Jain Journal 1995 10

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

Page 15

MAHĀTMĀ GĀNDHI AND KAVI RĀJACANDRA
ON PHILOSOPHICAL DISCOURSE
BRAHMACĀRI ŚRI GOVARDHANADĀSA
While Mahatma Gandhi was in South Africa, he came into contact with the Christian Missionaries and had religious and philosophical discussions with them. As a result he had to face a mental storm which arose in his mind at that time. He at once wrote to Kavi Rājchandra and sought his help to clear the doudtful points which were troubling his mind. He put no less than 26 questions to the Kavi which were duly answered. Since they have a historical importance and meaning, because they come from two great geniuses, whom India gave to this world in this century, we reproduce a few of them for the benefit of our readers :
1. SOUL AND ITS FUNCTION Q-"What is soul and what are its functions? Do the karmas bound
it?
A.-1. Just as the pot. table etc. are material substances. similarly a
soul is a conscious substance. But pots, tables etc. all material substances are transient and impermanent. They cannot remain static in thier nature through out the ages : past, present and future. While, on the other hand, soul retains all its characteristics, because it is permanent and eternal, Eternal is that substance which is not created by the processes of integration and disintegration. There is nothing to show that soul has been created by any such processes. We may make thousand sorts of combinations and permutations of material objects, but it is impossible to create consciousness. It is a thing of common experience that if a particular characteristic is wanting in a substance, it cannot be created in it by undergoing innumerable processes of combination and permutation. Thus material objects, like pots, tables etc, which are devoid of consciousness, can never be made to yield it in whatever way they are changed or processed. All these things will result in producing objects like earth, water, air, and space etc The particular characteristic of soul is consciousness. Where it is not found, or which is deviod of it, that, of course, is a material substance. Animate and inanimate