Life of Shrimad Rajchandra

Author(s): Manu Doshi
Publisher: Manu Doshi

Page 64

Chapter 16: CONTACT OF MONKS AT BOMBAY
During his movement from place to place Lallujiswämi had been to Surat. Along with him there was Muni Devkaranji, who was expert in giving discourses. His discourses left strong impact of detachment on the listeners. Some businessmen of Bombay had been to Surat. On hearing Devkaranji's discourse, they requested him to come to Bombay. In view of their insistence Lallujiswami agreed to go to Bombay, even though people of Surat wanted the monks to spend the monsoon at Surat. The permission for that purpose was obtained from Khambhät and they left for Bombay along with two other monks. After reaching Bombay Lallujiswami went to Shrimad.
Shrimad asked, "Why did you come to a Non-Aryan place like Bombay for the monsoon? Are the monks allowed to move in Non-Aryan territory?"
Lallujiswämi: "We decided to spend the monsoon here with a view to taking advantage of your contact."
Shrimad: "Does anyone come in the way of your coming here?"
Lallujiswami: "No, if I come here daily, can you spare an hour for me?"
Shimad: "Yes"
Accordingly Lallujiswami used to go to Shrimad's firm from time to time. On seeing him. Shrimad used to get up from the shop and move to an adjacent room. There he used to read and explain portions of Sutrakrutäng (the second original Jain scripture).
Once a youth named Sundarläl of Khambhät had been to Bombay. He knew Shrimad. Devkaranji told him that he had not seen Shrimad; if Sundarläl brought him to Upäshray, he would like to see him. Sundarlal said that he would bring Shrimad there.
Accordingly as Shrimad came to Chinchpokli Upashray along with Sundarläl, all the four monks got down from the wooden seat and sat down. The letters in the manuscript copy of Sutrakrutäng were set by gum. Some of them were dropped off and it was not possible to make out the meaning. Devkaranji therefore asked Shrimad about the missing letters. Shrimad provided the missing letters and explained the exact meaning of the text.
Then Devkaranji showed two stanzas of Sutrakrutäng and said that the text could make sense, if Safal (fruitful) is read as Afal (unfruitful) and vice versa. He therefore asked whether the matter was miswritten.
Shrimad looked at the stanzas and said, "It is not miswritten, it is correct. The text states that the activity of the wrong percipient is fruitful in the sense that it gets fruits in the form of wholesome or unwholesome Karma; that of right percipient is unfruitful in the sense that it does not get those fruits. In other words, it leads to Nirjarä (eradication of Karma). The action of the former leads to the fruits of worldly life and that of the latter does not lead to it. That is the essence of the text."
Everyone was pleased with that interpretation. Devkaranji realized that Shrimad was a very highly intelligent man and what Lallujiswami was talking about was true. He did believe it sinful to criticize a person, who may not observe restraint and yet holds the right perception. As such, he was not critical of Shrimad even earlier.