Jinamanjari 2001 04 No 23

Author(s): Jinamanjari
Publisher: Canada Bramhi Jain Society Publication

Page 39

samyak darśana is through guru bhakti.
2. Long before he became a prominent religious figure Śrīmad had already gained a celebrity status in Gujarāt and Mumbai due to his exceptional intellectual and literary talents. As a young man he had become famous for his public performances of remarkable memory feats in which he attended to up to one hundred different activities simultaneously. He had also published a number of hymns, poems and didactic works that received much literary acclaim within the Gujarāti speaking community.
As well, śrīmad is said to have possessed some supernatural attributes including telepathy, premonition, future prediction, and famously, memory of his previous lives, jātismarana jñāna, which occurred when he was only seven years old. His followers reason that such intellectual proficiency and supernatural powers are discernible validation of śrīmad's advanced internal purity. However, they are by-products of his internal state and, as such, irrelevant to the soteriological process.
3. As an adult, śrīmad gave religious discourses which, according to his biographers, attracted hundreds of people. He appears to have been a charismatic orator. His eloquent poetic and literary expression and profound understanding of Jainism established śrīmad as a religious teacher for those who were inspired by his message.
4. Srimad gained acclaim via association. In his autobiographical accounts Mohandās Gāndhī professed to have benefited from a correspondence with śrīmad. Gāndhi's fame reached its height after śrīmad's death, so his endorsement is only posthumously applicable.
Lalluji Mahārāj (1854-1936) was an esteemed Sthānakavāsī muni. Lallu was amongst śrīmad's closest disciples, ranking Śrīmad's discourses above those of his own ācārya. The impact of Lallu prostrating himself before a 'mere householder' cannot be overstated, and lay Jains who honoured this muni would have automatically turned their gaze towards śrīmad.
5. Jains venerate extreme ascetic practise, religious effort
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