Gandhis Teachers Rajchandra Ravjibhai Mehta

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

Page 99

Rajchandra's Influences on Gandhi
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poem by Shamal Bhatt:43
"For a bowl of water, give a goodly meal; For a kindly greeting, bow thou down with zeal; For a simple penny, pay thou back with gold; If thy life be rescued, life do not withhold. Thus the words and actions of the wise regard; Every little service tenfold they reward. But the truly noble know all men as one, And return with gladness good for evil done."
Gandhi later also read the works of several social philosophers, like Leo Tolstoy, John Ruskin, Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Emerson, and others. 44 He became aware that religion was to be understood as a broad concept and love, compassion, altruism, and service to others have to be its central components. He also realized that in the conception of religion there were infinite possibilities for universal love compassion, altruism, and service to others.45
Rajchandra was a Jain, an expert in Jain philosophy and well-versed with Jain scriptures. He had also widely read the scriptures of other religions. Rajchandra raised himself above specific dogmas and philosophies and he never took part in religious controversies. He used to say that every religion appeared to be perfect from the point of view of its followers and imperfect from the point of view of the followers of other faiths. Thus examined, every religion was both perfect and imperfect. He advised that people as a rule should stay in the faiths in which they were naturally born, but must also respect other faiths. Everyone by following own faith could attain moksha and moksha meant total freedom from all attachments and aversions, including of the dogmas and philosophies of one's own religion. He said: "Follow your own faith... moksha basically also means to rise above the faiths and be perfectly free of all aversions and attachments. 146 He explained that different faiths were like "so many walled enclosures in which men and women were confined" and those enclosures had to be transcended in the path to spiritual purification and growth. Even the scriptures provided no further help after a certain
G.T.R.-6