2,550 years have passed since the nirvana of the final tirthankara Mahaveer Swami of Jain dharma. As part of its celebration, 35 Mumukshusare going to renounce the samsara and depart victoriously on the path of Prabhu Mahaveer, on the 22nd April of 2024.
A never-before-seenincredible phenomenon is going to occur in Ahmadabad city, the capital equivalent of Jain shasan, on the upcoming 22nd April.
At dawn onthe 14th day of the month of Chaitrain 2080 of Vikram’s era; inside the magnificent, divine, and beautiful AdhyatmaNagari which has been created on the riverfront, 35 Mumukshus aged from 11-year-old children to 56-year-old adults will be given diksha and will renounce samsarato depart on the path shown by Prabhu Veer. The diksha will be given by theDiksha MahanayakaReverend acharya dev Vijay Yogatilaksurishvarji Maharaja.
For the sake of the Mahabhinishkramanbeing done by the Mumukshus, a splendid festival will begin on the 18th April and will last for 5 days. To participate, about a hundred thousand Jain devotees will gather around from every corner of the world.
The welcome procession for the Reverend guru bhagwantsalong with 400 shraman-shramanibhagwantsis organised in the morning of the 18th April.
The aristocratic procession for the varsidaan(donation procession) will be held on the morning of 21st April. Its approximate length is calculated to be 1km.
Interesting introduction of the renouncing Mumukshus
35 Mumukshusare going to take diksha in Ahmadabad. Among them, there are 5 families that will have their homes locked off after their diksha, as every member of the family will be following the path of Prabhu Veer.
1. SanjaybhaiManikchandSadariya is a big a trader in the textile market of Surat. His son and daughter had taken diksha in the year 2021. Now, Sanjaybhai and his ¬shravika (wife) Binaben will also take diksha. After that, their whole family will be residing in an upashray and will have abandoned their home.
2. Jashvantbhai Shantilal Shah,who is a textile trader and his shravikaDipikabenare going to take dikshain Ahmadabad. Their twin sons have already taken diksha in the past and have departed on the path of Shree Mahaveer Prabhu.
3. Mukeshbhai is the younger brother of Jashvantbhai; his family consists of his shravikaMonikaben along with his son Heet and daughter Krisha. Now, the whole family is going to renounce everything.
4. JagdishbhaiMahasukhlal Shah from Surat will take diksha, along with his shravikaShilpaben. Their one and only son has already taken dikshaback in 2021.
5. BhaveshbhaiGirishbhai Bhandari of Ahmadabad owns a wide business of real estate. He is going to take diksha along with his shravikaJinalben. In 2021, his son and daughter had taken diksha in Surat. For this auspicious occasion, Bhaveshbhai is distributing sweets among the 40,000 odd Jain families residing in Ahmadabad.
All the Mumukshu taking the diksha are unique. HeenalkumariSanjaybhai Jain from Mumbai has a master’s degree in digital marketing. After taking diksha, she will not even touch instruments like a mobile or a laptop. She will renounce the digital marketing of worldly things and begin marketing the spiritual path of ParamaatmaMahaveer.
Mukeshbhai from Ahmadabad had passed the 12th grade with the highest score in the district of Sirohi. Now he will work hard to attain the first rank in serving his guru.
Bhavyabhai, residing in Surat has a vow of doing a pilgrimage of ShreeGirnar Teerth every month. If he fails to do the pilgrimage of ShreeGirnar for a month, then he renounces eating sweets for that month. Just like the principal deity of ShreeGirnarShreeNeminath Prabhu; he is going to take diksha without being married.
Devesh NandishenbhaiRatadiya of Surat city is an enchanting singer, who worships the Veetaragparamaatmawith the melody of seven tunes and is also a talented musician. He is a singer who sings the songs of praises in other such events of diksha, through which he was painted by the colour of dispassion and is now going to take diksha himself.
HeetMukeshbhai Shah, aged 18, from Ahmadabad, was a solid fan of cricket. Every time, he would not feel right without watching the world cup. This time, Heet did not watch the world cup. After his diksha, he is never going to ask anyone about cricket scores again.
Het Mayurbhai Shah, aged 13, resides in Surat. In his small age he has already done a deep study of Jain sutras like ‘PanchPratikraman’, ‘Chaar Prakaran’, ‘Tran Bhashya’, ‘Tran Karmagrantha’, ‘Yogshastra’, ‘Alankar Shastra’ etc. He has memorized about 3,500 sutras of Jain dharma.
