ISJS Jainism Study Notes E5 Vol 04

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

Page 169

dressed in very simple way and also always satisfied with whatever food was offered to him. "From V.S.1947 to 1951, for the first time he had the direct experience of atman (soul) as separate from body. This is called samakit or samyaktva. He then ardently desired to give up worldly life and become a nirgrantha muni. However his fight with external upadhi becomes quite active here. So this stage is marked with terrific battle or conflict between the two opposite forces. He feels like assuming the role of religious teacher for which renouncing worldly life and becoming a monk is a precondition."2 "Though externally he is a householder of the fourth spiritual stage, internally he has reached the seventh spiritual stage (apramatta samyata gu asth na) of a monk".3 While from V.S.1952 TO 1957 when he passed, he almost overcame conflict. But before reaching the zenith of the spiritual development, that is, perfect vitar gat and kevala jn na, the span of his life was unexpectedly cut short and he met a premature death because of extreme weakness".4
Another important feature of his life is his acquaintance with Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi was very much influenced by his teachings and was a major influence on him. He was Gandhi's spiritual guru. Through letters Gandhi and r mad had lot of correspondence. Gandhi Says, "he was absorbed in his thoughts even when he would be walking. He had a miracle in his eyes, which were very shining. He was never in depressed mood. His voice was so much sweet that one would never be tired of listening to him. His face was always smiling and it displayed inner bliss."5
There were many other people who followed him during his life. He wrote tma Siddhi on the request of Sobh gabhai and completed it in three hours. Sankara, the propounder of Advaita Vedanta and Vivekananda of Ramakrishna Mission also lived a short span life of 33 years with its full meaning. r mad lived only for 33 1/2 years.
2.1 Literature
His major works are in Gujarati. They include Bhāvanābodha, Mokṣamala, Ātmasiddhi, Apurva Avasara, Mulam rga, about eight hundred letters, personal diaries and notes, more than one thousand aphorisms and good sayings are published in works like Puspam I, Bodhavacana and Vacanasapta Sati, Gujarati translation of Kundakunda's Pañc stik ya etc.
Some poems, incomplete articles, translations notes and commentaries etc. are available in Manuscripts. His autobiographical article such as Samutcaya-Vay c rya is also valuable. These works show that he was a prolific writer, poet and a mystic who always wrote on the basis of his personal experience. His unfinished and unpublished works include topics like 'women's education', 'Svadesi', 'Who is really rich?' All these were written before he completed 20 years of his age. But he stopped writing on such topics after the 20th year and concentrated only on spirituality.
r mad can be regarded as a reformer in so far as we find in his views a beautiful blend of householder and of a spiritual aspirant. He proved to the world that religion has to be followed in every act of life and that in spite of performing duties towards parents, wife, children, and doing other social activities one can live a detached life. He earned money only for his simple livelihood devoid of greed.
He also studied various sects of Jaina religion, and found that there was great rivalry amongst them because they had forgotten the welfare of their own souls and the principle of Anek nta preached by Mah vra. After his extensive and unbiased study and research, he came to the revolutionary conclusion that all religions preach only tmadharma and therefore there is, in essence, only one universal religion of tmadharma and hence it is not necessary to belong to any particular religion or sect or not even to the one, in which one is born. This revolutionary idea of r mad goes against the traditionalist view of religion, which regards that, one's own religion or sect is true and those of others as false (Mithy). He therefore re-established that permanent and the eternal (dhrauvya) is the tmadharma and not the sectarian beliefs and outward ways of worship which are really of the nature of origin and destruction (utp da and vyaya).
In the present age, some aspirants try to find their salvation through the mere observances of rites and some others through dry intellectual knowledge. Merely following the rituals and overlooking their
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