Shree Shreyansnath Bhagwan: Life Stories of the Eleventh Tirthankara

Tirthankara Shree Shreyansnath Bhagwan was the 11th Tirthankara of the present time cycle. Lord’s body was golden in complexion and His height measured 80 bows.

Shree Shreyansnath Bhagwan’s symbol is rhinoceros. Ishwar Yaksha Dev and Maanvi Yakshini Devi are His Shaasan Dev and Shaashan Devi, respectively. 

Come, let’s now read the life stories of the Lord’s previous two births and His birth as a Tirthankara.

Shree Shreyansnath Bhagwan - The Past Births

In His antepenultimate birth, Tirthankara Shree Shreyansnath Bhagwan was King Nalinigulm, who ruled in Kshema Nagri of Kachh Vijay located in the Purva Videh Kshetra on the Pushkarvar Dweep. King Nalinigulm ruled his kingdom very nicely, serving his people with good feelings and was very religious.

Later, after many years, King Nalinigulm took Diksha, and with his great devotion and worship, he bound the Tirthankara gotra. On completing his lifespan , he reincarnated as a celestial being in the seventh heaven .  

Shree Shreyansnath Bhagwan – Birth, Keval Gnan, Deshna

Upon completing the celestial lifespan, the birth of Shree Shreyansnath Bhagwan took place in the Sinhpur Nagri of the Bharat Kshetra, at King Vishnuraj and Queen Vishnu Devi’s place. On the Meru Mountain, the celestial Gods celebrated the Janma Kalyanak (an auspicious event marking the birth of a Tirthankara) of Lord.

Upon the birth of Lord, the kingdom of King Vishnu be came more and more prosperous. Hence based on this, the Lord was named ‘Shreyansnath’.

In the course of time, Lord Shreyansnath got married, and after ruling the kingdom for many years, He took Diksha. Upon Diksha, the Lord attained Manahparyav Gnan. Thereafter, in two months only, He attained Keval Gnan. Upon attaining Keval Gnan, the Lord went from place to place, and giving Deshna to people, He inspired them to get onto the path of liberation.

Once, Lord Shreyansnath arrived in a city named Potanpur where the first Vasudev of the present Chovisi, Tripusht (one of the past reincarnations of Lord Mahavir), ruled. Tripusht Vasudev, upon receiving the message, “Tirthankara Shreyansnath Bhagwan has come to our city and is giving Deshna to people.” was so delighted that he donated twelve and a half crore gold coins to the person who delivered him this message. He then rushed to do the Darshan of Lord Shreyansnath. 

Deshna – Nirjara Bhavna

Shree Shreyansnath Bhagwan, in His Deshna, gave a very beautiful understanding of the Nirjara bhaav na. Nirjara means discharge of karma.

Karma are in two stages, charge and discharge. In the scriptural language, discharge is called ‘Nirjara.’ Discharge means to empty. The karmas keep getting discharged in the following two ways:

• Akaam Nirjara
• Sakaam Nirjara

In the ignorant state, it is always Akaam Nirjara, as a result of which new karmas keep charging repeatedly; new karmas are bound. On the other hand, Sakaam Nirjara means it s (the karma) got rid of with a purpose and new karma is not bound; the karma gets settled or cleared completely.

The Nirjara of the Self-realized people is Sakaam Nirjara, which means while their Karma gets discharged, new karma is not charged. They, from within, remain free and keep seeing and knowing the unfolding karma. They remain aware at the line of demarcation between Self-knowledge and ignorance ; they do not get engrossed in the unfolding karma. That is when the complete Nirjara (discharge) of karma happens, i.e., the karmic atomic particles shed totally. Therefore, it is highly recommended to learn how to do the Nirjara of karma from the Enlightened people. 

In the Deshna, the Lord said that Nirjara happens through penance or tapa. Penance is of two types:

• Bahya tapa (External penance)
• Abhyantar tapa (Internal penance)

The bahya tapa and the abhyantar tapa, each are of six types. The Bahya tapa happens in terms of all external actions and the abhyantar tapa is beyond the external actions.

