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When he travelled to South Africa to practice Law, he became successful and also met many people with varying religious beliefs. Confusion arose as his Christian friends tried to convert him to Christianity and his Muslim friends tried to convert him to Islam. At this time in need, he went to Shrimad for advice. Gandhi and Rajchandra were very close even though they were both in different continents at that time.
He would always seek answers from Rajchandra about the soul, moksha, universe, and fate. When Shrimad answered such questions, Gandhi said, "His words went straight home to me. His intellect compelled as great a regard from me as his moral earnestness, and deep down in me was the conviction that he would never willingly lead me astray and would always confide in me his innermost thoughts. In my moments of spiritual crisis, therefore, he was my refuge. I asked a few fundamental questions on Hinduism from Shri Raichandbhai by post and his replies were so logical, so appealing and convincing that I regained my faith in Hinduism and I was saved from conversion of religion. From that moment onwards, my respect and admiration for Raichandbhai increased with leaps and bounds, and I considered him to be my religious guide till he lived." From these words, we can clearly see that Gandhi was deeply inspired by his guide, Shrimad Rajchandra. His life never had a formal guru, as it was difficult at the time of independence movement but if anyone were to ever come close to becoming his guru, it would be his friend, philosopher, and true guide, Shrimad Rajchandra who showed him the doors to truth, nonviolence and non-attachment.
Gandhi commented in his autobiography of another important aspect of life he learned from Shrimad Rajchandra. Gandhi learned that morality was found in practice, not in words. He sought to find the true nature of the soul from Rajchandra and found that the best way to move closer is to be immersed in religious learning and living very simply.
In his close attachment to friend and guide, Gandhi said, "While we are worldly souls, Shrimad was quite other worldly or liberated from the worldly life. While we may have to take many further births, for Raichandbhai his present life may be the last. While we perhaps are running away from liberation, Raichandbhai was heading towards liberation with a tremendous speed.. Whoever will read his teachings and follow them may speed up his march to Self-liberation." He then goes onto say in his autobiography, "I have learnt much from the lives of many a person, but it is from the life of poet Raichandbhai, I have learnt the most. The noble lesson of compassion I also learnt from his life.... He has taught me such a law of compassion that I should be affectionate even to my killer. This noble teaching, I repeatedly received from him to my heart's content." When one looks at Gandhi's life, what stands out in particular is the firmness, the conviction, the sheer extent to which Gandhi put into practice his belief in renunciation and ahimsa. Gandhi saw this in Shrimad Rajchandra.
These examples show the huge impact that Jain Dharma had on Gandhi with influences from his mother, Shrimad Rajchandra and the rare qualities that he cultivated within him to lead the nation to independence. So in answer to the titled statement we can say that:
Gandhi is not a Jain, but lives through Jain spirit
due to his philosophy and ideals!
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