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LIFE OF SHRI ARANATHSWAMI
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King
Dhanpati of Susima City in Mahavideh area took Diksha from Samvar Muni
and after acquiring Tirthankar-nam-and-gotra-karma he reincarnated in
the Graiveyak dimension of gods. From
there he descended into the womb of Queen Maha Devi, wife of king
Sudarshan of Hastinapur. Besides
the fourteen great dreams that precede the conception of a Tirthankar,
queen Maha Devi also saw a gem studded wheel (Ara).
Accordingly, after the birth the boy was named Ara Kumar. When
Ara Kumar became young he was married to many beautiful princesses.
Later king Sudarshan gave the kingdom to Ara Kumar and became an
ascetic. For some years
Arnath ruled as a regional king. Gradually
his power and glory increased and one-day the disc weapon appeared in
his armoury. He conquered
the six continents and became a Chakravarti.
In his attendance were thirty two thousand kings. After
a long and successful reign, one day Emperor Arnath was thinking about
the ever changing seasons. This
triggered a chain of sublime thoughts that lead to complete detachment.
He renunciated all the wealth, power and glory and became an
ascetic. He did spiritual
practices and wandered around. After
three years he arrived in the Sahasramra jungle outside Hastinapur and
stood in meditation under a mango tree.
With the fire of higher meditation he burnt one after another the
four vitiating Karmas including illusory, knowledge obstructing,
perception obstructing, and power hindering.
Consequently he attained omniscience.
His first discourse after attaining omniscience was on the
subject of "how to win over the enemies like attachment and
aversion". In
this first religious assembly thousands of individuals became ascetics
including his 32 chief disciples headed by Kumbh. Spending a long period of twenty one thousand years wandering
and promoting religion, he finally arrived at Sammetshikhar and attained
liberation. The
sixth and seventh Vasudevas and Baldevas and the eighth Chakravarti (Subhum)
were his followers. |