Bahya Tapa

The six types of bahya tapa are as follows: 

• Anshan
• Unodari 
• Vrutti Sankshep 
• Ras-parityag 
• Kayotsarg 
• Sanlinta 

Nowadays, in the 5th ara (kaliyug), in bahya tapa, anshan holds more significance, whereas the rest have lost their significance. Anshan means to not eat food; fasting for as many days possible is called Anshan tapa. Anshan tapa is visible. In Kaliyug, one does that which is visible; one is not able to go into the realm of the subtle. It is the characteristic of kaliyug to do all that is visible , but one is not able to go at all into the realm of the subtle. Gnanis alone are able to reveal the subtle penance and bring people, too, into its realm.

Unodari also is considered as an exquisite form of penance. All the Enlightened Ones, for example, Shrimad Rajchandra and Param Pujya Dada Bhagwan practiced Unodari tapa. It is difficult to do unodari for the entire life. Unodari means to eat half only , to keep our stomach half-empty. In the Unodari tapa, the stomach must be kept empty up to 50%; 50% of the stomach capacity ought to be utilized for food, 25% is to be kept for water and 25% is to be kept for air. Then, every time one takes breakfast, lunch or dinner, one ought to eat 50% of the capacity only. Whether it is a dish one lik es or dislikes , one must eat 50% only.

Upon eating more when food is delicious, lot of laziness gets built. Therefore, Gnanis always do unodari tapa. Param Pujya Dada Bhagwan said, “I have never fasted in my life, but have always practiced the unodari tapa.”

Abhyantar Tapa

All above are bahya tapa. By doing this tapa regularly, our external purification takes place, i.e., the body and mind purify. However, to take us further into the realm of the Soul is not its job. To take us to the Soul is the job of the abhyantar tapa.

There are six types of abhyantar tapa, which are as under: 

• Prayashchit
• Vaiyavach
• Swadhyay
• Vinay
• Vyutsarg
• Dhyan

Serving saints, repenting over committed sins, doing Swadhyay meaning constant contemplation of the Self (Swa), i.e., the Soul, practicing humility are all abhyantar tapa. With abhyantar tapa, the karma sheds off in true sense. While doing religious meditation, actually one has to come into the meditation of the Soul, which is called Shukladhyan. Thus, the goal to be maintained must be that of going into Shukladhyan.

By doing repentance-pratikraman, the sins that we have committed get washed off, and if pratikraman does not happen, then the karmas remain as is. To clear off the seed of the sin, it is very important to do pratikraman, pratyakhyan and prayashchit. Pratikraman is not to be done merely in words; with heart-felt repentance when we do pratyakhyan, only then does that karma leave. So, whenever a mistake happens, instantly doing its pratikraman and pratyakyan washes away the mistake.

No matter how much one insults or abuses, at that moment, we should remain equanimous from within and see the person abusing as innocent. Because the other person is a Soul only ; he is God only; one insulting us is because of our own karma that is unfolding right now. The person insulting us should appear to us as the benefactor. “I am immensely grateful to you… you helped me get free from this karma!” —if this feeling remains inside us, only then we become free from that karma; new karma does not get bound and the old karma finishes.

Stories of Abhyantar Tapa

There are many beautiful examples of how doing the abhyantar tapa, one freed  oneself from all karmas, attained Keval Gnan and went to Moksha.

In the scriptures, there is an example of Arjunmaali. This story is during the time of Lord Mahavir. Arjunmaali was an ardent religious follower. His wife, Bandhumati, was very beautiful. Once, while he was engrossed in his worship, six men came in his garden and they started do ing atrocities on his wife, Bandhumati. But later, six men ran away. So, Arjunmaali couldn’t do anything, and hence, felt tremendous suffering within. Then, a Yakshdev came there; he too had immense vengeance against Arjunmaali. The Yakshdev got into the body of Arjunmaali and harassed him a lot. The Yakshdev would enter into the body of Arjunmaali and kill people; every day, he would kill 6 men and one lady. Entering into the body of Arjunmaali, the Yakshdev had killed more than 1100 people.

