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Gandhi's life and pursuit which were not directly or indirectly impacted by Rajchandra and such influences have been deep, profound, and encompassing." He died at a very young age of 33 only; Gandhi had ranked him the highest for the spot of a religious Guru.
Gandhi's Twenty seven Questions to Rajchandra and his
Replies 43
Rajchandra was the spiritual mentor/solace of Mahatma Gandhi. Whenever Gandhi was in doubt and unable to contact Rajchandra personally, he used to write his queries in a letter seeking Rajchandra's views and guidance. Prominent twenty seven questions Gandhi asked during his stay in South Africa and England along with Rajchandra's responses are given below:
Q.1.0 What is the Soul? Does it perform Karmas (actions)? Do past actions impede its progress or not? A.1.1 As there are physical objects like a pot, piece of cloth, etc., so there is an entity called the Atmā (Soul) whose essence is consciousness. The former are impermanent. They cannot exist through all time in the same form. On the other hand, Atmā is an imperishable entity which exists eternally in the same form. Anything which is not the product of a combination of other elements is imperishable. We cannot think of the Atmā as being such a product, for, no matter in how many thousand different ways we combine material substances, such combinations cannot possibly produce life and consciousness. Every one of us can know from experience that by combining several elements we cannot produce in the compound a property which is not present in any of those elements. The differentiator of physical substances is the absence of consciousness in them. If we change the forms of such substances and combine them, or if they change and combine by chance, the products will be of the same kind as they are; that is, they will be of a material nature and will
Pg.284 Gandhi & Jainism
| SR No. | 007798 |
| Book Title | Gandhi And Jainism |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Shugan C Jain |
| Publisher | International School for Jain Studies |
| Publication Year | 2017 |
| Total Pages | 339 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 120 MB |