Lord Mahavir, the 24th Tirthankara or realized soul, reformed and systematized the Jain religion which had already been in existence before his birth. Born into a royal family, he was privileged to have all the luxuries possible, but his thirst for seeking the eternal truth precipitated his departure from family life. For many years, he conducted severe penance and meditated upon the absolute truth. This resulted in his attaining self-realization or kevala-jnana which he elaborated upon to devotees in his travels all over India. The thrust of his teaching is that right faith (samyak-darshana), right knowledge (samyak-jnana), and right conduct (samyak-charitra) form the basis for progress towards the goal of