LORD MAHAVIRA AND HIS SERMONS (DESANA) AND HIS AUSTERITY(TAPASYA)

Lord Mahavira took to sermons only, after he attained to his nature which, we traditionally know as enlightenment or self-realisation. In the terminology which, we use, we call it KEVAL GYAN. Keval Gyan is not some tangible achievement. Keval gyan, also doesn’t mean knowing past, future n present. Not at all. Keval gyan means keval (only) gyan (knowing). Post realization, what really remains, is only knowing or knowledge because consciousness is, pure illumination and awareness or knowing is the nature of consciousness. Thus, keval gyan means a state of pure awareness or state of pure knowledge. A realised being or keva gyani has nothing, of his own, in him but he has just become knowing only. He is, now, pure consciousness or chetana only and knowing is the nature of chetana. In chetana or consciousness there is nothing else, except gyan or knowing or awareness. That’s why the name consciousness because, chetana is aware or conscious by itself. Knowing is nature of consciousness. 

What, I want to say is that post his keval gyan, he was so full of knowing from within, he was so full of wisdom from within that, this knowing was spilling, out of him. Hence, just out of pure compassion, he decided to share his wisdom, with the public at large and this is how he took to sermons or desana. He, therefore, went from town to town and tried to share his inner knowing or inner wealth, with others. 

We should know that, he was not sharing knowledge, acquired from outside, such as, books etc but he was sharing the knowing which arose from within. He was sharing his inner experience with others, unlike what we see today. The so called sants n sanyasis, in their pravachans are just emptying themselves, on to the public, what they have gathered, from outside, such as books etc. 

Another misunderstanding or impression which we have is that, Mahavira attained to keval gyan because he did penance of highest order, such as, either, eating very little or not eating for days together. This is not a correct understanding because, penance or austerity of any kind has nothing to with spirituality or with the dimension which we know as mukti or moksha. Please understand that, a seeker (sadhak) means the one who has decided to walk the path of spirituality. Walking the path of spirituality means, striving to know that dimension which is beyond body and mind, i.e. beyond the physical. We end up living, in the body and mind only because, only these two dimensions are in our experience. 

But a sadhak or a spiritual person is one, who wants to know more than that. Hence, his entire focus is, now, on the inward, unlike, our focus which is always on the outward. So, as you walk the path and as your sadhana progresses, you start getting a glimpse of that dimension which is nonphysical, which is beyond body and mind and which is eternal, unlike, the physical which is impermanent. Once, he gets a glimpse of his real nature, his entire attention and focus is, now, turned inside, on that dimension only, which is nonphysical. He, now, wants to go full-throttle because, his aim is to attain to his nature in this life itself. In such a state, he is just established in his inside and the outside, like physical body etc becomes less important for him or not at all, important. 

You must have heard or read that, many of the realised beings, died of long illnesses, at times, incurable ones. Now, if they wanted, they could have fixed it but, they don’t care of the body or the physical because, they are, now, established, in the nonphysical which is a state of bliss, for them. So, if they get food, they eat or if they don’t, they are not bothered. Also, what happens is that a sadhak starts realizing, that in the nonphysical or in chetana or in consciousness, there is nothing from outside. So, what happens, that in the process, things start to drop automatically because now those are not needed. He doesn’t leave or drop or does not do any penance but all that is unwanted or all that’s external, starts dropping on its own because, he is, now, always in tune with the existence. 

That’s what happened with Mahavira. It’s not that austerity, of highest order, led him to realize, his nature. No. Rather, it was other way round that, in the process, unwanted things started leaving him, without his doing. That’s what real sanyasa is. Sanyasa is not leaving or dropping something but things getting dropped, of their own accord, without his doing. Leaving or dropping is our doing and hence an act of ego. Thus, whatever Mahavira did, which we know as penance or tapasya was a consequence of his internal state and not, the other way round.