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watchmen. You may do even that; I do not mind it. If, however, you lack the strength to protect your wife and children, you had better retire into a hermit's cottage and live there as befits your dharma. It will not, then, be your duty, as Vanias, to come forward to protect the world. The Kshatriyas will do that whenever and wherever they find people suffering.
The biggest lesson I learnt from Rajchandrabhai's life is that a Vania should always live as befits a Vania. At present Vanias are not true Vanias. It is not necessary, for becoming true Vanias, to be a great pundit or read bulky volumes. Anyone who does not let himself be defiled, who observes the rules of yama and niyama [Rules of moral and ethical discipline and external religious observances], who keeps away from untruth and takes care never to do anything contrary to dharma, who has not a trace of lust in his heart and is full of the spirit of compassion, such a person will be fit for the Absolute state; the realization of that state will not be beyond his reach. That is why I do not ask you to learn Sanskrit or to read the Bhagavati-sutra. Whether or not you read it, I am indifferent in the matter.
- - - - - Please carry home with you what you heard here today and translate it into practice in your life. You may leave here what seemed to you questionable, but forthwith start acting upon whatever you found acceptable, what pleased your ears and your heart.” [From Gujarati] Navajivan, 24-11-1921, CWMG 21:427-35]
Notes & References
I 2
CWMG, , M. K. Gandhi , Vol. 32, p.4 and Vol. 37, p.261 M. K. Gandhi, “Foreword”, in Mansukhlal Mehta, Shrimad Rajchandra (Bombay: Revashankar Zaveri, 1935), p.9-11 MGKR, Govardhandas Brahmachari, (Ahmedabad: Shrimad Rajchandra Gyan Pracharak Trust, 1989), p. 1 Mukul Kalarthi, Shrimad Rajchandra A Biography Abridge, Book1, translated by Digish Mehta, (A gas: Shrimad Rajchandra Ashram, 2010), pp.5-6 Mukul Kalarthi, Shrimad Rjchandra A Biography Abridge, op.cit, pp.8-10
Gandhi & Jainism
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