Can a person optain nirvana in jain? After mahavira
Short answer: In our present time and land (Bharat‑kshetra), no. In another land (Mahāvideha‑kshetra), yes.
- What is nirvāṇa in Jainism: Complete liberation (moksha) when all karmas are destroyed; the soul becomes a siddha and never returns to birth.
- After Bhagwān Mahāvīra: In Bharat‑kshetra we are in the 5th era (Pancham Kāla). In this era no one attains kevalajñāna or moksha here. The last liberated kevalī after Mahāvīra, in our region, was Jambūs̄vāmī. Since then, liberation does not occur here in the current era.
- Mahāvideha‑kshetra: Liberation continues there because Tīrthankaras are always present in Mahāvideha. A soul from here may take birth there (by its own punya and right effort) and then attain kevalajñāna and moksha. So, after Mahāvīra, countless souls can and do attain nirvāṇa in Mahāvideha—just not in our present Bharat‑kshetra and era.
- Digambar and Shvetambar view: Both accept that in the current 5th era in Bharat‑kshetra no one attains moksha, and both accept ongoing possibility of liberation in Mahāvideha‑kshetra. Minor narrative details about current Tīrthankaras may differ, but this principle is the same.
Essence: Strive for right faith, right knowledge, and right conduct now; these causes will certainly bear fruit—either as higher spiritual stages here, or as rebirth in the right place (e.g., Mahāvideha) leading to nirvāṇa.