Making Siddhachal Bahubal
Guruji Made Siddhachalam into a Tirth Through Intense Meditation and Tapa
We now care for it in sacred trust
At Siddhachalam, Guruji perfected his mastery over the secrets of the Namokar Mantra and taught it to us. In his abundance of love for all, he wrote a simple book on it, The Song of the Soul. It’s available at Siddhachalam.
Siddhachal Bahubali Project is a fruit of intense study, reflection, discussion and deliberation. It has been in the making for nearly 15 years – when the idea first germinated, the area was mapped, tended, saplings planted, trails made, and site planned. Nothing worthwhile happens overnight. Guruji, of course, is lovingly generous in illuminating the path of the persistent.
Search for an artistically perfect pratima (statue) with a glorious heritage that represents the finest in Jain thought and the best of India eventually brought us to the caves of Ellora.
What is pratima, after all?
It is an image made to perfect measure that expresses its own divinity.
Bahubalidev (standing) is proposed to be about 186” tall, and Bhagwaan Adinath (sitting) about 61” in height. They will be placed on pedestals about 71 feet above ground level
Keshi said to Gautam: “Whom do you call foes?” Hearing these words of Keshi, Gautam replied: “O sage! The first foe is one’s unconquered soul. Add to this the four passions of anger, conceit, deceit and greed, and the five senses of touch, taste, smell, sight and hearing. Vanquishing all these ten, I move about righteously.” Kumar-shraman Keshi said: “Gautam, you are endowed with excellent wisdom. You have removed my doubt…” Uttaradhyayana Sutra, 23:3- 39. The conversation between Sharman Keshi, follower of Bhagwaan Parsvanath, and Gautam Swami, the ganadhara of Bhagwaan Mahavira.