Jainism and list of Tirthankars.

Jainism traces its roots to a succession of 24 Jinas. The first Jina is traditionally believed to have been a giant who lived 8.4 million years ago. The most recent and last Jina was Vardhamana Mahavira and was the founder of the Jain community. He attained enlightenment after 13 years of deprivation. In 467 BCE, he performed holy act of salekhana which is fasting to death. Each Jina has "conquered love and hate, pleasure and pain, attachment and aversion, and has thereby freed `his' soul from the karmas obscuring knowledge, perception, truth, and ability..."

Jainism contains many elements that are somewhat similar to parts of Hinduism and Buddhism. The world population of the Jain followers is almost 4 million.

 

 

The Jain Festival of Paryushana  begins in the month of August.

Jainism is the ancient religion founded by Lord Mahavira that teaches that the way to liberation, bliss is to live lives of harmlessness and renunciation and is parallel to Buddhism.

The essence of Jainism is concern for the welfare of every being in the universe and for the health of the universe itself.

·         Jains believe that animals and plants, as well as human beings, contain living souls. Each of these souls is considered of equal value and should be treated with respect and compassion.

·         Jains are strict vegetarians and live in a way that minimises their use of the world's resources.

·         Jains believe in reincarnation and seek to attain ultimate liberation - which means escaping the continuous cycle of birth, death and rebirth so that the immortal soul lives for ever in a state of bliss.

·         Liberation is achieved by eliminating all karma from the soul.

·         Jainism is a religion of self-help.

·         There are no gods or spiritual beings that will help human beings.

·         Jainism has no priests. Its professional religious people are their Sadhus, who lead strict and ascetic lives.

 

 

List of Tirthankaras.

 

 

 

1) Rishabha (Adinath)	Nabhi-raja	Maru-Devi	Ayodhya
2) Ajitnath	Jita Satru	Vijaya-Devi	Ayodhya
3) Sambhavanath	Jitari	Sena	Sravasti
4) Abhinandannath	Samvara	Siddhartha	Ayodhya
5) Sumatinath	Megh-Prabha	Sumangala	Ayodhya
6) Padmabrabha	Dharana (Sidhara)	Susima	Kausambhi
7) Suparshvanath	Supratishtha	Prithvi	Kasi (Banaras)
8) Chandraprabha	Mahasena	Lakshmana	Chandrapuri
9) Pushpadanta	Sugriva	Rama (Supriya)	Kakandi
(Suvidhinatha)
10) Shiatnath	Dridharatha	Sunanda	Bhadrikapuri
11) Shreyansanath	Vishnu	Vishnudri (Vishna)	Simhapuri
12) Vasupujya	Vasupujya	Vijaya (jaya)	Champapuri
13) Vimalnath	Kritvarman	Suramya(Syama	Kampilya
14) Anantnath	Simhasena	Sarvavasa	Ayodhya
15) Dharmanath	Bhanu	Suvrata	Ratnapuri
16) Shantinath	Visvasena	Acira	Hastinapura
17) Kunthunath	Surya(Sura)	Sri-Devi	Hastinapura
18) Aranath	Sudarsana	Mitra(Devi	Hastinapura
19) Malinath	Kumbha	Rakshita	Mithilapuri
20) Munisuvrata	Sumitra	Padmavati	Kusagranagara
			(Raj-grih)
21) Nami Natha	Vijaya	Vapra (Vipra)	Mithilapuri (Mathura)
22) Neminatha	Samudravijaya	Sivadevi	Sauripura (Dvaraka)
23) Parsva Natha	Asvasena	Vama	Kasi (Banaras)
24) Mahavira (Vardhamana)	Siddharatha	Priyakarni (Trishala)	Kundapura

 

The Basics-AIR WATER AND FOOD.

Basics-Air Water and Food.

A person can normally survive for 3 to 5 minutes without AIR.

A person can normally survive for 3 to 5 days without WATER.

A person can normally survive for 30 to 50 days without FOOD.

The increase in percentage of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has disturbed the seasons.           Pollution by emission of wrong and harmful gases, volcanic eruptions has reduced the                         quota of oxygen in air and water. If from bad, it comes to worse and then worst, it may ultimately cause deaths by suffocation.  Vegetation on earth would wither.                                            

Plant eaters would also die.

Glaciers on mountain heights would melt resulting in floods.There will be shortage of drinking water.

The crust of the earth at the North and South Poles would shift and move to join to form a big new continent. It would ultimately give rise to waters at sea and ocean level spreading water at low level of land on earth and creating land on sea bed as the sea water would  flow to still lower level.

This process would kill at least half of life of people animals wild life,other living creatures and plants and trees.

