Jainism - Eighth Tirthankar Lord Chandraprabhuji

Previous Births of Chandraprabhu In his previous incarnation as king Padma of Mangalavati town of Dhatkikhand, the being that was to become Bhagavan Chandraprabhu earned Tirthankar-nam-and-gotra-karma. Spending a life time as a god in Anuttar Vijay dimension he descended into the womb of queen Lakshmana, wife of king Mahasen of Chandranana town. Birth of Lord Chandraprabhu Chaitra Krishna 5 was the day when early in the morning, queen Lakshmana saw fourteen (sixteen according to Digamabara Jain Sect) auspicious dreams, she called upon a dream expert and learnt the meaning of her dreams. This created a pleasant atmosphere all over. People were friendly and exchanging gifts. She and king Mahasen were filled with joy to know that their and their family’s name will be immortal in the world as they were to be the parents of Tirthankar. During her pregnancy, one day the queen was looking at the splendors and glowing full-moon. All of a sudden she had a strange desire to drink the glowing streak of moon light. The king cleverly managed to satisfy this strange desire of a pregnant mother. On Paushya Krishna 13 (according to Hindu Calendar) Queen Lakshmana gave birth to a son. It was an atmosphere of festival all over. Naming Ceremony Queen was resting on a bed, that had blue colored bed sheet over it. She was also wearing blue dress with blue dupatta. The child was covered with this dupatta that had silver studs on it. It seemed as if among the stars, moon is laughing. So they decided to keep the name of the child as ‘Chandraprabhu’. Chandraprabhu as king Chandraprabhu turned out to be of matured, patient, courageous and understanding nature. His popularity spread all over. Where ever he went, people agreed to whatever he said. He was married first to Surdatta and then to many more. King Mahasen handled over the responsibility of the kingdom to Chandraprabhu and went into jungles in search of Moksha. Path of Renunciation One day Chandraprabh was sitting in the balcony of his palace and was into deep meditation. He was thinking that he should get out of this cycle of birth and rebirth. He then heard someone saying that he should move ahead to achieve the main goal of his birth, of his life. The entire human community is waiting for the knowledge which he will give them. When he opened his eyes there was nobody but he understood that they were Lokantik Dev. He realized the real purpose of his life. Straight away he went to his mother’s room and asked her permission for accepting asceticism. After this day King chandraprabhu gave charity every day for the entire one year. After an year, he went outside the town, discarded all his worldly possessions, removed hairs with fist and took diksha and disappeared into jungles. Omniscience and Nirvana After three months of acute spiritual practices, under Priyungu tree, he shed away all the four Ghati Karmas and attained omniscience. For a considerably long period he continued to enlighten the people and propagate the true religion. When his end approached he went to Sammed shikharji and after a month of long fast and meditation got liberated i.e. got Nirvana.