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of the child in the morning next day. At last Manekben got her son safe and sound. There were no limits to her pleasure. Manilal got the protection of the Lord Rama in the form of that Vohragentleman. Hearing this, Dahyabhai came to Kapadwanj and took away the wife and son Manilal to Mumbai. Then, Manilal got his primary education at there. But then the future of the mother and son was to take a different turn and nature indicated something unexpected. Shri Dahyabhai suddenly expired and Manekben was widow at the age of only 26. She was non-plus and there was no way before her. But she was the one who had tried to follow religion in her life and in these days of extreme hardships she preferred to keep following the religious piety. She realized the futility of life. Her mind and heart longed detachment with the world but the 14 yearold Manilal was in her way. What to do of him? Where to sent him? The mother thought that if I leave this worldly life, why should Manilal be kept in this hopeless world? Ultimately it was decided that both the mother and son should adopt Dixa.
Dixa, Dixa-Teacher, and Study of Religion: At last Manilal adopted Dixa in 1909 at Chhani near Vadodara as a disciple of Mooni Varya Shri Chaturvijayji. He was named as Punya Vijayaji. After only two days of Manilal's Dixa, his mother Manekben also adopted Dixa at Palitana in the group of Shri Mohanlalji Maharaj and she was named as Shri Ratnashreeji. The grandfather-teacher of Mooni Shri Punya Vijayaji, Shri Kantivijayaji Maharaj was an ideal Shraman (devoted to spirituality). He was fully turned to non-violence, restrained life of penance and truth, and as the grand-father teacher was broad hearted, so was his teacher Shri Chaturvijayji Maharaj. He was devoted to his spiritual daily routine, courteous in behavior and continuously in the service of scriptural literature. Thus, the grandfather-teacher as well as the teacher was both devoted to the search of knowledge and expansion of knowledge. After Dixa, Mooni Shri Punya Vijayaji had only further study and research in scriptures writes in this matter, "There was much less in my life that I studied one and the same subject continuously for long. I studied with concentrated mind for several years and then started reading ancient books with research in old scriptures. This was, as if, for the reason of impressions of previous lives, exceptional favor of my elders, or loss of deeds creating bondage on soul. And thus, study and research went on simultaneously with each other. Work teaches work. While reading and researching into the scriptures, I continued to gain knowledge in new subjects. The roots underneath were extraordinary and unstained intelligence, heart-felt desire to reach the truth and eagerness to know the subjects in depth. During the first year of his Dixa, Mooni Shri Punya Vijayaji studied many great books under the immediate guidance of grandfather teacher and the teacher. The basis for deep study of scripture was, thus, laid down very firmly. In the next year, he studied Margopadeshika with Shri Bhailalbhai, an ardent Shravak of Vaso and on completion, he studied Siddh-Hem-Laghu-Vritti, Hem-LaghuPrakriya, Chandra Prabha Grammar, Hitopadesh, Dashkumar charit and other scriptures under Shri Nityanand Shastri, He studied Kavyanushasan, Tilak Manjuri, Tark Sangrah and Chhandanushasan under Pandit Sukhlalji Sanghvi. He learnt many other things of his own alongwith these studies. He continued translation and research in scriptures with his studies and Pandit Sukhlalji had a very great contribution and help in all these achievements. Maharaj Shri himself writes for Pandit Sukhlalji, "Pandit Sukhlalji is my great teacher in spiritual study and the teacher is an important person on the foot-steps for the progress in life. I have had many teachers, learned mendicants, family-holder teaches and others but only two personalities are of my deep-most respects. They are Shri Chaturvijayji Maharaj and Pandit Shri Sukhlalji Sanghvi. Maharaj Shri Chaturvijayji was the editor of Shri Jain Atmanand Granth Ratna Mala, the savor of the stocks of knowledge in the form of books and a dedicated person for the expansion of spiritual fervor all around. Pandit Sukhlalji taught me with personal feelings and has given me such knowledge by speech, which can never be obtained from books.
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