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his community and the people at large. From his every early age he was a voracious reader. He studied the six schools of religions) and other systems of Oriental and Western philosophy. Strange though it might seem it was a fact that a book was required to be read only once in order to be digested, and without any regular study of Sanskrit and Prakrit, he could accurately understand works in those languages and explain them to others, as only learned scholars could be expected to do. Shrimad now began to inculcate his taste for knowledge in others and soon attracted a large number of disciples, whom he guided to the proper study of the Jain philosophy. He found that the Acharyas (religious teachers) of the time held narrow and secatrian views, and did not appreciate the change of times. Again those who renounced the world were generally lacking in some of good things of the world, and had some reason or other to be dissatisfied with their lot in the world. Such men could not impress their congregations by their example. He believed that if a man of wealth, and social position renounced the world, he could work real good by his example; convinced of his sincerity and disinterestedness, the people would more readily follow his guidance and profit by his preaching. Holding such views, he had believed that he had not sufficiently qualified himself to appear before the public as an ascetic and a spiritual guide, and he conti, nued steadily a man of the world. though his inclinations were all the other way.
When he was twenty-one, he took to business and in a very short time gained the credit of being a capable jeweller. The cares of a flourishing business, however, did not keep him from his favourite study of religion and philosophy. In the midst of his busy life he was quietly extending his studies and was always found surrounded by his books. Again, for some months of the year, he would leave Bombay with ins tructions to the members of the firm not to correspond with him unless he wrote to them. He used to retire into the
