bull. Then, when the villagers asked for a solution, the Yaksh Dev said, “Build a small temple for me on the riverbank at the edge of the village and worship me there. In this way, you can satisfy me.” The villagers did exactly as instructed. They appointed a priest, and the Yaksh Dev began residing there permanently.

While traveling, Lord Mahavir arrived at that village. He decided that He would spend the night right at the temple of that very Yaksh Dev. The villagers, including the temple priest, strongly opposed this and said, “You cannot stay here, that Yaksh Dev will kill You!” Lord Mahavir had attained all four types of knowledge up to Manahparyav Gnan (knowledge through which all phases of the mind can be read), so He resolved to uplift the Yaksh Dev. Thus, the Lord stayed in that very temple. At night, Lord Mahavir stood in Kausagga in a corner of the temple.

At that moment, the Yaksh Dev entered the temple and unleashed intense upsargas upon the Lord. He took the form of a snake, then of an elephant; he set fire and tried every possible way to trouble Lord Mahavir. Taking the form of a serpent, the Yaksh Dev bit Lord Mahavir in seven different places on His body. A single bite like that would kill an ordinary person instantly, but Lord Mahavir, was charam shariri (the One having a final body before attaining ultimate liberation), He remained in perfect equanimity and exhausted all His karmas through profound equanimity.

Witnessing the immense spiritual radiance of Lord Mahavira, His unwavering equanimity in the face of such intense upsarga, the Yaksh Dev was deeply shaken. Overwhelmed by the Lord’s inner power and serene strength, the Dev instantly calmed down. The Yaksh Dev began to wonder, “What is this? Why is He not defeated by anything I do?” Meanwhile, the Vyantar Dev whom Indra Dev had appointed to serve and protect Lord Mahavira during times of hardship was nowhere to be seen. Only after everything had already happened did that Dev suddenly remember, “Oh no… what must have happened to the Lord? What must be going on right now!” When the upsarga on the Lord came to an end, the Dev appointed to serve Him rushed in, and upon seeing the scene, exclaimed, “Oh no… my Lord has endured so much suffering!” He fiercely scolded the Vyantar Yaksh Dev, saying, “Do you even realize what you’ve done? This is Mahavira, the son of King Siddharth, the Tirthankar Lord! Bow down to Him!”

Then the Yaksh Dev felt deep remorse. Lord Mahavira explained to him, “Do you see how many karmic bondages you’ve created? Driven by a moment of ego, you killed so many innocent villagers and caused them immense suffering. And what fruit will all this bring you now? Turn back from this path.” The Yaksh Dev deeply repented. And what sin cannot be washed away in the presence of the Lord? With sincere remorse in front of Lord Mahavira, the Yaksh Dev was freed from all his karmic burdens and became a devoted follower of the Lord.

Vardhaman Mahavir had intentionally gone to that village and stayed in that very temple at night, specifically for the upliftment of that Yaksh Dev. When the villagers came the next morning, they saw that the Yaksh Dev had completely transformed, and the Lord was alive and in perfect bliss; entirely untouched by any suffering.

The Glory of Shree Mahavir Swami

Lord Mahavir continued His journey forward. While traveling, He reached another village. In that village lived a deceitful sorcerer who practiced various kinds of black magic. He used tricks and astrology to fool people and enjoy himself. When the Lord entered that village, the Vyantar Dev appointed to serve Him came up with a trick to increase the glory of Lord Mahavira among the villagers.

That Yaksh Dev entered the body of Lord Mahavir and began calling the villagers. To whoever came, he would reveal specific past or future events. For example, he would say, “Your copper pot has been stolen. Go to this spot, and you will find it there.” And indeed, people would find it exactly where he said it would be. So the villagers began to believe that this was someone with extraordinary knowledge of all three - the past, present and the future, a true Trikaal Gnani.

The Vyantar Dev’s intention was to elevate the glory of Lord Mahavir among the people so that they would begin to revere and worship Him. So he used various strategies to amaze the villagers. Seeing all this, the people were astonished and convinced that the Lord was the real one. The deceitful sorcerer Brahmin, who had been fooling everyone, now saw the Lord as a threat. He thought, “This one is my enemy; he’s ruining my livelihood.” So the sorcerer went and started an argument. Then, the Dev residing within the Lord said, “You won’t be able to break even a straw, do what you can.” At that moment, in the celestial realm, Indra Dev thought, “Whatever is spoken from the Lord’s mouth must come true.” So, to ensure the truth of those words, all the fingers of the sorcerer were cut off, making it truly impossible for him to break even a straw.

Then, Lord Mahavir’s glory spread widely among the villagers. Everyone began worshipping Him with great devotion. The sorcerer’s entire facade was exposed; it was his own wife who revealed all his wrongdoings, describing how adulterer and abusive he truly was. Later, in private, the sorcerer pleaded with Lord Mahavir, “The whole world will worship You, but no one knows me beyond this village. Please leave this place so my livelihood can continue.” Lord Mahavir was full of compassion and mercy. And since someone here, too, felt displeasure because of Him, He fulfilled His vow and quietly moved on, continuing His travel toward another village. Now, we will read about the incidents involving Chandkaushik, the serpent in the life of Lord Mahavir.