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peculiar charm and enabled them to have a powerful hold upon the reader. Concluding, Mr. Gandhi hoped that those who had attended the celebration would take the trouble of studying the writings of the deceased Mahatma and he promised that they would feel all the better for their trouble. J.T.F. Jordens, "Gandhi and the Bhagavadgita", in Robert N. Minor, Modern Indian Interpreters of the Bhagavad Gita Ed. (State University of New York, New York, 1991), pp.107-8 *Among these underpinnings, nothing is probably more important than the Jain influence identifiable in his mindset. He manages to graft several Jain concepts on to his own interpretation of Hinduism, so much so that no less than a person other than Bal Gangadhar Tilak once mentioned that he had always taken Gandhi to be a Jain. Mahadeva Desai, The Gita according to Gandhi op. cit., p. 126, point 4 'Again this rendering is designed for women, the commercial class, the so called Shudras and the like, who have little or no literary equipment, who have neither the time nor desire to read the Gita in original and yet who stand in need of its support. CWMG, M. K. Gandhi, Vol. XLI, p. 92 as quoted from J.T.F. Jordens, op. cit., p. 97. CWMG, Dr Ramesh Betai, op. cit., pp. 80-85; M. K. Gandhi, Vol. XXVIII, pp.316-17, as quoted from J.T.F. Jordens, op. cit., p. 96. "For understanding the meanings of Shastras, one must have a well cultivated moral sensibility and experience in the practice of their rules... Hence anyone who offers to interpret the Shastras must have observed the prescribed disciplines in his life ...only those who have experience in the practice can explain the real meaning of Shastras." Samantabhadra, RKS,1.10 (Vitarag Vani Trust, Tikamagarh, MP, 2006), p.25 “Vişayāśāvaśātīto nirārambho parigrahaḥ. Jñānadhyānatapāratnastapasvī sa praśasyate. 10. Pt. Daulataramji, Chahadhālā, Trans. Dr. Kirit P. Gosalia, (Teerthdham Mangalayatan, Aligarh, 2007), pp 1.1-1.3.
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Pg.210 Gandhi & Jainism
