Studies in Indian Philosophy

Author(s): Dalsukh Malvania, Nagin J Shah
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

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rative method of study. This endows the writings of Panditji with an abiding and universal appeal.
Pandit Sukhalalji has contributed a number of paper on religion and its effect on society. Religion for him is not a time-worn instrument only to be worshipped, but he wants it to be a living force to be employed for the amelioration of the society as a whole. He has never hesitated to explode the myths of credulity and exploitation in one form or other, He would always insist upon the basic in the Religion, but not hesitate to allow the amplifications to fall in line with the progressive forces of the present-day times. The thoughts of Pandit Sukhalalji in this respect deserve special attention from all serious thinkers of religious values and social progress.
There is something characteristic about the style of Panditji, whether he writes in Hindi or Gujarati. There is a simplicity ; it is like himself : simple in expression but pregnant with signification. There is precision, and there is a pointed appeal in all that he writes. His Gujarati style reminds me of the chaste and simple expression in which Mahātmāji wrote bis Ātmakathā. Unlike Mahātmāji, Panditji is really a Pandit by traditional learuing and training but when he writes on any social topic, his thoughts and expressions run very parallel to those of Mahātmāji; and one has to admit that these two great men, though working in different fieldş, have forcefully strengthened the Gujarati expression and style in this century. Their names will be remembered as successful moulders of Gujarāti language as a yehicle of higher thoughts. If Pandit Sukhalalji meant, he could have loaded his Gujarati expression with high sounding Sanskrit words, as was done by some contemporary writers in Mahārāşira; but he is a cosmopolitan by his Anekānta method of study : he has never written just for a handful of intellects but always addressed a wider society in a simple language with a view to make his thoughts as widely appealing and popular as possible.
Panditji has a dynamic personality : not only is he an embodiment of simple living and high thinking, but he sheds round him an effulgent reflection of his mode of living and of his height of thinking. It is a pleasure to differ from him. When Panditji finds that there are basic differences, he lays them bare with searching arguments, with appealing illustatrations and with humorous anacdotes; and then with a fund of worldly wisdom, with a sense of fairness and justice and in a pursuasive tone he argues out the entire situation. And when you leave Pandiiji, after such a treat, you find that you have returned definitely wiser and soberer. Panditji is a light of learning which enkindles your thinking