Pragna Chakshu Pandit Sukhlalji

A great thinker, philosopher, philanthropist and most learned person in Jainism

Pragna Chakshu means the great man whose deep learning is his eye. Pandit Sukhlalji is considered an all-round figure of greatness of the present century. Even though he was blind, he was the true practitioner in the literature of truth; he was the greatest thinker of his times and highly learned in scriptures mainly of Jainism. He had dedicated whole of his life to the Indian culture. He is considered to be one of the most outstanding & learned persons of Sanskrit in India. He was a Seer without the power of seeing. It is a great surprise that a man without eyes edited a great book like “Sanmati Tark” in a modern scientific way wherein every line and every note of comment is full of his deep learning. He was very liberal in his views and therefore, his admirers include many more non-Jains than Jains. This is quite natural and pleasant also.

Birth & Childhood : Pandit Sukhlalji was born on the fifth day of the bright day of the month of Margshersh in V. S. 1937 Panditji was Visa Shrimali Vanik community of Dhakad-Dharkat generation a sort of merchant community. Sanghvi Talshi and his first wife Maniben were his parents. His mother expired when he was only four years of age. He passed his childhood under the care of his distant relative Shri Mulji Kaka of Sayla in absence of his mother. He was obedient, hard working and very much eager to learn. He was much interested in games. He was adventurous. At school, he was always considered to be a student of first rank. He did his homework regularly but alongwith his school study he took interest in seeing & talking with Jain mendicants & nuns. He was afraid of sins from his childhood. He adopted various types of vows with the advice of Jain mendicants and maintained them rigorously. He obtained religious knowledge from Jain teachers. His father expired in 1919 AD. Pandit Sukhlalji lost his eyesight at the age of seventeen due to small pox and became permanently blind. He had nose, ears & tongue but no eyes. Life became very burdensome. There was no way out. But he maintained courage. He started his study vigorously with a view to come out from the troubles of life.

Study of Sanskrit at Limbdi : The newly built Upashraya (religious school) at Limbdi was not the main place of his shelter. He would recite whatever prayers were at his memory. He would hear new things from others and commit it to memory. He kept himself in the company of sadhus, and committed to memory several prayers, hymns and stanzas on spiritual subjects under their guidance. He came in contact with Deepchandji Maharaj in V.S. 1965 and learnt many Jain chapters from him in which Dravyanuyog and Ganitanuyog of Jainism were described briefly in Gujarati. He committed to memory many hymns like Dash Vaikalik, Uttaradhyayan, SootraKrutang, Bhaktamar Stotra, Kalyan Mandir Stotra etc. The sweetness of Sanskrit language impressed him very much. When he knew that there is vast literature in Sanskrit and many commentaries on Jain Agams are also in Sanskrit, he was eager to study Sanskrit and he committed to memory everything of Sanskrit which he could do with the help of others even though he may not have understood it. He was betrothed for marriage when he was young but this was cancelled by his parents when he turned blind and thus there was no family life for Sukhlalji.

Towards Kashi-Benaras : In V. S. 1959-60, Sukhlalji came to know that Acharya VijayDharm Suriji had established YashoVijaya Jain Pathshala - a school for religious studies - at Kashi and when Sukhlalji took admission to that Pathshala, there were six mendicants and twenty-five Shravak-students. There was very nice accommodation for stay and board. The friends-group of Sukhlalji included Vijayendra Suri, NyayaVijayaji, JayantVijayaji, Pandit Hargovind Das, Pandit Bechar Das etc. Sukhlalji was older than other students and hence he was well respected at the Pathshala. There were famous Pandits like Ambadutta Shastri and Harnarayan Tiwari to teach these students.

For the first two years, Sukhlalji studied and thought very much. After this, he started teaching new students with himself studying further in Jainism. Thus, Sukhlalji completed his study in Grammar, Poetics, Logic, Linguistics, and word-formation during the four years from the month of Chaitra of V. S. 1960 to the month of Vaishakh in V. S. 1964. He specially helped the weak students. He committed to memory everything he could. He thus, memorized eighteen thousand stanzas and completed BruhadVritti of Siddhaim Vyakaran from 1960 to 1963. He went a pilgrimage to Samet Shikharji and Palitana in V.S. 1963 and gained much knowledge in Jainism.

