Life of Shrimad Rajchandra

Author(s): Manu Doshi
Publisher: Manu Doshi

Page 47

Shrimad has presented his thinking about the family life in Mokshamälä lesson number 12 Best Gentleman', number 45 'Topmost Aspiration', and number 55 Daily Routine'. In lessons 61 to 66 he has drawn the portrait of a very wealthy and religious gentleman of Dwarika in the form of a novel under the title Concept of Happiness'. There the man narrates his life story. The following extracts from that are worth contemplating by every house-holder
"Though I am happier than others, that happiness is in the form of having the favorable situations; that is not true happiness. In the world there are mostly unfavorable situations. I have made it a rule to spend my time in religious matters. I spend it in reading and contemplating about the scriptures, contacting the saints, observation of restraints, observation of celibacy on twelve days a month, secret donation etc. I have almost given up involvement in problems pertaining to routine matters. I want to renounce the worldly life after settling my sons in the worldly life. Right now I cannot renounce. That is not because of attachment for the worldly life, but because of the religious considerations.
"The level of character in lay life has gone down very much and monks are not able to mend it. A layman can better relate to the laymen and can influence them by his conduct. Hence I give instructions to the laymen and bring them towards the life of restraints. Every week we hold a meeting of about 500 people. I talk to them for about 2 hours about the experience during the week as well as that of the earlier periods. My wife also has some knowledge of religious books and hence she holds weekly meetings of women and gives instructions about restraints.
"My sons keep in touch with religious books to the extent possible. My servants also follow the rules relating to respecting the learned and guests, courtesy, overall truth, fixed rates etc. and hence are able to lead a comfortable life. Wealth coupled with my morality, religion, virtues and courtesy has made considerable influence on the people in general. The king also likes to adopt my advice on moral issues. Remember, I am not telling all this for self-praise. I am saying this in brief by way of replying to your questions.
"You would feel from all this that I am happy. From ordinary perspective you can think that way. The pleasure, which I get from religion, conduct, morality and scriptural study, is indescribable. But from the philosophical point of view I cannot be considered happy. So long as I have not given up external and internal possessions, there is scope for the sense of craving and aversion. It is there to a certain extent and as such there are the problems. I have the aspiration to give up all types of connections. So long as that has not been done, the separation of so-called dear ones, worldly loss and misery of the family members can raise problems to a certain extent. Apart from death, this body is subject to diseases. As such, I do not consider myself happy so long as there does not occur total disentanglement, non-possession, giving up of even minor activities etc. Thus from the philosophical perspective you can see that happiness does not consist of wealth, wife, sons or family. Had they been the sources of happiness, where did it go, when I had fallen from the crest? Whatever is subject to separation is momentary and real bliss does not lie where there is no solitariness and a state of no obstruction."
These thoughts serve as a key to understand the ideal life of Shrimad. It is clear from the letters written by him that he stayed in the domestic life with the objective of attaining the unattached state and with the intention to help those, who think of doing so.
The article published by 'Pioneer' at the time of his passing away gives some idea of his domestic life, which can be seen from the following extracts.
“At the age of twenty he completely disappeared from the public gaze. He determined to use his powers and abilities for the instruction and enlightenment of his community and the people at large. From his very early age he was a voracious reader. He studied the six schools of religions (Shatdarshan) and other systems of Oriental and Western philosophy. Strange though it may seem, it was a fact that a book was required to be read only once in order to be digested, and