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happened to pass by the way and on seeing the playing cards, he asked for the pack. Shri Atmaramji willingly gave it away to the soldier. When the friends remonstrated, he said that he would easily prepare another one and he kept his promise. Similarly, one day he drew the map of his house with Shri Jodhamal and other members of the family having been shown into Shri Jodhamal saw this and was glad and commended Shri Atmaramji. Another incident worth relating is that once he saw a Muslim woman drowning with her babe in a water stream. Shri Atmaramji immediately jumped into the water and saved the lives of both of them. But for these stray incidents, not much is known about his boyhood, but naturally it cannot be anymore eventful when we remember that he renounced the world at the young age of 16 only. It can therefore well be inferred that he must have had a religious bent of mind and must have frequented the Jain monks alongwith his benefactor Shri Jodhamalji. These Jain monks belonged to 'dhundia' sect, which is now-a-days known as 'sthankakvasi' sect. There are two opinions about the name 'dhundia': one is that the founder of this sect Shri Loveji Maharaj was ousted by the Jain community for his heretic views and was denied shelter. Accordingly, Loveji started dwelling in a dilapidated house which in the local Kathiawar is known as 'dhund' and hence the sect itself came to be known as 'dhundia'. The other is that this sect is engaged in the search of truth from different sources, and searching in popular language is connoted by the verb 'dhundna' and hence the name of the sect. However, the teachings of the Jain monks of the 'dhundia' sect did have a deep influence on the mind of Shri Atmaramji Maharaj and he showed his desire to be initiated into the order of the Jain monks. Shri Jodhamal naturally tried to dissuade him from doing so and also sought the help of his mother Rupa Devi, but Shri Atmaramji was firm in his determination. As such the permission had to be given. It may be mentioned here that Jainism allows a child or boy or girl to be initiated into the monkhood, but the willing permission of the concerned relatives is essential. And so Shri Atmaramji Maharj was duly initiated as a disciple of Shri Jeewan Ramji Maharaj at Malerkotla in Vikram Samvat 1910 at the young age of sixteen.
LIFE OF JAIN MONK Life of a Jain monk is not a bed of roses. It is a rigorously disciplined life with no room for comfort at all. A Jain monk is strictly
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