Gandhi And Jainism

Author(s): Shugan C Jain
Publisher: International School for Jain Studies

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the lowliest and all suffering human beings. This is the basis of compassion, one of the social applications of Ahimsa as expounded in Jainism.
Gandhi was brought up in an environment where all religions, be they various shades of Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Buddhism, Christian, Zoroastrian were practised. He believed in religious harmony and validity of each religion to enable its practitioners to achieve peace and happiness. He claimed himself to be a Hindu but some religions have more impact on him than others, depending on his own beliefs, interactions with religious leaders and social experts, self-study and experiment to come to a conclusion. His prayer 'Raghupati Raghava Rajaram, patit pawan Sitaram; Ishwar Allah Tere naam, sabako sanmati de Bhagwan i.e. God is supremely benevolent and is known by different names such as Raghupati, Raghav, Ishwar, Allah; may He bless everyone with true intellect' again shows his feeling for religious harmony and equanimity. He even said Hinduism is a confederation of all Indic religions like Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, and Jainism primarily and accepted Abrahmic religions like Christianity and Islam originating in the deserts of Middle East even though these are foreign and separate from Hinduism.
A word about religions: All Indic religions believe in life after death, transmigration of soul, and karma doctrine etc. Each religions delve deeper in greater details some features and emphasize them more to give them a unique identity; for example in Jainism detachment, Ahimsa at the subtlest level, Anekantavada, celibacy, vows and fasting are emphasized most.
In this book, we have tried to give historical facts about the events in Gandhi's life based on his own works primarily. However, the second part of chapters I to IV and chapter V
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