Out of the 35 Mumukshus taking diksha from Reverend acharya bhagwant, 10 of them are under the age of 18. They will be taking diksha with the permission of their parents.
The Mahanayka of diksha Acharya Shree Vijay Yogtilaksuriji
Reverend acharya Shree Vijay Yogtilaksuriji is going to give Jaindiksha to 35 mumukshusin Rajnagar Ahmadabad. In the times when he was residing in the samsara, he had attained the degree of C.A. After which, he had become detached from samsara. In 1988 he had taken dikshain Mumbai.
His sermons have such a magical effect, that the listeneracquiresan intense longing for renouncing samsara.
After listening to the dispassion filled sermons of acharya Shree, until now, 125 males and 233 femaleshave taken diksha.
In the past, many such diksha events have taken place under his auspices:Palitana, in 2012, 17 diksha.Surat, in 2014,45 diksha. Surat, in 2016, 36 diksha. Ahmadabad, in 2017, 26 diksha. Mumbai, in 2018, 44 diksha. Surat, in 2019, 18 diksha. Surat, in 2021, 74 diksha.
Under the aegis of acharya Shree, currently 137 sadhu bhagwant and 253 sadhvibhagwant are following the path of Bhagwan Mahaveer. They are doing excellent sadhana with their abstinent lives.
Among the virtuous souls who have taken diksha from acharya Shree, 18 males and 29 females had been initiated in their childhood.
In the auspices of acharya Shree, many shasan influencing events have taken place; such as the pratishthaof Ajit-Shanti in Palitana, updhaan, 6 ‘ree’palak sangha” (a procession that follows six types of rules) etc.
Under the auspices of acharya Shree, more than 300 virtuous souls have taken diksha in the last 10 years. It is considered to be an incredible phenomenon in Jain shasan.
GrandioseAdhytmaNagari on the riverfront
To organize a never-before-seenfestival of diksha, in the history of Ahmadabad, AdhyatmaNagari has been created on the riverfront of Sabarmati River. It is spread out in three hundred thousand square feet and reminds one of the aristocratic palaces of Rajasthan.
About 2 hundred thousand meters of cloth and 2.5 hundred thousand square feet of wood has been used to make it.
Its main pavilion has an area of 60,000 square feet, inside which a stage with an area of 2 thousand square feet has been made for the families of the mumukshus. On the second stage, Reverend sadhu bhagwantswill be seated and on the third stage, Reverendsadhivijibhagwants will be seated.
In the main pavilion, an audience of approximately 30,000, will be able to sit down. In the heat of summer, without the use of an air conditioner or fans; certain measures will be taken to cool the place down.
In the night time, 2 thousand oil lamps will be used to create light.
Inside the AdhyatmaNagari, a glorious temple is created for the worship of paramaatma. It is based on the theme of Rajasthan’s royal palaces.
This temple is created by the Bollywood art director Chandrashekhar Parab.
For the guests coming to witness the diksha in AdhyatmaNagari, a special parking with a capacity of 300 cars has been organised.
Fire brigade will remain on standby at the location with a truck, for any untoward incident.
For the visitors, an adequate number of washrooms and toilets have also been prepared.
On the day of Diksha, 50,000 devotees will take delicious food
All of the devotees coming to witness the 35 diksha festival during the days of 18th to 22nd April, will be served sumptuous food three times a day, as part of the Sadharmik bhakti.
For this, a vast pavilion with an area of 65,000 square feet has been created. Within it, 3,200 devotees will be able to sit down in a single session.
On the day of the diksha, a total of 50,000 devotees will be served. Sweets, farsan, sharbat, porridge, roti, puri, pulse, rice, lentil etc. will add up to 15 to 20 dishes.
Because the event will be held during the days of shashvatioli of the Chaitra month, the meals will not include vegetables and fruits.
A staff of 200 for cooking and 500 for serving have been hired.
For the meals, 7,000 sets of dishes made out of bronze will be used.
To get cool drinking water, instead of using ice; hundreds of earthenpots made will be used.
Regal procession for the varsidaan On the 13th day of Chaitra month
The invitation letter for the diksha festival will be delivered to approximately 40,000 Jain families.
It will be paired together with a box of sweets.
Reverend guru bhagwants are going to enter the city on the 18th April. To welcome them, a majestic welcome procession has been planned.
