Shrimad Rajchandra And Mahatma Gandhi

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

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Shrimad Rajchandra's Message
its physical needs and desires, ignoring the potential for spiritual development of the soul. While eulogising the existence of human body, Shrimad Rajchandra says: “There is no other form of existence in which there is the inherent capacity to discriminate between that which is true and that which is false. This makes the human form the only form from which one can enter the royal path to final liberation.”
Even the heavenly beings in the lower echelons of the celestial abode have a keen desire to seek their next life in a human form. Celestial beings may possess greater prosperity in terms of wealth, superior physical features and strength, but that superiority is no match to the spiritual wealth and inner strength that a human possesses. The superiority of humans over these celestial beings was clearly established when Sangam, in the story of Mahavir's life, could not frighten Bhagwan Mahavir despite having inflicted severe calamities on the latter. What accounts for this superiority? In the heavens, the abode of celestial beings, there is a greater scope and wide opportunities for satisfying one's physical appetites and pleasures, but there is complete absence of spiritual and religious development. Whatever positive karma one has accumulated in past lives is wasted in the heavens in satisfying materialistic desires. There are no means to accumulate new positive karma in the lower heavenly abodes, thus once the previously accumulated positive karmas have been depleted, these beings will be destined to enter the lower realms of existence.
What can we say about those distraught souls burning in the fires of hell! They are forever in agony and pain. In such an existence, how can they even think of religious activities and spirituality? The entire lives of hellish beings is surrounded by the suffering from ignorance and dependence, how can they even