Gandhis Teachers Rajchandra Ravjibhai Mehta

SR No.: 006754
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Satish Sharma
Publisher: Gujarat Vidyapith Ahmedabad
Publication Year: 2005
Total Pages: 260
Language: English
Classification: Book_English & Rajchandra
File Size: 11 MB

Page 255

Gandhi's Questions and Rajchandra's Replies
237
is no error in believing that these two were unmanifest God, but it is doubtful whether perfect Godhood had become manifest in them.
(2) The question whether we can attain moksha through faith in them can be easily answered. Moksha means absence of or deliverance from all forms of attachment, ignorance, etc. It can be attained when we cultivate faith in a person whose teaching will enable us to win such freedom from attachment and ignorance, and, reflecting on our true essence, come to have the same faith in our atman that we have in the teacher and identify ourselves with his personality. Worship of any kind other than this cannot win absolute moksha. It may help one to win the means of moksha, but even that cannot be asserted with certainty.
Q. 26 Who were Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva?
A. I people believed in three gunas'5 as the cause of creation and personified them as Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva, this or similar explanations may make the belief plausible. But I am not particularly disposed to believe that they are what the Puranas'" describe them to be, for some of the descriptions appear to be allegories intended for religious instruction. Even so, I think it would be better than we, too, try to profit from the instruction they contain rather than attempt in vain to ascertain the principles embodied in the personification of Brahma, and so on.
Q. 27 If a snake is about to bite me, should I allow myself to be bitten or should I kill it, supposing that that is the only way in which I can save myself?
A. One hesitates to advise you that you should let the snake bite you. Nevertheless, how can it be right for you, if you have realized that the body is perishable, to kill, for protecting a body which has no real value to you, a creature which clings to it with love? For anyone who desires his spiritual welfare, the best course is to let his body perish in such circumstances. But how should a person who does not desire spiritual welfare