Monastic Life As An Ascetic

Mahavira left his hom in search of emancipation. He renounced for the rest of his physical life, all acts that happen to be sinful. For about twelve-and-a-half years he had undergone severe penance and attained Kevalyagyan , the total enlightenment. He suffered a great deal of physical pain and torture from various sources. Among them, the most severe was the biting by the highly poisonous snake Chandkaushik. Mahavir remained calm and peaceful in the midst of these torturous events. He never lost his serenity and never developed hatred for anyone.

During this period he mostly observed silence; fasted and maintained a state of total awareness for twenty-four hours a day. He did not sleep for more than 50 minutes in total in his twelve years of Sadhana . He conquered sleep by meditation. He usually did meditation in a standing posture. He had full control over his tongue and conquered taste.

Meditation and fasting , were the two main aspects of his sadhana . The general perception of Mahavira is that of an ascetic than that of a great meditator. The reason for his long fasting was that he wanted to establish that the power of soul is unlimited in comparison to mind, mind to subtle body, and subtle body to the gross body. He had proved that this body can survive without food and water once the connection with the soul is established. He was so absorbed in meditation that hunger and thirst sensations were weakened within him.

During this period of penance, most of the time he was either in meditation or kayotsarga (deep relaxation) having experiences of body and soul as being different. In this way, two phases of Mahavira's life - the householder's and of an ascetic's ended at the age of forty-two years.

The Lord sat in Godohika posture. He was fasting for two days. He experienced renewed vigour. It seemed the veil over existence was going to be torn in no time. He was exposing himself to the warmth of the sun. He experienced the profound meditative state described as Sukla Dhyana . Ultimately, he stood face to face with reality without the veil. The sun of enlightenment rose to stay forever. Lord was now the enlightened, the omniscient and clairvoyant. He had full knowledge of everything, and its modes near and far were automatically projected in his awareness.

He had performed severe meditation having destroyed the four Ghatya Karma (Darshanavarnia, Gyanavarnia, Mohniya and Antrya ), and reached the highest state of consciousness, wisdom and intuition. Having attained Kevalya , which is infinite, supreme, complete and full of wisdom, he became Jina or a conqueror of Karma, the eight great enemies of the soul.