________________
THE ORIENT
level became very fertile. It stimulated deep thinking and gave birth to various rich philosophical systems of thought. All of them grew in a healthy competition. Ultimately as it was natural to the tolerant Indian mind, we evolved a new synthesis.
The orthodox Hindus are formally guided by the Vedic traditions. The Muslims swear by the Koran. The Christians accept the final authority of the New Testament. But the Hindu religion being non-propnetic there is always a possibility of a change of outlook among the followers of this religion,
Rigid Indian society received a big jerk during the time of Indian renaissance movement. Raja Ram Mohan Roy discouraged blind respect for any scripture. Brahmo Samaj and Prarthana Samaj started a liberal movement in India. They discouraged Hindu orthodoxy and showed sympathetic attitude towards other religions. Swami Dayanand of Gujarat thought that these reformers were going too far. He wanted to make a compromise between the old religion and the new liberal outlook. His movement, the Arya Samaj, expressed full reverence in the authority of the Vedas; but it opposed the rigid and orthodox reverence shown by the people to the later scriptures like the Smritis and the Puranas.
Mahatma Gandhi studied these reforms very earnestly and avoided all religious controversies raised by these movements. Like Buddha, he followed the middle path, or rather, he left the religious matter to the individual; saying that everybody was free to follow his own religion. Not only that, he went even a step further and declared that from the national point of view all religions were equal. He thought India was the best place for this type of experiment where all religions would live together on terms of equality. But, that was possible only when the different religions of India could give up the spirit of rivalry and animosity. With this end in view Gandhiji established his ashram. This ashram was an ideal example of familyhood of all religions.
As a result of the then non-co-operation movement launched by Mahatma Gandhi to boycott the governmental universities and to start of our own, we started our own university in Gujarat, namely the Gujarat Vidyapith. I invited Dharmanand Kosambi, a Brahmin from Goa who had become a Buddhist monk, to join our university. The institute became an ideal institute for the study of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism which were taught and practised there with the spirit of mutual respect and 'give and take'.
Doctrine of Ahimsa
Lord Mahavira, the twenty-fourth and last Thirthankara of the Jainas, had given the widest interpretation of Ahimsa.
