Shrimad Rajachandra - Biography

Shrimad was born on November 9, 1867 at Vavania, a small village in Rajkot district of Gujarat State. It is situated on the Gulf of Kutch, almost facing the Kandla port. He was born with a very low impact of Karma. Consequently, he could gain the knowledge of his previous births at the age of 7. It so happened that in Vavania there was a shopkeeper named Amichand. Shrimad frequently used to go to his shop, because Amichand treated him very affectionately. Once, Amichand was bitten by a snake and he died. When Shrimad heard about that, he came home and asked his grandfather what death means. His grandfather tried to divert his mind by asking him to eat some snacks, but Shrimad persisted in knowing about death. The old man had therefore to explain that when a man dies, he ceases to move, eat, and drink or to do anything else. As such the dead body is taken to the cemetery and burnt to ashes.

At that tender age, Shrimad was shocked to learn that. Out of curiosity he went towards the cemetery and climbed a nearby tree. From there, he watched that the body was being cremated. He started thinking why that happened. Since the body of Amichand was physically there, the question arose in his mind as to who had died. Then it occurred to him that the soul, which was in that body, had departed and that departure is called death. He could thus make out the distinction between the soul and the body. Thereby he realized that every soul has been migrating from one body to another and that he must have taken innumerable births. That led him to visualize his earlier lives.

By virtue of the low impact of Karma, Shrimad also had the ability to accurately remember what he saw. This was noticed when he was sent to school. His teacher started showing how to write the numbers from one onward. Shrimad could immediately make out how to write the same. As such, he mastered all the numbers and multiplication tables within a month. Similarly, he mastered the alphabet and the art of reading and writing. He could therefore complete the entire course of the elementary school within two years.

Thereafter, Shrimad started reading on his own and finished whatever was available in his native place. His memory was so sharp that he could remember whatever he read or heard only once. He also started writing articles in the magazines and composing poems. The poems, which he composed at the age of 8, were found of right measurement, when later examined from the science of prosody. For him, it was easy to comprehend even scriptural texts. At the age of 16, he could therefore write Mokshamala, which literally means garland of liberation. True to its name, it deals with the subjects that can lead towards the path of liberation. It is written in simple language that can be understood even by the children. It is divided into 108 lessons, which Shrimad had written within three days. He had enrolled customers for the book in advance, but its publication was delayed. Since Mokshamala is mainly addressed to growing children like you, let us have a bird's eye view of that book.

After giving suitable advice to the readers and explaining the significance of Karma and the importance of human life in the initial four lessons, Shrimad narrates the well-known story of Anathimuni to indicate how helpless we have to stay in the face of certain diseases. That is given at some length in three lessons. Then he lays down how to recognize the true godliness, true religion, and the true guru and explains the right mode of devotion. Then, after dealing with various miscellaneous topics, he explains the significance of Navakarmantra, its chanting, Samayika and Pratikraman rituals. His emphasis is on understanding the purpose of undertaking all such activities.

Thereafter, there are two stories dealing with fickleness of the worldly pleasure and insatiability of desire. Then the book deals with various aspects like idleness, discretion, impurity, forgiveness, detachment, difference of beliefs, etc. Then comes a story in six lessons explaining the nature of happiness. Thereafter there is the poem known as Invaluable Contemplation, which is worth memorizing and regular recital by everyone. Then after explaining the importance of controlling the mind and senses, the book deals with four types of Jain meditation. Then comes the discussion about the knowledge, which is followed, by a discussion about Jain fundamentals that covers 17 lessons. The remaining ten lessons are devoted to importance of society, obstacles in the way of restraining the mind, useful slogans, questions-answers, etc. It would thus be seen that the book covers all important aspects pertaining to the religious mode and is worth reading.

Now let us look at Shrimad's capability to attend to multiple aspects at a time. Normally, one can attend to one thing at a time. Attending to more than one aspect simultaneously is termed as mnemonic capability or Avadhan. If one can attend to two, three or more aspects, he is called as Dwayavadhani, Trayavadhani and so forth. During that time, there was one Shankarlal Shastri, who could attend to eight aspects at a time and was therefore known as Ashtavadhani. Shrimad happened to witness that feat at the age of 17. He immediately made out that he could do that. The next day he performed twelve Avadhans instead of eight. That capability rapidly increased and shortly after that, he could perform 52 Avadhans.

Some of the activities involved in that performance necessitated an extraordinary level of memory. For instance, during that time he was required to play cards with three persons, chess with another one, count the ringing of a bell, count the tiny pallets that were dropped on his back and so on. Moreover, it involved a high level of the mathematical and comprehending capabilities, because, he was required to do the sums, subtractions, multiplication and division of the numbers given to him. He had simultaneously to compose poems of required meters and on the subjects called for. In addition, he had to decipher and arrange in order the letters of 16 languages given to him at random. In addition to several Indian languages, the list included the foreign languages like English, Greek, Latin, Arabic, etc. This was particularly noteworthy, because Shrimad had formally studied only the Gujarati language.

That spread his reputation far and wide. He was invited to show his capability in a public meeting at Bombay, where during his 19th year, he performed 100 Avadhans in the presence of the Bombay Chief Justice and other dignitaries. This was an unbelievable feat and the performance was highlighted in all the important newspapers like Times of India, Pioneer, etc. Due to his impressive mnemonic capability, he was offered all the facilities to go to Europe and to show his extraordinary talents. He, however, declined to accept it, because in Europe he could not live according to the religious standards.

