Gandhis Teachers Rajchandra Ravjibhai Mehta

Author(s): Satish Sharma
Publisher: Gujarat Vidyapith Ahmedabad

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Gandhi's Teachers : Rajchandra Ravjibhai Mehta
sometimes assumes animal form also, but thereby it does not become purely an embodied animal. To assume a bodily form is merely putting on an apparel, it is not its nature. 10
Q. 6 (This source does not state this question). Q. 7 (This source does not state this question).
A. With regard to the sixth and seventh questions, it will be sufficient to say that stone or earth is not the doer of karmas, rather it is the soul embodied therein which is the doer of karmas. In spite of its embodiment, soul and body are as distinct from each other as milk and water are. Just as water and milk when mixed together look as one and the same, but in reality water is water and milk is milk as two separate entities. Similarly though soul in its one-sensed mineral state owing to the bondage of karmas looks like an inanimate stone, yet in reality soul is soul and it retains its separate entity. In that state, it experiences the urges of hunger, sex, fear, and accumulation invisible to a naked eye.
Q.8 What is arya dharma?! Is it right that almost all the religions have originated from the Vedas ?32
A. (1) While describing arya dharma, all faiths claim to be arya dharma or sublime religion. The Jains call Jainism to be arya dharma, the Buddhists declare Buddhism to be so, and the Vedantists name the Vedanta as such. Thus it has become a common practice. But for the wise, arya dharma is that spiritual path that leads one to self-realization. That is indeed arya dharma or sublime religion.
(2) It does not seem possible that almost all the religions originated from the Vedas. The reason for this, as I understand, is that the knowledge propounded by tirthankaras33 and other great teachers is far greater than what is found in the Vedas. And this makes me to conclude that a perfect thing cannot be born from a limited one. Therefore it is not reasonable to presume that almost all religions originated from the Vedas. Vaishnavaism etc. are of course certain religions which might have originated from the Vedas. No doubt the Vedas existed long before Mahavira and Buddha, the last propounders of Jainism and Buddhism, and