Book Title: Gandhi Before Gandhi
Author(s): Bipin Doshi, Priti Shah
Publisher: Jain Academy Educational Research Center Promotion Trust Mumbai
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A GANDHI BEFORE GANDHI
peace, and whose highest expression is good-will towards men and all living beings. Our Jain poet says: "Spirit of peace and perfect bliss, devoid of impure and destructive parts, Glory be to Thee."
We offer you as the medium of the most perfect exchange between us, henceforth and forever, the indestructible, the unchangeable, the universal currency of good will and peace,
Great Emperor Akbar - I know glory of Koran & Bible both
I have heard your orators speak on many questions. One among them the so-called vital question of money which is above all things the most coveted
commodity but I, as a Hindu, as a Jainist, in the name of my countrymen and of my country, would offer you as the medium of the most perfect exchange between us, henceforth and forever, the indestructible, the unchangeable, the universal currency of good will and peace, and this, my brothers and sisters, is a currency that is not interchangeable with silver and gold, it is a currency of the heart of the good life, of the highest estate on the earth and it is the currency of heaven. The civilization whose highest badge is the perishable symbol of corruption and greed, silver and gold, is not to be compared with that civilization whose highest symbol is the image of
A certain ship full of Mahommedan pilgrims was going to Mecca. On its way a Portuguese vessel captured it; amongst the materials were some copies of the Koran. The Portuguese hanged these copies of the Koran round the necks of dogs and paraded these dogs through the streets of Ormuz. It happened that this very Portuguese ship was captured by the emperor Akabar's men, and in it were found some copies of the Bible.
The love of Akbar for his mother is well-known and his mother was a zealous Mahommedan. It pained her very much to hear of the treatment of the sacred book of the Mahommedans in the hands of Christians and she wished that Akbar would do the same with the Bible, but this great man replied, Mother, these ignorant men do not know the value of the Koran, and they treated it in a manner which is the outcome of ignorance. But I know the glory of the Koran and the Bible both and I can not debase myself in the way they did."
