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Sugandha: Sweet Fragrance
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speak out boldly. Certain sādhvis in other regions had preceded her and others have followed.
Why then study Ujjvala Vāņi? Because Ujjvala Vāni is believed to be the only collection of pravacanas of a sādhvi of that period; because it transmits to us the ever-living and contemporary message of an exceptional sadhvi, who was in direct contact with those who cared about essential values, more particularly with Gandhiji;54 because the character and content of these pravacanas testify to the mission of the sādhvis, they demonstrate how, by acquiring a firm grounding of knowledge, they can succeed in communicating it to their contemporaries; and, finally, because, having known Mahāsati and stayed with her, how could one not, as a sign of gratitude for her so friendly welcome and ready understanding and as a sign of respect and devotion to her memory, try to make her known, how could one not try, however imperfectly, to make her voice heard?
The inspiration conveyed by Ujjvala Vāņi
All those who knew her recall unanimously how impressed they were by Mahāsati's breadth of spirit. Her eagerness for knowledge and the wide range of her culture were of enormous help to her, but she also must have been fortified by an uncommon degree of courage to have expressed as she did revolutionary ideas such as were bound to upset the sectarianism, rigidity and sterile conservatism of one type of Jaina milieu. We have to realise the audacity and strength of conviction this required on the part of a young sādhvi, as well as her concern to enlighten others and free them from every fetter. She knew how to captivate her audience, not only by the thoroughness of her knowledge in many spheres and the clarity of her exposition, but also by her remarkable capacity for touching upon all domains, religious, moral, cultural, social. Mahāsati lived for the most part in Mumbai; she was addressing groups of its citizens, most of them engaged in commerce, not always honest in their transactions nor mindful of the
54 During one of Gandhiji's stays in Mumbai, in September 1944, when he had come to meet Jinnah, the founder-to-be of Pakistan, he held with Mahasati daily conversations for 19 days, conversations concerning religion, society and politics. These are published in a booklet entitiled: Gandhi Ujjvala vārtālāpa.
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