Jain Journal 1968 01

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 26

112
shock to him and to his family. However, after the first onslaught of the shock was over and as time passed, the young Sukhlal got the light of his future life. From shopkeeping he turned to studies. He became a seeker and started his pursuit for knowledge in all directions available to him. As a Jaina, he came in contact with Jaina monks and spent time in their association with the inner urge for study of the religious books. He mastered whatever knowledge he could get while living in the village and then looked beyond for more knowledge. In spite of all the handicaps and obstacles, which came in his way, he went to Varanasi for the advanced study of Sanskrit. Bereft of the eye-sight and of other facilities, Sukhlalji impressed everybody around him with his genius and devotion to studies. His quest for further knowledge in the field of logic and philosophy and comparative study of religions, took him to Mithila, which was considered as the most celebrated land of Oriental learning in those days. Having spent further sixteen years from the age of sixteen when he became blind, he became a great scholar of philosophy in general and Jainism in particular.
JAIN JOURNAL
Even when deeply engrossed in studies, Panditji did not remain indifferent to the call of the nation for winning freedom. He was much influenced by Gandhiji's social, economic and political ideas. Through Gandhiji's movement, he got a new light on non-violence. He became a dedicated disciple of Gandhiji. He lived with Gandhiji in Sabarmati Ashrama and followed a rigorous discipline of life which was prescribed for an inmate of the Ashrama. The life in the Ashrama and the active association with Gandhiji brought him the conviction that the most important task of philosophy was to revolutionise and reconstruct the society. He became a social revolutionary. He was then drafted as a teacher in Gujarat Vidyapitha where he was a colleague of Sarvasri Kaka Kalelkar, Acharya J. B. Kripalani, Kishorlal Ghanashyam Mashruwala, Nanabhai Bhatt, Pandit Bechardasji and Muni Jinavijayji, etc. It was during this period that he edited, in collaboration with Pandit Bechardasji, the great work known as 'Sanmati Tarka'. This work has been appreciated far and beyond by reputed scholars including Western scholars as Dr. Hermann Jacobi and Prof. Leumann. Gandhiji felt that Panditji's stay in Sabarmati was fully rewarded.
Panditji had just completed this work when Gandhiji gave the call for satyagraha in 1930. Panditji also wanted to participate in the movement actively and to court imprisonment, but his physical disability made it impossible for him to do so. He made use of this time for learning English so as to enable him to get first-hand knowledge from the books of Western scholars.