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=Adinath’s First Meal In 13 Months Marks Akshaya Tritiya=
[https://epaper.indiatimes.com/article-share?article=10_05_2024_010_006_cap_TOI  Bhagchand Jain, May 10, 2024: ''The Times of India'']


Baisakh Shukla Tritiya is highly significant in Indian culture. In common parlance, it is also called Akha Teej or Akshaya Tritiya. In Jain philosophy, it is considered as the beginning of the shramana culture.

 During the third age of Hundavasarpini, Ayodhya was ruled by king Nabhiraj and queen Marudevi. A son, Rishabhnath, was born to them. When Nabhiraj reached old age, he handed over Ayodhya's throne to Rishabhnath, also called Adinath. At that time, Kalpavriksha fulfilled all the needs of human beings, but gradually, Kalpavriksha's powers started decreasing. Bhogbhoomi started disappearing, and karmabhoomi was created. At that time, due to rains, various grains and tree sprouts grew in the fields and gave suitable fruits. However, they were destroyed as people did not know what to do with them. The land of enjoyment vanished, and the era of karma arrived, but people did not know how to do karma, action. Hence, they started suffering from hunger and thirst. 

Adinathji gave mankind the necessary knowledge. He taught six tasks to live life: asi, weaponry, military action for defence; masi, writing; agriculture, farming and growing food; vidya, actions related to gaining knowledge; commerce, business; crafts, making of statues, buildings and carvings, etc.

 He had taught people to do all kinds of work in a planned manner. By imparting the knowledge of scriptology and numerology to his daughters Brahmi and Sundari, respectively, he spread this knowledge among people. For the first time, he established the governance system, rules-principles, and rights-duties in Ayodhya. Following this, everything started going according to the rules, and religion was established. According to Jain philosophy, in this way, the era changed in the Bharat region from the land of enjoyment to the land of action.

 When Adinath became detached from life following the death of nratyangana, dancer Neelanjana, he did penance by fasting for six months. Seeing the sacrifice of Rishabhdevji, many kings and people who had taken sannyas, joined him. Since he was the first tirthankar, people did not know how to feed him or what to give him as food, and hence, they used to give him jewellery, diamonds, and pearls rather than food. Even after six months, when food was not offered, sannyasis with him suffered from hunger and thirst.

 It had been more than 13 months since Adinathji took food. One day, while travelling, he reached Hastinapur.Brothers Somprabh and prince Shreyansh Kumar rushed to greet sage Rishabhnathji. As soon as he saw Rishabhnathji, Shreyansh Kumar remembered that in his previous life he had offered food to a muni. It was in the morning. Following padgahan, inviting with respect, Shreyansh Kumar along with Somprabha and Lakshmimati arranged a meal for Rishabhnathji. Adinathji was offered Ikshuras, the first food he had accepted after more than 13 months. This day was Vaishakh Shukla Tritiya, celebrated today as Akshay Tritiya. Through his sermons, Adinathji instructed people to live a virtuous life by following truth, nonviolence, nonstealing, and non-possession. Only by adopting the principles of tirthankaras can we move towards a more peaceful world with human welfare at its core.

=Akshaya Tritiya =
[http://www.dailyexcelsior.com/significance-of-akshaya-tritiya/ Sri Sri Ravi Shankar , Significane of Akshaya Tritiya "Daily Excelsior" 18/4/2018]

18th April 2018 is  celebrated as a very auspicious day in India. It’s called Akshaya Tritiya.

It is related with many stories. One of the stories is that, on this day the Ganges (a holy river in India) came to Earth to purify mankind.

It is also associated with two instances of Lord Krishna.

What happened is, once the five Pandavas, (the five brothers from the Mahabharata epic) and their wife were in exile. At that time a saint called and said, ‘I am going to have food with you.’ When the message came, they had no food. They had already eaten and had kept their pots away. Draupadi (the wife of the 5 Pandavas) prayed to Lord Krishna. At the same time, Krishna came to their house and said, ‘Oh I am very hungry.’ When he came in, he saw that there was only one grain of rice stuck to the pot. He picked that one grain of rice and ate it, and turned the pot into an Akshaya Patra. Akshaya Patra means that which never diminishes.

When the saint came with 400 people, Draupadi could feed all of them from the same pot. The more she took from the pot, the more would come from it. It would never go down.So it is a common expression in India to say, ‘This is an akshaya patra’, which means it always keeps giving.If people are very generous and they are always doing seva and contributing to other, then you say, ‘This is an akshaya patra’, means it never goes down; a perennial source.A magical pot which keeps feeding millions.

The other story is, Krishna had a friend who was very poor. His name was Sudhama. Sudhama means a good place, or a very benevolent place.So, one day his wife said, ‘We are living in such poverty and Krishna is so rich. Why don’t you go and get something from him. He is your close friend.’Sudhama said, ‘Okay, I’ll go, but I can’t go to a friend empty handed. I have to take something’. So his wife packed three handful of puffed rice in a scarf and gave it to him. It is like rice crispies.When Sudhama went to Krishna and Krishna welcomed him, and washed his feet. The story goes that they were such good friends and in the friendship there was so much love that Sudhama forgets to give the rice to Krishna and also forgets to ask him for anything. He came to ask him for a favour but he could not ask him anything because he was so overwhelmed with love. They were so close that he forgot to ask. He could not ask. He could not even speak.

When he was about to leave, Krishna asked, ‘Hey, you have brought me something? Give it to me. I know your wife has sent something. Why are you not giving it to me. Come on, give it.’Krishna took the rice and he ate one handful, then he ate the second handful, by that time his wife Rukmini came and said, ‘I want to take the third one’.

While all this was happening, Sudhama left without asking him for anything. When he reached home, he found his house flooded with riches and gold. That’s the story.

So, people today buy gold and they gift each other. Today if you get anything, it will always grow. You gift, or you buy, it all grows. That is the belief.

Every day is a celebration! All that we need to know is that this world that we are in, all these things, are ultimately nothing! One day we will leave all this here only. Our body too will go back to this Earth. But you, the spirit will be alive. You will rise up because you are eternal.Nothing is impossible. Not only spiritual upliftment, even material things can flow when the devotion is very strong. That is the essence of this story.We are all here just for a few years, but the world remains for so many millions of years. The trees are there, the birds are there, the clouds are forming, rain comes, Sun is shining. This whole phenomenon is happening since billions of years. In another 40-50 years all of us will be gone, but this whole thing will continue. That is the Divinity.

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