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was verily true of Gandhi and Rajchandra. Rajchandra was one year older than Gandhi, but he was much more spiritually advanced than Gandhi when the two met for the first time in Bombay after Gandhi completed his law studies in England and returned to India. Gandhi was first impressed by the extraordinary intellectual faculties of Rajchandra and later was even more impressed by his sincerity, simplicity and steadfast orientation to spiritual pursuits. Whenever Gandhi had a difficulty or spiritual question, he invariably confided in Rajchandra and received honest, profound, and satisfactory answers from him. In South Africa as well, when the Christian and Muslim friends were applying pressure on Gandhi to convert to Christianity or Islam, Gandhi chose to write to Rajchandra about his difficulty and again was fully satisfied by his sincere advice. Gandhi did not formally enthrone Rajchandra as his guru, but for all intents and purposes he was his most significant guide and counselor and served in this capacity until he died in 1901 at the young age of thirty-two. His untimely death was an immense loss for Gandhi and also to all other seekers of truth and peace in the world.
This book is based on a thorough research by the author for more than four years and is written extremely well. The order is logical and for one not familiar with the Indian conditions or Hindu. Buddhist, and Jain religions, sufficient background materials have been provided to ease the reading. Each chapter is extensively footnoted and bibliographical references point to the reader further reading sources. The book is written at a level that established scholars as well as beginners in the area would benefit from it. The book is being published by the International Center for Jain Studies of Gujarat Vidyapith, which is one of the best research centers of Jain Studies in the world. Those who do not know it, Gujarat Vidyapith had been established by Mahatma Gandhi himself in 1920.
I congratulate Professor Satish Sharma and the International Center for Jain Studies of Gujarat Vidyapith for their significant collaboration in the production of this work and offer the book to scholars and students in the world interested in Jain philosophy, Gandhian thought, and general topics of peace and nonviolence.
Dr. Arunkumar Dave
Vice Chancellor Gujarat Vidyapith,
Jain Education International
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