 

After the change has settled down, life would re-emerge and will get developed in tropical tidal zones.

Trees and plants and animals and wild life and creatures would begin to appear and cycle of life would resume.

Life first appeared on earth three billion years ago in this fashion.

Life got formed in the bottom of the seas which eventually moved to the land and air.

Life learnt how to survive in different circumstances.

There came groups of animals birds who adapted themselves to the atmosphere on earth.

The Gorillas, Chimpanzees and all other different types of monkeys learnt  gradually to walk and run on two legs like the humans which generations  after generations with improvement got the name of humans on earth.

Halloween and Superstitions.

Halloween and Superstitions	A ship that sails on Friday will have bad luck.
	Never start a trip on Friday or you will meet misfortune.
	Never start to make a garment on Friday unless you can finish it the same day.
	Fear of Friday the 13th is rooted in ancient, separate bad-luck associations with the number 13 and day Friday. The two unlucky entities combine to make one super unlucky day.
	Both Friday and the number 13 were once closely associated with capital punishment. In British tradition, Friday was the conventional day for public hangings, and there were supposedly 13 steps leading up to the noose.
	It is traditionally believed that Eve tempted Adam with the apple on a Friday. Tradition also has it that the Flood in the Bible, the confusion at the Tower of Babel, and the death of Jesus Christ all took place on Friday.
	Numerologists consider 12 a "complete" number. There are 12 months in a year, 12 signs of the zodiac, 12 gods of Olympus, 12 labors of Hercules, 12 tribes of Israel, and 12 apostles of Jesus. In exceeding 12 by 1, 13's association with bad luck has to do with just being a little beyond completeness.
	More than 80 percent of high-rises lack a 13th floor.
	Many airports skip the 13th gate.
	Airplanes have no 13th aisle.
	Hospitals and hotels regularly have no room number 13.
	Italians omit the number 13 from their national lottery.
	On streets in Florence, Italy, the house between number 12 and 14 is addressed as 12 and a half.
	Many cities do not have a 13th Street or a 13th Avenue
	In France, socialites known as the quatorziens that is fourteeners once made themselves available as 14th guests to keep a dinner party from an unlucky fate.
	Those who fear the unlucky integer are known, point to the ill-fated mission to the moon, Apollo 13.
	Cut your hair on Good Friday to prevent headaches in the year to come

 

 

The Indian Religion

Our Religion.

“I have traveled the world in search of God  to come back home only to find Him.  I found him more abundantly in Hinduism.”  =Rabindranath Tagore.

“Thousands of Years before Abraham received the covenant, Hindu Religion already possessed the core of what is to become. Hindu Religion is measured in millenniums and not centuries like other four  religions.”  =Edward Rice in his book The Five Religions.

“This poem,the Bhagavad Gita deserves the highest respect.” =Immanuel Kent. German Philosopher.

Hu Shih former ambassador of China to USA said:  “India conquered and dominated China culturally and spiritually for two thousand years without ever having to send a single soldier across the border.

The First Manu Satya Vritta  million years ago was self born. The First Manu,Satyavrita and wife Shatrupa had ten sons and a daughter Ela.  He is the author of  the Manu-Smrti. He is the first king, In the great flood, the Matsya Purana recounts how he was warned by the Holy Fish, to whom he had done a kindness, that a flood would destroy the whole of humanity.

In the Mahabharata, the Holy Fish is identified with the Lord Brahma, while in the Puranas, it is Matsya, the first incarnation of the lord Vishnu on this Earth.

He therefore built a boat, when the flood came, he tied this boat to the Holy Fish and the holy snake Vasuki as the rope and  was safely steered to a resting place on the Malaya mountaintop. When the flood receded, Manu, the sole human survivor, performed a sacrifice, pouring oblations of butter and sour milk into the waters. After a year there was born from the waters Lady Shutrupa.  These two then became the ancestors of a new human race to replenish the earth.

The narration of the impending flood and Noha’s ark is a copy of the above.

Pandit Deen Dyal Upadhyaya

 

 

 

 

Deen Dyal Upadhyaya (1916-1968)

25^th September is being celebrated as the 95^th birth anniversary of Pandit Deen Dyal Upadhyaya.

He was an Indian philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and political activist.

He was an extraordinary organizer, social thinker and philosopher. He joined Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh as a Pracharak and later organized sangh's activity in Uttar Pradesh inspired by Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee.

Pandit  Upadhyaya entered politics in 1951 and was appointed as the all India General Secratery of Bhartiya Janasangh. Soon he was counted among the national leaders. In 1967he was elected president of the same party and led the party to number two position at the national level in General Election (1967). But his life was cut short by  some unknown hands on 11th February,1968 at Mugal Sarai Railway yard where he was found dead which has remained a mystery till this day.