The 35 mumukshus who are going to take the diksha, will have their varsidaan procession on the day before the diksha; on the 21th day of April.
It is also the day, when the last tirthankara of Jain dharma, Shree Mahaveer Swami Bhagwan was born. As such it’s alsothe day ofHis JanmaKalyanaka.
The varsidaanprocession will also include three elephants, many horses, five vintage cars,musical troupes etc.
Famous musical troupes from far away states like Punjab and Kerala will also take part.
The length of the varsidaanprocession itself will be 1km and it will travel for 7km.
Various events included in the 5-day long festival
On the occasion of 35 mumukshu renouncing samsara, various events will be held during 18th to 22nd April, inside thestately AdhyatmaNagari created on the riverfront.
1. On the first day, a majestic welcoming procession for the guru bhagwants entering the city, on 18th April.After that, entry into the city of diksha and inauguration sermon. In the evening, sandhya bhakti will be held.
On the night of the first day, a unique event named vandoli will be held, on the roads of Ahmadabad. In which, day like light will be created at night. In this vandoli, horse carriages, drummers, D.J., umbrellas spreading coloured lights etc. would appear.
2. On the second day, at the time of sermon, some special books will be released.Which will include an unpublished book about raas, based on the Jain literature from the Middle Ages. Also, a Hindi translation of Reverend guru bhagwant’ssermons will be published as well. In the morning, chhaab-bharan and a magnificent snatra(a type of abhishekpooja) festival will be held as well. At night, the farewell festival for the people taking diksha will be held. In which, the mumukshu will talk about their emotions.
3. On the third day, a henna festival will be held. In this festival, the relatives of the people taking diksha, will colour the hands of mumukshus with henna for the last time and give them a farewell. This festival will be held in the company of music. In the night, sandhya bhakti will be held and the farewell event of mumukshus will move forward.
4. On the fourth day, in the morning, a 7km long procession with chariots will be held. After which, the articles required for the abstinent lives of mumukshus will be auctioned. At night, mumukshu Devesh from Surat, will help with doing bhakti of paramaatma in a special way.A splendid ‘Maha-pooja’ will also be held. At night, a competition of children’s drama will be held by students from various paathshala (religious school). Later, in the form of a conversation between Akbar-Birbal, a live drama will be played on the subject of “what is the greatest task in the world?”
5. On the fifth day, in the early morning, at 5.31 hours, with the auspicious entry of guru bhagwants, the ritual of diksha will commence. At 7.02 hours, mumukshuswill be given the ‘Rajoharan’, which is the symbol of a sadhu’s life. After that, in the morning at 9.30 hours, the ritual of ‘Loch’ (removing hair from the head by hand) will take place. The newly initiated sadhus will have their names from samsara permanently cancelled. Then, they will be given new names for their lives as a sadhu-sadhvi.
The auspices of 15Reverend acharya bhagwants
along with 400 Reverendsadhu-sadhviji
1. Reverend acharya Shree Vijay Poornachandrasuriji Maharaja Saheb
2. Reverend acharya Shree Vijay Narchandrasuriji Maharaja Saheb
3. Reverend acharya Shree VijayGunshilsuriji Maharaja Saheb
4. Reverend acharya Shree Vijay Kirtiyashsuriji Maharaja Saheb
5. Reverend acharya Shree Vijay Yogtilaksuriji Maharaja Saheb
6. Reverend acharya Shree Vijay Kulshilsuriji Maharaja Saheb
7. Reverend acharya Shree Vijay Heetpragyasuriji Maharaja Saheb
8. Reverend acharya Shree Vijay Harshvardhansuriji Maharaj Saheb
9. Reverend acharya Shree Vijay Yashpremsuriji Maharaja Saheb
10. Reverend acharya Shree Vijay Yugchandrasuriji Maharaja Saheb
11. Reverend acharya Shree VijayNirmaldarshansuriji Maharaja Saheb
12. Reverend acharya Shree Vijay Kulchandrasuriji Maharaja Saheb
13. Reverend acharya Shree Vijay Moksharatisuriji Maharaja Saheb
14. Reverend acharya Shree Vijay Tattvaprabhsuriji Maharaja Saheb
15. Reverend acharya Shree Vijay Dharmatilaksuriji Maharaja Saheb
16. ReverendupadhyayShreeAaryatilakvijayji Maharaja Saheb
