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JAIN DIGEST
An Exponent of India's Priceless Cultural Heritage
Padmashri Dr. Kumarpal Desai
When the dawn breaks over the eastern horizon, the faint light begins to slowly encompass the earth and the living organisms experience the nourishing effect of the morning sun. Similarly, Virchand Gandhi too soaked the people of America and England into in-depth analysis of Jaina Philosophy and the Indian cultural and spiritual values Apart from being a scholar of Jainism, he was an ardent votary of Buddhism, Sankhya, Vedanta and Nyaya.. Virchand Gandhi also talked about science of Yoga, Botany, nutrition and myriad other subjects.
First World Congress: On 11th September, 1893 the World Religions Conference was inaugurated in the Hall of Columbus
of Chicago's Art Institute. The representatives of dif
ferent religions and sects, attired in their traditional costumes, assembled in the hall. The World Religions Conference comprised ten religions and Jaina religion did not find place in it. But Virchand Gandhi, representing Jaina religion, delivered the 17th lecture. He acknowledged the debt he owed to his Guru Munishri Atmaramji Maharaj and then expostulated on the tenets of Jainism.
Swami Vivekanand began with an invocation to Goddess Saraswati, addressing the congregation saying 'Brothers and Sisters' and then everyone bathed in the cascading flow of his words. The brief but eloquent addressed touched the hearts of one and all.
Gandhi's treatment of Jaina philosophy is authentic and rational. His is the non-sectarian approach. His lectures reflected his close acquaintance with the tenets of Jainism, his keenness of arriving at true conclusions, his constructive ingenuity, his insight into the essentials of religion, his power of comprehension and expression, his knowledge of Western philosophy as well as of other systems of Indian philosophy. Gandhi was a formidable champion of Jaina philosophy.
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Philosophy of Karma:
He said that Jaina religion looked at things from two points of view dravyarthika naya and paryayarthika naya. According to the former, the world is without beginning and end and according to the latter it is born every moment and dies every moment. He talked about nine types of real (tatva), six types of living beings (jiva), and four types of existence (gati). He first explained the Jaina theory of reincarnation and then the parallel philosophy of karma. He analyzed minutely this philosophy and asserted that it was a seminal principle in Indian ethos. Defining 'Jaina' as one who has won over the enemies within, he went on to talk about the importance of Jaina Tirthankars in Jaina Philosophy.
Jain Tirthankara: Virchand Gandhi explains that "Jaina" means a follower of Jina, which is a generic term applied to those persons (men and women) who conquer their lower nature (passion, hatred and the like) and bring into prominence the highest. There lived many such Jinas in the past and many will
doubtless yet are to be born. Of such Jinas those who become spiritual heads and regenerators of the community are called Arhats (the deserving ones), or Tirthankaras.
Regarding dharma he observes: Dharma means the body of rules of conduct. It does two things: it prevents a living being from falling down spiritually and it helps him to go up spiritually. These rules apply to all living beings, not only to man. The basis of these rules is pity, compassion, love, doing good, benevolence, kindness etc. All these qualities are expressed through one word, daya.
Gandhi's following words are noteworthy. "The person in the state of Samyaktva is convinced that only a body of rules which is based on Daya is true dharma or true conduct rules, true religion, or the right law of life and that no other body of rules, such as one that is based on killing animals for sacrifices, can be a right one. And it is a strong conviction about which there is no wavering. Thus Samyaktva amounts to the conviction that ahimsa is the supreme religion."
