Answer

In Jain Dharma, āchāras related to Bhagwan Mahavir Swami mainly mean the conduct, discipline, and way of life taught and lived by him.

Bhagwan Mahavir Swami emphasized a life based on:

• Ahimsa – non-violence in thought, speech, and action
• Satya – truthfulness
• Achaurya / Asteya – not stealing
• Brahmacharya – celibacy or control over sensual desires
• Aparigraha – non-possessiveness

These are known as the Five Great Vows for Jain monks and nuns, and they are followed in a smaller form by householders.

Explanation

Bhagwan Mahavir Swami taught that spiritual progress depends on purifying one’s conduct. A person should reduce passions such as:

• Anger
• Ego
• Deceit
• Greed
• Attachment
• Hatred

His āchāra was not only external discipline but also inner purity.

Important āchāras connected with Bhagwan Mahavir Swami include:

• Carefulness in walking, speaking, eating, and using objects so that harm to living beings is minimized.
• Compassion toward all living beings, from humans and animals to even the smallest forms of life.
• Simple living with minimum attachment to possessions.
• Self-control over the body, mind, and senses.
• Forgiveness and freedom from revenge.
• Equanimity in pleasure and pain, praise and insult, comfort and hardship.
• Tapasya, or austerity, to weaken karmas and strengthen the soul.

Spiritual Understanding

Bhagwan Mahavir Swami showed that the soul becomes free by stopping new karma and destroying old karma. Right conduct is essential for this path.

His āchāra teaches that liberation is not achieved only by belief or prayer, but by living with:

• Awareness
• Discipline
• Compassion
• Detachment
• Self-purification

For monks and nuns, this conduct is very strict. For householders, the same principles are practiced according to their capacity through smaller vows, restraint, charity, fasting, forgiveness, and daily spiritual discipline.

Takeaway

The āchāra of Bhagwan Mahavir Swami is the path of non-violence, truth, restraint, simplicity, compassion, and detachment. By following these values, a person purifies the soul and moves closer to liberation.