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VIRCHAND R. GANDHI
the people abroad the true perspective on India. Explaining the importance of Indian culture to foreigners, he said, "It is an astonishing fact that foreigners have been constantly attacking India, and in the face of all those aggressions the soul of India has stood vital and watchful. Her conduct and religion are safe and the whole world looks at India with a steady gaze." Shri Virchand Gandhi was not a dogmatic person. He spoke as a Jain, but he forcefully defended Hinduism from the attack of Westerners at the Parliament. After all, he was first Indian, then Jain. He received a warm reception and was shown the highest appreciation from clubs, literary and church societies, philosophical branches, and spiritual associations in the U.S. and other countries. His lectures also served to educate Western society regarding the salient features of Indian culture. Five decades before the independence of India, Virchand Gandhi had a prophetic vision. He said in one of his lectures, "You know, my brothers and sisters, that we are not an independent nation. We are subjects of Her Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria the "defender of the faith", but if we are a nation in all that the name implies with our own government and our own rulers, with our laws and institutions controlled by us free and independent, affirm that we should seek to establish and forever maintain peaceful relations with all the nations of the world." The secretary of The Society for the Education of Women of India was Mrs. Howard who had adopted pure vegetarianism, practiced sämäyik daily, and followed other codes of conduct of Jainism. In England, Virchand Gandhi founded the Jain Literature Society and taught Jainism there. Mr. Herbert Warren, a religious enthusiast, abandoned non-vegetarianism and adopted the Jain religion. He summarized Virchand Gandhi's lectures and published a book known as "Herbert Warren's Jainism". Literature Published by Shri Virchand R. Gandhi or complied from his Speeches: Title
Year Published Language Pages Jaina Philosophy
1907
English
375 Karma Philosophy
1913
English
221 Yoga Philosophy
1912/1993 English 309 The Systems of Indian Philosophy 1970/1993
English
188 Selected speeches of V. R. Gandhi 1963
English 85 Religion and Philosophy of Jains 1993
English 264 Essay - Radvä Kutväni Hanikarak 1886
Gujarati 37 Chäl Concentration - 12 Lectures on 1916
English Meditation The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ 1894
English Savirya Dhyana
1902/1989
Gujarati 158 Herbert Warren's Jainism
1961/1983
English
128
164
Virchand Gandhi was not only a philosophical thinker, but he also had the welfare of the nation at heart. In 1896, while he was in the U.S. he collected a shipload of grain and about 40,000 rupees ($10,000) in cash for famine relief in India.
JAIN STORY BOOK
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