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fact Gandhi always practiced first whatever he preached to the society.
Gandhi was extremely careful and worked hard to keep the untouchables within the fold of Hindus and called them as Harijan. In fact he called himself as Harijan by choice. He was against the superstition like purifying by taking a bath in the river Ganga etc. He considered service of humanity as service to God and always said that his life's mission as self-realization or seeing God face to face, similar to that Jains says as atmanubhuti or experiences the true nature of pure self.
Gandhi was highly religious himself and believed in self sacrifice as the purest form of religious practice. He studied the Gita all his life and called it as his solace. He taught the Gita for 40long years and wrote a commentary on it called Gospel of Selfless action or Anasakti Yoga which provides a deep insight in his philosophy and thinking. We shall discuss his philosophy expressed in the Gita eleven observances in details in the next chapter as they both show a deep impact of Jainism as can be seen by the comments from Tilak (most revered Gita scholar) that he had always taken Gandhi to be a Jain.
We also came across a book 'Gandhi Ujjawal Vartalap' edited by Ratna Kumar Jain and published by Svashrya Prakashan Samiti Delhi in 1954. The book shows Gandhi had deep insight and appreciation of Jain philosophy during his several meetings with Jain female ascetic Sati Ujjawalaji in Bombay in 1944. To support this statement, we reproduce the concluding dialogue between Gandhi and Sati Ujjawala ji:
One day Gandhiji was offering curd. Then Satiji said- Bapu! If you take my pot in your hand and pour curd out of your cup directly in it, then no curd will be spilled. Gandhiji took the wooden pot of Satiji in his hand and according to his jovial nature
Pg. 106 | Gandhi & Jainism
