Enlightenment Day / Enlightening experiences
Mahavira and Kevala Jnana by the River Rijupalika
Bhagwan Mahavira
Vardhamana was born into a ruling family at Kundagrama, near Vaishali in present day Bihar. At thirty he gave away what he owned and left home. Jain tradition records twelve and a half years of wandering, fasting, silence and meditation, during which he accepted hardship and abuse without retaliation.
At the age of forty two, on the bank of the river Rijupalika near the village of Jrimbhika, seated under a sal tree, he attained Kevala Jnana. The term means knowledge that is complete and unobstructed. From then on he is Mahavira, the great hero, and the twenty fourth Tirthankara, a ford maker who shows others the crossing.
He taught for thirty years and attained nirvana at Pawapuri. His teaching rests on five vows: non violence, truthfulness, not stealing, chastity and non possession. With them comes anekantavada, the recognition that reality has many sides and that any single statement about it is partial.
The good that came from this awakening is easy to trace. Ahimsa, carried to the smallest creature, shaped Indian ethics for two and a half thousand years and reached the modern world through Gandhi, whose early guide Shrimad Rajchandra was a Jain.
What it gave the world
Ahimsa, non violence towards every living being, and the many sidedness of truth.
At a glance
- Tradition
- Jain. Mahavira is the twenty fourth Tirthankara
- Place
- The bank of the Rijupalika, near the village of Jrimbhika, eastern India
- Age
- Forty two, after twelve and a half years of austerity
- Term used
- Kevala jnana, complete knowledge
Why it is part of Enlightenment Day 2026
The theme of the 2026 conference is celebrating enlightening experiences, and the question it puts to every speaker is how enlightenment connects with an awakening of consciousness that brings good to the world. This account is one of eight the day starts from. The conference is online on Saturday 10 October 2026.
The teacher named here is a subject of the day's talks. Naming them does not mean that they, or any institution that carries their work, take part in or endorse the event.