Shrimad Rajchandra And Mahatma Gandhi

Author(s): Kumarpal Desai
Publisher: Raj Saubhag Satsang Mandal

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Shrimad Rajchandra's Message
about their pleasures.
Such iniquitous people form their own groups' meeting from time to time, maintaining regular contacts to actively seek the fulfilment of their personal desires. Can such activities as well be called satsang? Shrimad Rajchandra made an informed comment that “Such gatherings arise from mutually selfish intentions and delusional desires.” Their only objectives are promoting selfinterest and to satisfy their immoral pleasures or to gain wealth or power. If their objectives are not being fulfiled, they would start quarreling amongst themselves and may go to the extent of committing murder. This is bound to happen where people have come together with their own selfish motives and sinful purposes. As against that, saintly people come together to seek each others' company and their objectives are devoid of selfish motive or design. Such selfless association of like-minded souls occur through the grace of great monks. Even spiritually minded souls with few materialistic activities or possessions in this world, seek the divine company of like-minded seekers. There is a wide difference between those who come together for pure and selfless desires and those who congregate to achieve their ulterior motives. Shrimad unequivocally says in chapter 24 of Mokshamala, “wherever there is selfishness and deceit there can be no similarity or meeting of minds and hence such an association cannot be deemed a satsang.”
If an association is meant only to deceive the world or achieve material gains, then it will not be fruitful in the long term. Why? The most important reason being that where deceit and delusion exist in the name of satsang, one can never attain ‘ekant or inner spiritual solitude in one's life. Shrimad's explanation for the concept of spiritual solitude is very unique. Ordinarily, solitude is understood as a person detaching himself from the rest of the