Shrimad Rajchandra And Mahatma Gandhi

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

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Shrimad Rajchandra's Message
The price of tears is infinite, and cannot be measured in physical terms. It cannot be qualified! We often come across people who are in the habit of regularly shedding tears. Some shed tears simply recollecting the past. At times, it is a deep anger leading them to shed tears. But in reality, tears are the divine language of the soul. One can understand this from the lives of great personalities. Great people never shed tears because of their failure in seeking their own ends. The tears of such eminent people are like pearls emerging from their eyes out of compassion for the suffering of the people around the world. Their tears are a manifestation of their feelings of compassion and represent their divinity. If we analyse the situations where such great souls shed tears, we will realise that they have opened a new horizon of compassion for all of mankind through their divine tears.
Lord Mahavir was subjected to all kinds of torture at the hands of a celestial being named Sangamdev, when he meditated for six months in the land of barbarians. Lord Mahavir was made to go without food and water for six months and at the same time underwent severe torture to his body. He was swung about on a trunk of an elephant, distracted by beautiful ladies when he was meditating, inflicted by frightening thunderstorms, roars of wild beasts and horrifying looking devils. When Sangmdev realised that Lord Mahavir would not give in, he sought the latter's forgiveness for all his misdeeds. Mahavir was so filled with compassion for him that his eyes swelled up! Bhagwan's tears were not for his personal suffering but were out of concern for the amount of karma that Sangamdev had bound because of his atrocious acts.
At the age of seven, the young Shrimad learnt to read and take lessons from his mother on scriptures like the Pratikraman Sutra and the Samayik Sutra. These scriptures included lessons