Book Title: Jains Through Time
Author(s): Shilapi Sadhvi
Publisher: Veerayatan

Previous | Next

Page 178
________________ 179 The Jains through Time Jain Education International make an 'Aruni' of us all. Actually the anger exposed to the rigours of the storm. of the pilgrims was quite natural, but Sadhvishri did not have time to explain. "Just do what I tell you," she said. Her manner of dealing with the situation quieted them, and soon a long queue of men and women holding hands with each other, their eyes heavily bandaged, were ushered to safety. Devoted volunteers stood by to help them.. As the last patient was moved into shelter, the weather changed completely and a huge storm approached. Suddenly great gusts of wind blew up, torrential rain sheeted down and enormous hail stones fell. Soon not a trace of the canvas encampment remained. It rained throughout the night. The following day at sunrise tranquillity appeared to have been restored and everything looked clean and fresh again. The people's anger too had disappeared. Even the most hardened sceptic was filled with wonder at the miraculous way in which the patients had been saved. Irreparable damage might have been the result had patients with bandaged eyes been Thinking ahead, Sadhvishri realised that it would not be possible to hold eye-camps in such circumstances again. She felt that instead of resorting to ad hoc measures to house the patients, a permanent solution to the problem had to be found. She sat at Gurudev's feet and vowed that till a proper hospital was constructed, she would accept only two food items in her meals. Religious Tours The objectives of Veerayatan are service to humanity (seva), education (shiksha), and spiritual development (sadhna). These are the founding principles of the institution and their extraordinary combination makes Veerayatan an inspiring organisation. Sadhvishri considered the progress of Veerayatan to be her primary goal but understood the need to awaken religious awareness in other places. With Gurudev's blessing she decided to spend her chaturmases elsewhere as well. In 1980, in response to a longstanding For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.org

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282