Gandhi And Jainism

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

Page 86

even against religious validation by a swami. Similarly de did not accept legal fee for cases involving social cause. He travelled third class and lived as poor to demonstrate his commitment to the doctrine of non possession. Another instant is his disbanding collecting permanent funds for making buildings and staff for the Congress. He thought that the congress should earn to survive and prove its usefulness. For the funds already collected, he advised the management to consider themselves as trustees off public funds and not as the owners for personal use. However he followed the advice from another friend not to use personal or borrowed money to help victims of political events else he (Gandhi) will become a beggar and become unable to do missionary work. Gandhi found this advice in line with The Gita's message 'Do the act without thinking of the reward'.
Rajchandra lived the life of a detached person and was a living example of non possession to Gandhi. It seems through him, concept of equality and equanimity of Jainism, reading religious and philosophical texts of Jains and others and his own observations of the sufferings of both rich (want more) and poor (have nothing) influenced Gandhi in this regard.
Vows: He was a strict believer in vows/oath/pledge and their practice. He did perform experiments to ensure their validity first. For example, before administering the famous oath on September 11th 1906 at The Empire Theatre of Transvaal, he explained the minute details of the oath as well as the repercussions of not obeying the oath to everyone, like:
When an intelligent person makes a resolution deliberately he never swerves from it by a hair's breadth. With him the resolution carries as much weight as a declaration made with God as a witness......... a man who violates an oath administered to him is not only ashamed of himself but is also looked upon by the society as a sinner. 50
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