Lord Mahavira and His Teachings

Author(s): Vallabhsuri Smarak Nidhi
Publisher: Vallabhsuri Smarak Nidhi

Page 13

A DEDICATED SOUL
The wise dictum that "The greatest saint is not the man who does extra-ordinary things, but does ordinary things extra-ordinarily' has been realized in the life of Acharya Shri Vijayavallabhasuri, whose services to the cause of education and Jainism has but few parallels in our history.
"Uplift through education" was the central message of the life of this illustrious saint, whose searching intelligence and ardent nature urged him to find out the panacea for the younger generation to keep off from the stifling atmosphere which would overpower them any day. Gifted with prophetic vision, he foresaw the shape of things to come at a time when education was regarded as a taboo and foreign travel led to excommunication. These views were labelled ideo logical by some and retrograde flounderings by others specially when he propounded the gospel of education. This concept was not the rebellion of a solitary soul but the outcome of a social conflict and a future vision of the society. This was a drop in the sea of mankind but the people felt in it the roar of the sea and its heave and swell were realized many years later, as we do visualize now very clearly.
:: Acharya Shri Vijayavallabhasuri, who hailed from Barodą, became the disciple of Srimad Vijayanandasuri, popularly known as Atmaramji, and since then Acharyashri led the disciplined life of a Jaina sadhu, with an outlook which was in tune with the spirit
X