Vijaydharmasuri

Author(s): A J Sunavala
Publisher: Cambridge University Press

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20 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS wide fame, all these have combined to make him the most noteworthy figure of the present day.
INTELLECTUAL AND MORAL GREATNESS Much more might be said in marking general and popular features. Mental characteristics might be traced in his eager, ardent and sympathetic ear, in his kind, tender and expressive eye, his sweet, marvellous and melodious voice, his keen intellect, his penetrating insight, his presence the embodiment of stateliness and dignity. We pass over in silence his inner life of religion; we pass over in silence his quiet deeds of reclamation and philanthropy. Observe, however, that it is not the qualities or attributes enumerated here, singly or in combination, that have ennobled Vijaya Dharma Sūri, and enthroned him in his citadel of human hearts. His is less an intellectual than a moral greatness and power. What men admire, adore and revere is himself —the great and singular and wonderful personality: a scholar of academic refinement in sympathy with the people and their needs; a monk combining in himself the strictest observance of the monastic vows with a liberal interpretation of the spirit of his religion ; a sage of clear and far extending vision, at once patient, prompt and enthusiastic; in character lofty, yet humble and unassuming; of disciplined self-control combined with energy and earnestness; of a strength of will that has never quailed before mind or multitude, accumulated wealth or regal power and pomp, that has never failed in the darker