Gandhi And Jainism

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

Page 55

"If my character made a gentleman of me," he reported, "so much the better. Otherwise I should forego the ambition."
He thus selected a simple economic life style commensurate with vows and tight budget to complete his education.
Staying in the religion in which one is born: He studied The Gita for the first time in England with his British friends. Similarly he studied Old and New Testaments and other books by prominent authors of the day. He did some comparisons of verses in The Gita and The Sermon on the Mount to find commonality treating the evil/violence. Beyond this he did not go further due to paucity of time and prepare for his examinations.
Adherence to the institution of vows: He became an enthusiastic promoter of the beauty of these vows as a lifestyle and their essentiality for self realization. He took the three vows of abstinences from meat, wine and women before departure. He practised these accordingly but experimented with life style changes, searching for alternatives, conscious self suffering like starving, feeling shame and getting reprimand etc.
Vegetarianism: His persistent refusals with people like Majumdar on board the ship, friend in Richmond with whom he shared the room and then long walks to get food in a vegetarian restaurant show his resolve to adhere to the vows that were administered to him prior to leaving for England. His friends tried hard to convince him to take meat in England as he had taken it in India already where it was not necessary. However such arguments did not deter him to adhere to the vow. He bought Salt's book and read it thoroughly. Reading books like The Ethics of Diet by Howard Williams, he found that all philosophers from Pythagoras to Jesus Christ down to those of present time were vegetarian; Dr. Anna Bonus Kingsford's book The Perfect Way in Diet and Dr. Allison's treatments based on vegetarian diet all made the dietetic experiments an important activity of his life. He was coaxed by his friends to take eggs as they were not meat but the definition of vegetarian by his mother who administered the vow prevailed and he did not take eggs as
Pg.32 Gandhi & Jainism