Shrimad Rajchandra And Mahatma Gandhi

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

Page 99

98
Shrimad Rajchandra & Mahatma Gandhi
basis of Gandhi's ideology during his lifetime, forming the core of his entire existence. Seen from this point of view, there appears to be an “invisible communication between Bhagwan Mahavir and Gandhi. Bhagwan Mahavir had drawn up an infallible guide to ideal living. What conduct one must observe and what one must not; what one must consume for nourishment and what one must not. How must one conduct one's affairs, what to say and how to say it? Following this guidance eventually leads to a life of ahimsa.
Both Bhagwan Mahavir and Mahatma Gandhi faced severe ordeals testing the strength of their belief in ahimsa. Both faced extremely violent people; Bhagwan Mahavir went to the Ladh region inhabited by savages. He faced them with equanimity and refused to keep even a stick to ward off wild ferocious dogs. Ahimsa's weapon is the faith in the soul. Similarly, in August 1946, Gandhi stood amidst a hostile and violent crowd in Kolkata where communal violence was at its peak. People were baying for blood, wanting revenge for the loss of their own. He was unarmed and his only protection was his mantra of Ahimsa. In the face of such a situation, there are only two possibilities – surrender or sacrifice. Bhagwan Mahavir had shown love and compassion to Sangamdev, Yaksha Shulpani and the snake, Chandakaushik. 2600 years later, Gandhiji stood there with the same power of love and compassion and faced the violent crowd thirsting for blood. His gallant offer of love and compassion quelled the fire of violence. Viceroy Lord Mountbatten commented that evening, “Gandhi has achieved something single-handedly which even a whole brigade could not have done, and in the process, saved the eastern wing of India from complete catastrophe.”
Ahimsa is not only a philosophical concept as we have seen, but it is also something that can be practised in real life. If love is