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Once again, Rup and his father set off on a second pilgrimage, heart and mind bent on Palitana to meet the great Master.
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Meeting the Master
In all of India, there was one Master of great renown. Agamoddhārak Acharya Shree Sāgarānand Surishvarji, who was fondly called Acharya Anand Sagarsuriji or Sāgarānandji, was a monument of wisdom and compassion. He was dear to both scholars and philosophers, to religionists and students of Self. He was recognized worldwide as an expert in Sanskrit and in comparative studies of the Jain, Buddhist, and Hindu Scriptures. He had committed to memory the forty-five books containing all the teachings of Lord Mahavir, called the Agamas. Each book contained surras or sermons of Mahāvir. When philosophers and theologians gathered to confer on the subtleties of scriptural meaning, he was always asked to offer his seasoned views. In three hundred years of Jain history, since the great Acharya Hemchandra, there was no one with his self-mastery and capacity to elucidate the sometimes double and triple meanings of the profound passages of the fortyfive Agamas. He was considered to be the final authority.
From the age of eighteen, when this great soul became a renunciate, he had wanted to sit at the feet of one enlightened sage, but this man was recluse and refused to accept disciples. He was an ascetic wanderer or shramana, free from all ties with sect, creed, nationality, or religious dogma.
Jain Education International
Sāgarānandji was not deterred by this man's refusal to teach him. He followed him and served him in whatever ways he could. By meditating in his presence and by remaining with him, he learned how to live without any outer distraction and came to touch the boundaryless Self within. He experienced Mahāvir's universal message before ever having studied in a formal way.
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