Pandit Upadhyaya was a great journalist, thinker and writer. He was associated with a number of monthly, weekly and daily. At the same time, he produced articles and books which were widely acclaimed around the world. He will always be remembered for his publications including “The Two Plans”, “Political Diary”, “Devaluation and Indian Economic Policy”, “Samrat ChandraGupta”, “Jagadguru Shankracharya” and “Integral Humanism.”

 

Dr.Shyama Prasad Mukherjee-True Son of India.

Dr.SP Mukherjee.  (1901-1953)

23 June2012 was Dr.  Shyama Prasad Mukherjee’s 60th death anniversary.

He died in Srinagar where he was kept in jail and he died under mysterious circumstances.

Mookerjee founded the Bharatiya Jana Sangh in 1951, after the differences with Pandit Nehru.

On the invitation of Mahatma Gandhi, Syama Prasad joined the first national Governament in August 1947.

He disagreed with the policy of the Government towards Pakistan as indicated by the Nehru-Liaqat Pact of 1950 and resigned from the Central Cabinet in April of that year.

In October, 1951, he organized  the Bhartiya Jana Sangh, and became its founder President. The rest of his life was spent in actively building up this party. Shyama Prasad Mookerjee championed the cause of integration of Jammu and Kashmir with the rest of India. He was arrested in Srinagar and died on 23rd June, 1953, while in custody. His funeral in Calcutta saw an outburst of feeling, which was unusual in shape and size. A pure and manly life was the ideal Dr. Shyama Prasad set before himself and he lived up to it. He was a nationalist to the core of his heart.

Country comes first was his watchword, and he died a martyr for the cause of the country. His death created a void in the public life of the nation as a whole and of West Bengal in particular, which is hard to fill. His services were lost to the country at a time when they were most essentially required. He was one of the few persons who could have given a lead to the intelligentsia of West Bengal in the difficult situation arising out of partition. However, his legacy will ever be fresh and will guide the political, cultural and educational activities of the nation for many years to come.

 The Post and Telegraphs Department issued a commemorative stamp in honor of this great son of India.

The Cosmic Connection.

Cosmic Connection.

The Moon, the planet Venus affect greatly the female.  Therefore while selecting a girl it is necessary to ascertain her nakshatra lunar position at birth in addition to her solar horoscope. There is close link between orbit of moon and Venus with female nature.

The planets influence our life as per the position of planets ascertained with details of birth like latitude,  place, date and time of birth GMT etc.

Every being is a Cosmic Being and there is in Him a receiving station to receive Cosmic waves and signals from the planets.  Planetary waves and signals are like ocean waves. They bring about movement tension dynamic situation in life. Each of the planet sends certain waves and signal when it occupies the house. There are twelve house and they determine the affairs of our life the planet will influence as per its position in the horoscope at the time of birth.

“As above, so Below-what is above there, is transmitted below in our brain.  Therefore it is safe to say that human mind reflects the Universe on a miniature scale. One has to liberate himself from fear pain obsession pleasure perverted into pain for attaining salvation. The liberated soul impose no limitation. He thrives on inner balance, which he has achieved through rules,restraint aasana,praanayama, prathyahar, dhaaraana penance meditation and Samadhi.  In doing so he becomes master of his own Universe.  All our sages and brahmrishis achieved salvation in this way. At this point they are no longer man. They are God living in the flesh of a man’s body.

Every year on the occasion of Maha Shiva-Ratri thousands of nanga-bava nude-hermits living in the valley of Girnar Hill come in a procession at the stroke of 12 at midnight at the temple of Bhava-nath at Junagadh to pay homage to Lord Shiva. Before coming to the temple in a procession they have a bath at the Girnar kund. Some out of them are Siddhas and have achieved the degree of salvation to some extent.  On this occasion pilgrims in lacs remain present to pay homage to Lord Shiva and  have darshana and blessing of the Siddhas.  Their one glimpse on us glorify our life.

Crime Detection. Fingerprinting.

The 21st century has witnessed tremendous change in the field of forensic science including Fingerprinting.

Fingerprints afford an infallible means of personal identification, because the ridge arrangement on every finger of every human being is unique and does not alter with growth or age.

Fingerprints serve to reveal an individual's true identity despite personal denial, assumed names, or changes in personal appearance resulting from age, disease, plastic surgery, or accident.

Fingerprints are classified by the shape and contour of individual pattern, by noting the finger position of the pattern type, and by relative size, determined by counting the ridges in loops and by tracing the ridges in whorls. The information obtained in this way is incorporated in a concise formula, which is the individual's fingerprint classification.

