Nirvana is the state of inner freedom while one is still in the body and hence subject to laws of the bodily life such as pain, disease, degeneration and death. Mahanirvana or Mahaparinirvana is when the yogi who has realised the state of Nirvana passes away into the ineffable Silence, dissolves his individual consciousness permanently in the Ultimate Reality. By doing this he cuts off all the last threads that bind him to the cycle of birth and death. He is no more reborn in fact he ceases to exist. Nirvana without Mahanirvana implies that one can still continue to exist and even help others after the body’s death. That is what the story of Maitreyi Amitabh Buddha in the Mahayana Buddhism or the Northern School implies. The Heenyana or the Southern School of Buddhism states on the other hand that Buddha is completely gone. There is none after his death, only the teachings and the path are there to help others walk the way.
Affectionately,
Alok Da