He passed the monsoon of V. S. 1965 in the company of Acharya VijayVallabh Suri at Palanpur. From here he went to Abu-Delwada and returned to Kashi. He then decided to appear at the examination of Sampoorna Nyaya Madhyama of the Queen’s college in V. S. 1966. Since there was no suitable teacher for him, he was examined orally. Many highly learned and expert personalities questioned him extensively and Sukhlalji answered them. Sukhlalji was declared successful in first class and he also came in personal contacts of these learned personalities. This happened to of much use to him in his further life.

He appeared in the first part of the examination for the degree of Acharya in Nyaya and also Madhyama examination at Patna. He completed all the three parts of the examination for the degree of Acharya upto 1969. He studied the most difficult books on Nyaya. He could easily understood the Khandan-Khand-Khadya of Shree Harsh, Advait Siddhi of Shri Madhusudan Saraswati and Chitsukhi of Chit Swaroopacharya which are considered to be most complicated and difficult books on the subject. After satisfactory progress in study, Sukhlalji left Kashi. He, then, caught Mooni PunyaVijayaji, Pandit Hirachand, Pandit Bhagwandas, Acharya LalitVijayaji, Acharya JinVijayaji, Shriman HansVijayaji Maharaj and others. He spent monsoons from V. S. 1969 to V. S. 1972 at Palanpur, Mahesana and Vadodara. He stayed with Mahatma Gandhi in V. S. 1973 at Sabarmati Ashram and gained much experience.

Beginning of Literary activities : Panditji had devoted his life to religion & religious literature. He was written & edited more than thirty books on Nyaya, Karmvad, Jain Siddhanta, Achar, Yog Darshan, Adhyatma Vad, Indian Philosophy, History and so on. These books have already been published also and many of them are translated into Hindi & English. The books are respected as authentic and quoted as references. The books have been indispensable for those who want to study Jain literature. He took translation as not merely translation but included his comments and supporting quotations from other books. There are comparative comments on important issues. The books include several maps and appendices. In 1920 AD, he started writing the most important and immortal book of his life-Sanmati Tark.

Mahatma Gandhi had established Gujarat Vidyapith at Ahmedabad and Shri Jin Vijayaji was appointed as the head of archaeological department. He then, started calling up learned personalities and Pandit Sukhlalji was one of them. Pandit Sukhlalji joined the Vidyapith in V. S. 1978. He edited the commentary of  VadMaharnava-a part of his Sanmati Tark with the co-operation of Pandit Bechardasji. This work proved itself to be unparalleled with any other work inthe Indian Spiritual Literature. He collected twenty-four hand written notes for making their reference that were available in writing, in print of otherwise from all corners in support of his discussion on the issue. Pandit Sukhlalji made his name permanent in the world of learned personalities. Even though this immortal work is said to be on Jainism, it includes all the spiritual subjects and every scholar of comparative studies in various scriptures get everything in this one and the same book. Dr. Harman Jakobi and many other foreign scholars have extensively praised this book. This work was carried on continuously and it took nine years to complete it.

Pandit Sukhlalji was appointed as a professor in Jain scriptures at Benaras Hindu University in 1933 AD. Before joining at Benaras, his book partly-written during the holidays at Gujarat Vidyapith was completed & it was printed in 1930. This book was Tattvarth Sootra Vivechan. The book is useful not only to an ordinary Jain but also other learned persons. He worked as Professor of Jain scriptures and Jainism at Benaras University from 1933 to 1944 but along with his teaching activities he himself studied more and more. He edited “Praman Mimansa”, the most out stand work of Acharya Hemchandraji with the co-operation of Pandit Mahendrakumar & Pandit Dalsukhbhai. It was published in 1939 AD. The comments & preface of this book have been translated into English and published in 1961 AD under the name: Advanced studies in Indian Logic and Metaphysics. Subsequently, he took up several other authentic books on Jainism, which became extremely popular later. Pandit Sukhlalji became very much famous in foreign countries with the publication of these two series.

