Shrimad Rajchandra And Mahatma Gandhi

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

Page 97

Shrimad Rajchandra & Mahatma Gandhi
Gandhi writes, "I have not come across a self realised soul comparable to him and he was the 'best Indian' of his time." Gandhi says, "Shrimad Rajchandra's life itself is the greatest service rendered. I remain deeply obligated to him."
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Gandhiji read many of Shrimad's
writings and in a talk delivered after the
Shrimad's death he said, "I have read his writings and they gave me the utmost peace. I am confident that one who wants to alleviate mental agony and wants to know the purpose of his life will surely find the answers in Shrimad's writings, be he a Hindu or not."
Gandhi, at one time, was living in Tolstoy Farm, twentyone miles from Johannesburg. The farm was heavily infested with snakes and Gandhi had a deep fear of snakes from his early childhood. He asked Rajchandra, “If a snake were to attack me, should I allow it to bite me or should I kill it?" Rajchandra replied, "It is not proper to say that one should allow it to bite oneself but at the same time is it appropriate that one who desires to attain salvation should kill the snake in order to protect his own perishable body? One who lacks the culture of Aryan character may be told to kill the snake, but we should wish that neither you nor I will even dream of being such a person." Gandhi used to ask Shrimad a variety of questions, ranging from the spiritual to the most ordinary and he received satisfying answers to all of them.
While in South Africa, Gandhi understood the effect of practising celibacy with one's wife. Gandhi attributed this ideology to Shrimad's abiding influence over him. He also learnt about the subtleness and depth of forgiveness in the Jain religion from