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Celebrating Jain Society of Houston Pratishtha Mahotsav 1995
VIRCHAND RAGHAVJI GANDHI
By Kumarpal Desai
Certain personalities leave indelible footprints on the sands of time, their legacy is not affected by the constantly revolving wheel of time.
At the World Religions Conference held in Chicago, USA, almost a century ago, America, and the West, for the first time, heard the determined, spirited, resonant voice of ancient India, and the message of Indian philosophy and culture. Two Indian delegates participating at this conference awakened the Western world to the spiritual heritage of India. One of these was Swami Vivekanand, whose success in the World Religions Conference of Chicago is fresh in everyone's memory today. But the contribution of another Indian delegate to the same Conference, Shri Virchand Raghavji Gandhi, the representative of the Jain religion, has a claim to equal attention by virtue of the success he achieved at the Conference and also by his work as a religious thinker.
AT
In 1893, over 100 years ago, more than three thousand delegates of different nations and religions had assembled at the conference. The conference was inaugurated on the 11th of September, and Virchand Gandhi, Swami Vivekanand, P. C. Majumdar, and other eminent scholars from India were present as distinguished participants. The aim of this religious conference was to impart to the world the knowledge of different religions, and to promote a feeling of fraternity between followers of diverse religious persuasion, and thus pave the way for world peace.
Virchand Gandhi talked about the doctrines of Jainism in such a coherent manner that some newspapers published the text of his lecture in full. He had a most effective way of handling the otherwise abstruse terminology of Jainism. He had an extraordinary ability to clarify his statements in a consistent and logical manner. As he expounded his views, he would give his own interpretations of some of the most difficult points. His lectures demonstrated the fact that the study of Sanskrit and Prakrit alone was not enough for a proper understanding and exposition of Indian philosophy; it was also necessary to assimilate and to realize India's past culture in its proper context. Virchand Gandhi had realized the cultural context and that is why he was never dogmatic; he spoke as a Jain and yet he often took sides with the Hindus, but above all, he always spoke as an Indian.
Virchand Gandhi, a young man of twenty-nine, impressed the delegates not only by his eloquence, but also by the sheer weight of his scholarship. He wore a long and loose kurta, a white shawl on his shoulder, a golden-bordered Kathiwadi turban on his head, and country shoes. This external appearance bore the mprint of India. The scholarship, the impartiality outlook, and the oratorical skill of this man fascinated the delegates at the conference of World Religions. A newspaper wrote, "of all Eastern scholars it was this youth whose lecture on Jain faith and conduct was listened to with the interest engaging the greatest attention."
At the conference, Virchand Gandhi made a brief but striking presentation on the fundamentals of the Jain religion. He expounded the Jain religion in two of its main apects, namely Jain philosophy and the Jain way of life. He elucidated the nine elements, the six types of Jivas, the subtle strands of thought in Jain philosophy regarding DRAVYARTHIK and PARYAYARTHIKANAYA, the Syadvad and other philosophical aspects, which fascinated all.
"15 minutes spent in anger will produce toxins which will last for 6 months in the body"
(Acharya Sushil Kumar Ji)
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