Pandit Sukhlalji retired in 1944 even though Dr. Radhakrishnan, the chancellor of Benaras University pressed him to continue but he stayed with Acharya Jin Vijayaji at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bombay. He was, however, not well at Bombay and came to Ahmedabad. He took up permanent post of Honorary Professor at B. J. Vidya Bhavan conducted by Gujarat Vidyasabha. Pandit Sukhlalji retired from Benaras University but he continued creating new literature. He was invited to deliver Sayajirao Memorial lectures at covering the three subjects-Soul, World and God in Gujarati. These have been published in in Hindi under the name Bharatiya Tattva Vidya. These lectures have also been translated into English and L.D. Vidya Mandir under the title Indian Philosophy published in 1977. His writings were not routine but revolutionary, his thinking was very deep, his comments were authoritative and his life as a whole was dedicated to spiritual & scriptural knowledge.

His outlook for life : Pandit Sukhlalji could do so much work in literature only because of his outlook for life. He kept his own necessities to the barest minimum and gave all facilities to own necessities to the barest minimum and gave all facilities to his assistants and colleagues. He took unavoidable services only from others. He was self-supporting as much as he could. This was his way of living life. Many people came forward to help him but he depended only on his own earning. He never had more than two pairs of clothes. He kept only one mattress and a covering. He believed in simplicity and cleanliness. He had no house of his own. He had no more requirements than were really needed. It is for this reason that he could straightway tell the truth to others and he expressed his views most courteously and with love.

He was awarded Viyaj Dharm Soori Jain Sahitya Gold Medal in 1947. He was honored by the degree of D. Litt. By the Gujarat University in 1957, the Sardar Patel University in 1967 and the Saurashtra University in 1973. The Government of India honored him by awarding Padma Bhushan in 1974. Even before this, the Government of India since 1961 granted him pensions by giving him Certificate of  honor for Sanskrit. The Sahitya Academy of Delhi granted him prize of five thousand rupees for his “Darshan and Chintan”. The Government of Bombay also gave him awards for this work. His admirers had formed Pandit Shri Sukhlalji Samman Samiti in his honor and he was honored in 1957 at Bombay under the Presidentship of Dr. Radhakrishnan. He was given a bag of seventy thousand rupees on this occasion. Panditji formed Gnanodaya Trust with this amount and decided to use this amount for the expansion and creation of Indian religion and philosophy. He was awarded the title of VidyaVaridhi by Naav Nalanda Vihar of Bihar in 1975 AD. It was with his inspiration that Parshvanath Shodh Sansthan at Bihar and L. D. Prachya Vidya Mandir at Ahmedabad was established.

His method of working : Pandit ji first of all collected all information about which he wanted to write and then he was continuously dictating in a lonely place keeping his diet at barest minimum. He was arranging everything in mind at the first stage and then constantly dictated the same with unbroken link. He spared much less time for food and daily routine work of natural calls etc. We do not feel from his writings that he had no eyes but we see deep learning, study and very wide outlook in all pages and phrases.

Last years of life : He worked at different places in different institution will 1960. But after undergoing a major operation, he had started winding up his activities. In spite of this he could hear, think, speak and move like a young man. He had stopped going out and hardly granted visits. He had curtailed his activities of writing. He was now hearing on various subjects of his interest but this was almost negligible during the last seven years. Thus, he was totally away from activities in his ending years of life. He was taking very little food since last twenty years and had not touched sweets, pulses and tasteful items since thirty-five years. He took selected fruits only. He had stopped taking heavy food altogether. He took only liquid food during last ten years. He had an operation of prostate gland which troubled him many times. He passed away peacefully on 2 March 1978. We bow down our head to such a great personality of the age.

Conclusion : He has tried to give us essence of all religious like a bee collecting honey from several flowers. And this was not in writings alone. He also followed his life accordingly. It is for this reason that we see balanced consideration of all religions in his writings. Pandit Sukhlalji defined Religion like this: To discard impurities and weakness from life and restore all round cleanliness and equitable strength in its place is the true culture of life. Simplicity, satisfaction, self-service, self-dependence, sincerity for truthful work, total faith, longing for truth where there are differences and conflicts and service to the goddess of knowledge till the last breath of life were the virtues strongly held by Panditji. His life is a lamp post for all of us. He did not run away from life even though he lost his invaluable eyes. On the contrary, he took it to be a challenge to himself and came out victorious. He was really a first rank learned personality of this century.

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