Later, once when Lord Mahavir was giving Deshna in a village, Arjunmaali happened to pass by. As Lord’s eyes fell on him, the Yakshdev who had entered into Arjunmaali’s body ran away. Thereafter, Arjunmaali took Diksha from Lord Mahavir and did enormous abhyantar tapa. Arjunmaali went to the family members of those people whom Yakshdev had killed upon entering into his body, asked for forgiveness, and repented heartily. When Arjunmaali would go to those family members, they would beat him up. Yet Arjunmaali, with great repentance in his heart, would seek forgiveness for all these karmas; doing pratikraman, he would remain in equanimity. When people hit him, he did not react even in his mind, and over and above, ke pt doing pratikraman. This is how, by doing prayashchit-pratikraman, he attained Keval Gnan and in that very birth, went to Moksha.

There is yet another beautiful example. There was a king. Upon taking Diksha, along with the other saints, he would perform all religious practices such as chanting, penance, meditation and fasting. However, while all the other saints could fast as expected from them, this holy saint couldn’t, as he was unable to remain hungry. During Paryushan, while all the other saints ke pt a complete fast, he ate one time in a day. Therefore, the other saints would boastfully ridicule and shun him. They did so to such an extent that when the holy saint sat for lunch, they used to spit in his plate. However, daily, the holy saint, with utmost humility, accepted this weakness of his whole-heartedly and appreciated the other saints for their ability to fast. “Oh, I am unable to remain hungry; it’s such a mistake on my part. All of them are making me aware of my mistake.” With this contemplation, he continued to remain equanimous. This gave rise to Shukladhyan (meditating upon his Soul only) in him, thus, destroying all his karmas one by one. This led him to Keval Gnan, and he soon attained ultimate liberation, i.e., Moksha.

The fruit of abhyantar tapa is to attain the Soul! It takes one to Moksha. Abhyantar tapa means to remain constantly aware at the joint of Gnan (knowledge of the Self) and Agnan (ignorance of the Self). When someone insults or abuses us, at that moment although our heart becomes red-hot, if we remain equanimous, at peace and do not get engrossed in it at all, that’s when that karma sheds completely and we become pure. It is very important to attain abhyantar tapa. Only the Enlightened people can teach us the right abhyantar tapa. It is highly recommended that we learn this from them and get released from the cycle of birth and death.

Actually, when we fast or do some penance, we become egoistic at the subtle level within. If penance, etc. happens out of ego, that ego gets distorted and it starts believing that I alone am great and the rest are inferior to me. This is how one gets proud of one’s religion too, and happens to shun others. Each God has primarily talked about attaining the Soul and going to Moksha. All these sects have come up later. God has accepted every religion. He has never hurt anyone’s religious belief. True religion is the one that does not consider other religions to be inferior than it. To come out of all of this, Param Pujya Dada Bhagwan has given importance to impartiality towards all religions. Every religion talks about attaining the Soul and going to Moksha.

Nowadays, everywhere only external penance is seen, which gives only material happiness. The Lord has said that there are 4 pillars of Moksha namely, Samya k Gnan, Samya k Darshan, Samyak Charitra and Samyak Tapa, meaning the tapa after Samkit will take us to Moksha. The tapa done prior to Samkit is called ignorant tapa, which is done through the medium of ego. In Samyak tapa, there is positivity, and one is able to attain purity through it. Right now, in the external penance, if someone comes asking regarding our health (due to the fasts that we have done), then it goes in false pride and fame; the passion of pride takes us over. Therefore, we ourselves should check how far we turn out to succeed in this penance and find out that what is right in this and what should be done.

Shree Shreyansnath Bhagwan – Nirvana

Upon listening to the Deshna of Lord Shreyansnath, many people took Diksha, attained Keval Gnan from the Lord and went to Moksha. 

Upon completing His lifespan, Shreyansnath Bhagwan, along with many Sadhus, attained Nirvana from the Sam e t Shikharji Mountain. Lord, in his Sangha, had 76 Ganadhar s (chief disciples of a Tirthankara) and lakhs of Sadhus-Sadhvis and Shravaks-Shravikas. Lord Shreyansnath’s life was quite great.