United States recognizes seven different types of patterns, radial loop, double loop, central pocket loop, plain arch, tented arch, plain whorl, and accidental. Whorls are usually circular or spiral in shape. Arches have a mound contour, while tented arches have a spike or steeple appearance in the centre. Loops have concentric hairpin or staple-shaped ridges and are described as radial loops slope toward the little finger side of the hand.

Latent fingerprinting involve locating, preserving, and identifying impression left by a culprit in the course of committing a crime. In latent fingerprints, the ridge structure is reproduced from sweat, oily secretions, or other substances naturally present on the culprit's fingers. Most latent prints are colorless and must therefore be developed, or made visible, before they can be preserved and compared. This is done by brushing them with various gray or black powders containing chalk or lampblack combined with other agents. The latent impressions are preserved as evidence either by photography or by lifting powdered prints on the adhesive surfaces of tape.

Other Fingerprinting techniques include the use of a sound spectrograph--a device that depicts graphically the frequency, duration, and intensity--to produce voice-graphs, or voiceprints, and the use of  DNA fingerprinting, an analysis of those regions of DNA that vary among individuals, to identify physical evidence blood, semen, hair, etc. as belonging to a suspect.

The latter test has been used in paternity testing as well as in forensics.

Observing Silence.

Importance of Observing Silence.

“Mahatma Gandhi during his lifetime, observed Monday

as the day of  silence.  He spoke nothing at all

for one day and observed silence.  He believed that keeping

himself silent was a way to bring order to the Mind.”

If circumstances required the Mahatma to convey something, he would

write it on a piece of paper. 

No talking for 24 hours is a hard job

One must have an iron will and steel determination to observe silence.

No talking is harder for regular people who are talkative. 

People are seen talking about anything and everything,

including baseball, basketball, cricket, music, movies, politics

and anything under the sky.

In reality, if one has to shut up for five minutes, it is difficult, if

not impossible. One feels the top of the head about to explode. 

People keep talking for the sake of talking so that their presence may be felt. 

One feels by talking he is in charge of the situation.  It is sort of behaving

like a police officer out in the middle of the traffic.

After passing a full day of silence, your mind will enable you to

speak the right words.  Your small words uttered in a routine way will

sound to others as a Command. Every word you speak counts.

Choose power words.

Singing is not talking.

We can sing together.

We can not talk together.

Silence is golden.

Silence is eloquent.

Too much of talking drives other people crazy. 

Do we call ourselves civilized?

We project ourselves as a miserable aimless directionless mob.

When we are together in a procession, we do not have to shout, wave,

yell and hoot at friends who are passer-by.

At a meeting we do not have to whisper and giggle and point out and wave

and laugh at our silly jokes.

And when we are together at the lunch table, it is not free-for-all

festival  to blab.  Lunch is a time to sit and be quiet and eat.

Human Mind.

The Yoga system, the Scriptures, the Rules, Restraint, Aasana, Pranayaam, Prityahaar Dhaarana, Penance Meditation and Samadhi lead to control, and steady the wandering Mind. Chanting Bhakti songs helps.

Rein the Mind. Control it. Tame it. Fix it. Tie it. Mind needs to be disciplined. It is jumping from one subject to another in a matter of seconds.  Human Mind remains continually at work.  It never stops. In sleep the sub-conscious Mind is at work.

Mind is an open piece of land. It has to be walled and confined within the boundaries of four mental walls. 

In birds half their Mind is shut when they are resting. Their one eye is seen shut. Turn by turn half the Mind gets rest as the bird shifts its eye.  We have to keep one eye closed and Mind would slow down at a half its speed.

Eyes and Mind have connection. Concentrate on your Eyes. Focus Eye-Sight on tip of your nose.  It is an auto-switch to stop the Mind running roaming around. Talk with eye-sight fixed on the tip and you will feel the magic change. It leads to concentration and qualitative outcome.

A good movie keeps you engrossed and you forget to think.  You view a game and keep your Mind engrossed in the game and you will be free. We have to keep engrossed in some activity.  Keep busy. Do not be alone. Form a group.  Do prayers.   Take a piece of paper and start writing God’s name a thousand times. Take a char-coal and do designs on the wall and feel the change. 

All our scriptures insist about Concentration.  Concentrate on one aspect.  Yoga is based on controlling the Mind and Senses through physical exercise and following the rituals to steady the Mind. 

As per Neurology report we lose 10000 grey cells every hour on account of wasteful thinking. 

It will help if you engage in menial work like gardening, lawn-mowing cooking cleaning etc.

You would be nearer to Heaven through a game of Foot-Ball than chanting  Gita with mind roaming with dream for food and sweets and sleep.