Jainism

The word Jainism comes from the Sanskrit word for saint "jinah" which derives from "Jayati" meaning "he conquers" - thus they are conquers of mortal bondage.

Along with Hinduism and Buddhism, Jainism is one of the three most ancient Indian religions still in existence. Although Jainism has fewer followers than Hinduism and Sikhism it has had an influence on Indian culture for over 2,500 years, making significant contributions in philosophy, logic, art and architecture, grammar, mathematics, astronomy, astrology, and literature.

Lord Mahavira is regarded as the last of a line of 24 holy and spiritually enlightened beings, the Tirthankaras. Mahavira was born in India in 599 BC. At the age of thirty he gave up his life as a wealthy prince and became a religious ascetic. He was a reformer and propagator of the religion with fundamentals like :

• Nonviolence (Ahimsa) - not to cause harm to any living beings
• Truthfulness (Satya) - to speak the harmless truth only
• Non-stealing (Asteya) - not to take anything not properly given
• Chastity (Brahmacharya) - not to indulge in sensual pleasure
• Non-possession/Non-attachment (Aparigraha) - complete detachment from people, places, and material things.

Jainism is a religion of love and compassion above all else. Jains believe that the universe is eternal. They believe in the eternity of the soul. There are thought to be multitudes of souls or life-modas, which are all independent and eternal.

Practicing the ideals of Jainism results in the souls getting lighter in color and rising to the level of a universal being. The goal of the Jains is to achieve liberation and then to float like a bubble to the ceiling of the universe. Present estimates of the number of Jains worldwide range as high as six million or more.

Jainism is a religion and philosophy of India, founded in about the 6th century BC by Vardhamana, who is known as Mahavira ("Great Hero")--the 24th of the Tirthankaras ("Ford-makers"), Jinas ("Conquerors"; whence the name Jainism), the great religious figures on whose example the religion is centered--in protest against the orthodox Vedic (early Hindu) ritualistic cult of the period; its earliest proponents may have belonged to a sect that rebelled against the idea and practice of taking life prevalent in the Vedic animal sacrifice.

Jainism, which does not espouse belief in a creator god, has as its ethical core the doctrine of ahimsa, or noninjury to all living creatures, and as its religious ideal the perfection of man's nature, to be achieved predominantly through the monastic and ascetic life.