________________ 184 Discourses on Shrimad Rajchandra by Gandhiji defeating anyone by arguing. Whenever someone ordinary went to meet him, he would never adopt an attitude of being very clever or being an egoist of his knowledge, nor would he treat anyone with disrespect. He would treat everyone he met with equal respect. I must add that sometimes deceitful people would also meet him and often get away with cheating him in the name of religion. What we should learn from his life is that one should neither flatter anyone who is considered high socially nor should we disrespect the lowly. He never conducted himself that way. He would treat everyone with frankness, without discrimination. I never saw him passing his time in frivolous banter or criticising anyone. Anyone who went to meet him could not discuss anything other than trade or religion. This was natural for him to do. We should learn what was natural to him and adopt it in our own lives. The other two significant aspects of his life that one should learn from were his qualities of truth and non-violence, He always said and practised what he considered true. He practised ahimsa not only because he was a Jain but also because it was naturally woven into his life. His non-violence was not limited to not killing small insects, which is a part of the life-style that Jains follow. He always felt pain whenever anyone suffered. This attitude resulted in him rising above mundane existence. The signs of renunciation were obvious in him since his early life. He passed away at a very young age of 33. The signs of renunciation are noticeable in compositions he wrote between the ages of seventeen and eighteen. He had aimed at complete renunciation at that tender age. Although family life and commercial activity remained a part of his life almost until the very end, nevertheless by nature he was an ascetic.