Atmasiddhi

Author(s): Shrimad Rajchandra, Manu Doshi
Publisher: Manu Doshi

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PROLOGUE
Shrimad was Self-realized and is known as a spiritual philosopher of very high caliber. He was born with a high level of Kshayopasham, which means that he had very few deluding and obscuring Karmas. Consequently he was able to gain the knowledge of his previous births at the tender age of seven.
He had very sharp memory and he could recollect whatever he read or otherwise came across. He became known for his mnemonic capability during his teens. That capacity continued to increase and at the age of 19 he displayed the extraordinary feat of remaining mindful of 100 activities simultaneously. Thereby he came to be known as Shatavadhāni. Even the British rulers of that time were highly impressed by his performance and offered to make necessary arrangements for him, if he were willing to go to Europe for displaying his talent. He, however, declined that offer, because he felt that he would not be able to live in Europe according to his religious standards. He also realized that the worldly accomplishments, like performing mnemonic feat and astrlogy were not helpful in spiritual pursuit and therefore he gave them up soon after the above performance.
Shrimad gained right perception at the age of 23 and since then he mainly stayed tuned to spiritual awakening despite being occupied in jewelry business. His moral character was very high. His regard for truth, adherence to high moral values in the business and firmness to do what he saw right, inspired those who came in contact with him. Mahatma Gandhi was highly impressed by his spiritual level and accepted him as his spiritual guide. When Gändhiji was in South Africa, he came under pressure from his Christian and Muslim friends to adopt their faith. At that time he sought the guidance from Shrimad. That guidance showed to him that he could reach the highest level of spiritual elevation by continuing in his own faith and he need not change his religion. He has reverently written about Shrimad in his autobiography and has paid glorious tributes to him on several other occasions.
A high level of enlightenment is evident in the writings of Shrimad. Its significance may not be clear to a casual reader. However, if one dwells deep into it, he would notice that the writings contain rare jewels of spiritual wealth. Ätmasiddhi Shästra is the prime jewel of his writings. Revered Ambälälbhäi, revered Saubhagyabhäi and Reverend Laghuräjswämi were instrumental in bringing it out of his heart. All those three happened to come in contact with Shrimad in 1890. They were lucky enough to notice that Shrimad was self-realized and made out that their spiritual well being was in surrendering to him. Thereby they gained right perception during the lifetime of Shrimad. About half of the letters in Vachanämrut (Compilation of Shrimad's writings) have been addressed to them; 245 to Saubhagyabhäi, 126 to Ambälälbhai and 92 to Laghuräjswämi. It is therefore pertinent to say a few words about them.
Ambälälbhäi was the first to come in contact with Shrimad. He was a native of Khambhat and was two years younger than Shrimad. Once he had been to Ahmedäbäd to attend a wedding. There he happened to come in contact with Juthäbhäi, who knew Shrimad as the self-realized person. Ambälälbhäi was impressed by the letters that Shrimad had written to Juthäbhäi and wished to contact him. That wish materialized in 1890, when Shrimad came to Khambhät. Ambälälbhäi's esteem for him increased by that contact and from that time he remained a lifelong devotee of Shrimad. He was