In addition to this mnemonic capability, he also knew astrology and could foresee what was going to happen. As such, when two persons, Hemraj and Malasi, who had never come in contact with Shrimad, came from Kutch to see him, Shrimad went to receive them and welcomed them by calling their names. This happened at the age of 10. Similarly, when Saubhagyabhai, who later became his devotee, came to see him the first time, Shrimad handed to him a note which he had prepared before the arrival of the latter. It was written therein why Saubhagyabhai had been there. But Shrimad was getting increasingly oriented to the spiritual mode. He realized that mnemonic and such activities could obstruct his spiritual development. He therefore gave up all those activities and refrained from making any public performance after the age of 19.

Shrimad was bred in the Vaishnav culture. Since there were many Jains in his native place, he also came across various aspects of Jainism and was attracted towards it. After examining the different religious philosophies at length, he concluded that what Jainism laid down was the truth. He therefore dwelt deep in that and wanted to lead a pure spiritual life. He could, however, make out that his earlier Karma would lead him to a worldly life. Accordingly, he got involved in the jewelry business and entered into marital tie at the age of 20. But internally he stayed attuned to the spiritual life. By dwelling deep about the true nature of soul, he gained the right perception at the age of 23.

In the business too, he maintained a high degree of morality. His regard for truth, adherence to high moral values and firmness to do what he saw right inspired those who met him. Mahatma Gandhi was highly impressed by his spiritual level and had accepted him as his guide. When he was in South Africa, he came under heavy pressure from his Christian and Muslim friends to adopt their faith. That time he had sought the guidance from Shrimad. That guidance showed to Gandhiji that he could reach the highest extent of spiritual elevation by continuing within his own faith. He has reverently written about Shrimad in his autobiography and has paid glorious tributes to him on several other occasions.

Aside from the above mentioned Mokshamala and its compendium Bhavanabodh, his writings mainly happen to be in the form of letters addressed to different persons, who came in contact with him. A high level of enlightenment is evident in his writings. Its significance may not be clear to a casual reader. If, however, one dwells deep into it, he would notice that the writings contain rare jewels of the spiritual realm. Atmasiddhi-shastra is the prime jewel of his writings. It is therefore worth saying something about its origination, contents, etc.

Laghurajswami, originally a Sthanakwasi monk known as Lalluji, met Shrimad in 1890 and became his follower. In 1894 when he was in Surat, he was suffering from fever for about a year. He thought that he might die of the disease. As such, he felt afraid that by leaving his life without gaining the right perception, he would have to go in for the infinite wandering. He therefore wrote to Shrimad to send him something that could help in gaining the right perception. Thereupon, Shrimad sent to him the well-known Letter of Six Fundamentals, which could be useful for the purpose.

A copy of the letter was sent to Saubhagyabhai. He liked it very much and used to ponder over it again and again. He wanted to commit it to memory. But the same being in prose, he found it hard to memorize. He therefore requested Shrimad to bring out something similar in verse. Shrimad was inherently compassionate and had a regard for Saubhagyabhai. Therefore in late 1896 when he was in Nadiad, one auspicious evening he started writing and within an hour and a half, he brought out the 142 stanzas of Atmasiddhi-shastra. Mere copying of those stanzas would need more than 90 minutes. The fact that Shrimad brought out that highly valuable work within that short time, would give some idea of the spiritual wealth abiding within him.

The subject matter of the book is the soul, impact of Karma on it and its potentialities for attaining liberation. The subject has been precisely and adequately presented. Nothing worthwhile has been left out. Every stanza of the text is full of significance and some of them are immensely valuable to spiritual aspirants. In composing this text, Shrimad has virtually contained the sea of the spiritual science within the bowl of the book. If one wants to realize the Self, studying that text and putting its precepts into practice would suffice. In that case, he would hardly need to look for any other source.

Shrimad could notice that various practices of Jainism had lost their significance and the people have moved far away from the original tenets of Jainism. He had the capability and intention to lay it down in true shape. That necessitated the renouncing of the worldly life. But his involvement in business that he had undertaken by virtue of the earlier Karma would not let him do that. He decided to retire from that in 1896,when his younger brother joined it. But other partners insisted on his continuing as advisor and he had to agree. In that capacity, he could find some time for staying in the places, where he could remain tuned to the soul. As such, he spent some months of the subsequent years in the villages of Gujarat. But his intention was to be free from all worldly involvement. Unfortunately, however, his health started failing and his mother would not allow him to renounce until he regained his health. There were ups and downs in his health. But overall, it continued to deteriorate and he left this mortal world in 1901 at the young age of 33 and a half.

-----------------------------------------------------

Information Courtesy : Mr. Pravin K. Shah
Chairperson Jaina Education Committee
 Federation of Jain Associations in North America
509, Carriage Woods Circle Raleigh, NC 27607-3969, USA
E-Mail : pkshah1@attglobal.net Telephone and fax 919-859-4994
Websites : www.jaina.org and www.jainism.org

-----------------------------------------------------

Mail to : Ahimsa Foundation
www.jainsamaj.org
R301002