Shrimad Rajchandra And Mahatma Gandhi

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

Page 98

Shrimad Rajchandra & Mahatma Gandhi
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Shrimad. He appreciated that one should not bear animosity, even towards one's enemy. In February 1908, a Pathan called Mir Alam attacked Gandhi with the intention of maiming him, yet Gandhi did not harbour even slightest ill-will towards him. He wrote in the Indian Opinion that he did not want the police to take any action against Alam or for people to bear a grudge against him. With the passage of time, Mir Alam realised his folly.
In the same vein, Gandhiji forgave General Smuts, Home Minister of the Transvaal State, who had been his main persecutor in South Africa. He forgave him for all his past actions. When leaving South Africa, Gandhi presented the General with a pair of sandals, which he made himself. Smuts said that he would cherish the gift. It is rumored that after Mir Alam’s attack and Gandhi's act of forgiving him, that Gandhi came to be known as “Mahatma Gandhi”.
Gandhiji's life epitomises qualities such as nonviolence, fearlessness, love of truth, forgiveness, celibacy, nonpossessiveness, all-encompassing tolerance and vegetarianism and one can discern through them the profound influence Jain thinking had on him. It was from Shrimad that he came to know the true nature of ahimsa.
What is ahimsa? Is it merely a word devoid of deeper meaning? Is it simply a concept of mind? It is none of these - it is a lotus like concept that transforms one into a wholesome living being. Since the time of Bhagwan Rushabhdev, the word has acquired an endless number of interpretations. Many have exemplified this quality by sacrificing their own lives or by practising severe penance or by suffering. It was Bhagwan Mahavir, over 2600 years ago, who permeated the concept of ahimsa throughout the aryan world. This concept evolved in Shrimad's mind and became the