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Shreyanshnath Swami is our Eleventh Tirthankar,in his previous life Shreyansnath was known as King Nalingulm of Kshema state in Pushkarvar Island. After many lifes of rigorous spiritual practices, he had reached a state of spiritual enlightenment. This led him for to be the next Tirthankar in his next life .His soul was present in Mahashakra dimension of the gods. Then his soul descended into the womb of Queen Vishnudevi, wife of King Vishnuraja of Simhapur region near Sarnath. When the child was in the womb the Queen dreamt about the fourteen auspicious things which every Tirthankar's mother dream's of.
On hearing this, their Kulguru Shri Kaudinyaji said that the child was not an ordinary soul but a great one who would be our next Tirthankar. The King and Queen were overjoyed that they had been blessed to be the parents of our next Tirthankar. Then on the twelth day of the dark half of the month of Bhadrapad(according to the Jain calendar) queen gave birth to a baby boy.
Whole Kingdom was imersed with joy and all were happy by this news. He was named Shreyansnath. Days passed and Shreyanshnath grew up and he was a peace loving and obedient child. He was involved in prayers and meditation most of the time. The King then decided to get him married and then after a few years he handed over the Kingdom to him and retired to the forest to take up spiritual practices and to meditate.
Shreyaanshnath Ruled his kingdom wisely and treated everyone equally. After ruling the Kingdom for many years Shreyansnath began to feel restless. And once while he was meditating, he saw all his past lives and realised the purpose of his this life. Handing over the Kingdom to his son he embraced ascetism. Many of the members of the royal family and his subjects too followed him and embraced ascetism. He underwent rigorous spiritual practices and mediataion. And on the fifteenth day of the dark half of the month of Magh(according to the Jain calendar) he achieved Omniscience under a mango tree.
He continued preaching and exhorting people to follow the principles of Jain philosophy which included compassion, non violence, Right Action, Right Living and Right Conduct. After a number of years of spiritual disciplines and teaching, he attained Nirvana on the third day of the dark half of the month of Shravan(according to Jain Calender) at Sammed Shikhar.He is associated with rhinoceros emblem.
