Jain Spirit 2000 03 No 03

Author(s): Jain Spirit UK
Publisher: UK Young Jains

Page 56

KAMI SWAMI - A REFORMER
KANJI SWAMI – A REFORMER
Narendra Shah reviews the life and message of a monk who has had
a major impact on the twentieth century Jain history of Gujarat.
T anji Swami was born to a Sthanakvaasi family in
Umrala, a small village in the Kathiawar region of
Gujarat in India in 1889. He showed a great capacity for learning and was usually at the top of the class at school. Eventually he took renunciation as a Sthanakvaasi monk in 1914 at the hands of Shri Hirachandji Maharaj. Swamiji embarked upon a rigorous study of the Shwetamber scriptures and finished a detailed study of the 45 Agams (Jain Scriptures) including a deep analysis of several hundred verses. Being a believer in purushaarth (personal effort) for achieving emancipation, he quickly became a learned and famous monk and, backed by his seventeen renditions of the Bhagvati Sutra with its 100,000 verses, came to be known as the Jewel of Kathiawar. But all this time he could never completely engage with the scriptures he was studying and continued his search for the still evasive Truth.
Then, around 1921, he came upon Acharya KundKund's Samaysaar- 'Essence of the Doctrine' - the study of which was like "drinking the nectar of Truth” for him. He followed on by studying the writings of other Digambars such as Todermaal and Shrimad Rajchandra. During his discourses he began to incorporate the ideas picked from these studies and began to lead a kind of double life, nominally a Sthanakvasi monk but referring to the Digambar literature. His assertions that “vows, giving and fasting were ultimately worthless if performed without any understanding of the soul" did not endear him to the Sthanakvasi community.
This led to a great turmoil in his life and in the lives of his followers. He began experiencing distress about his own self and about his behaviour as a Sthanakvasi monk. This came to a head at the small town of Songadh on Mahavir Jayanti day in 1934, when he formally removed his Muhapatti, left the Sthanakvasi monk-hood and proclaimed himself to be a Digambar layman.
He started discourses, many of which are recorded on tapes in the form of running commentaries on Acharya Kund Kund's writings. He never wrote any books and did not claim to say anything new but merely reiterating the words of Mahavir Swami and Kund Kund Acharya.
In an interview in 1977 he denied being hostile to the traditional Jain monk-hood and regarded them as personifying the fundamental principles of Jainism. However, he also pointed out that taking up formal initiation and behavioural practices, like the abandonment of clothes (common for Digambar monks) and other possessions, could not make an individual a true monk unless he had abandoned internal possessions as well.
By now the following had grown quite large and the small house became inadequate so his devotees started a building project at Songadh in 1937, which culminated in the 'Digambar Swadhyay Mandir'. In honour of his favourite scripture, one of his devotees, who was later to become the leader of his following, Bahenshri Champaben, installed the Samaysaar in the main temple and the words of Acharya KundKund's five main treatises have been engraved on its walls. A temple dedicated to Shrimandhar Swami was consecrated in 1941.
Kanji Swami travelled on pilgrimage throughout India where he gave discourses and consecrated many temples. In 1980 he visited Kenya and installed many images of Tirthankars at temples in various towns. He had a profound impact on one particular family in Mombasa, the Bhagwanji Kachra family, who have continued their support to-date and even in London take a very active role at the Digambar Jain Mandir in Harrow.
After a very dynamic and undoubtedly a revolutionary life, Kanji Swami died in a state of Samadhi on 28th November
1980.
Narendra Sbab is a Youth Editor of Jain Spirit and an IT consultant living in London.
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