Mumbai: A group of 111 Jain mumukshu for spiritual seekers who have embarked on a journey to renunciation, started on a 29-day-long 'kalyanak yatra' journey to religious sites across the country from Mumbai on Sunday. The journey will perhaps be the last opportunity to travel to these sites, many of which are located in remote locations, as the renunciants will not be able to use motorised transport once they are initiated into religious life.
The mumukshu, including a six-year-old girl and a 73-year-old woman, left by flight for Ranchi in Jharkhand where many of the religious sites are located. The journey, called the '119 Kalyanak Bhumi Yatra', will cover 119 kalyanak bhumis – sites associated with the 24 Jain tirthankar, or supreme preachers of dharma - of the Jain religion, including the last tirthankar, Bhagwan Mahavir.
Kalyanak refers to an important date in the life of each tirthankar. The five kalyanaks in each tirthankar's life include the chyavana (conception), janma (birth), diksha (initiation to monkhood), keval gyan (attainment of knowledge) and nirvana (liberation).
The ceremony to send off the would-be initiates was held at Kalpataru Aura in Ghatkopar. Paresh Shah, trustee of Samast Mahajan and project chairman, said that every Jain aspires to travel to the kalyanak bhumis. 'However, once they take diksha, they are forbidden from using motorised vehicles and travel by foot from one derasar (temple) to another. It will be difficult for them to undertake long foot journeys to these sites. So, we give them an opportunity to visit the holy places before they accept diksha,” said Shah.
Of the 119 kalyanak bhumis, 66 sites are located in Uttar Pradesh, 19 in Bihar, and the rest in Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Gujarat. “Apart from the kalyanak bhumis, there are religious sites in the desert in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, and another near the international border in Gujarat's Kutch region. These places will be impossible to reach by foot,” said Shah.
In 12 years, Samast Mahajan has taken more than 1600 mumukhus on kalyanak yatras. The mumukshu who started their journey on Sunday, are stilj undergoing spiritual training. Many of them will take diksha this year.
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