Shrimad Rajchandraji is highly respected for His remarkable exposition of Bhagwan Mahavir's teachings, great spiritual state, extraordinary personality and literary genius.
Shrimadji was born on the auspicious day of kartik purnima in V.S. 1924 (9th November, 1867) at Vavania (Gujarat, India).
At the age of 23, He attained Self-Realisation.
He spent months of seclusion in jungles and mountains, absorbed in the ecstasy of the Self.
His compassion for the world overflowed in the form of Shri Atmasiddhi Shastra, a masterpiece in philosophical literature.
On chaitra vad pancham V.S. 1957 (9th April, 1901) at the age of 33 years, this Enlightened Soul left His mortal body, in a state of complete awareness at Rajkot.
In this short span of 33 years, He not only attained liberation Himself, but was also instrumental in the liberation of many others.
His preachings have been compiled and published in an invaluable volume entitled 'Shrimad Rajchandra' which, even today, continues to quench the thirst of true seekers.
Mahatma Gandhi says, "This man has won my heart in spiritual matters and no one else has ever made on me the same impression."
- Modern Review, June 1930
Patrank - 241
Mumbai, Chaitra vad 14, Guru, 1947
Shrimadji said...
Only the one afflicted feels it and knows it; only he thirsts for Him.
Only he calls out for the beloved with the intense yearning of his heart.
How can one describe these Divine pangs of love, which words cannot touch? What more is there to say? Only the one who is thus struck, experiences it.
One can be consumed by this love only by being at His lotus feet; and only when one is consumed by it, can one be liberated.
There is no other easier way to liberation than this, and yet nobody makes any effort!
Powerful indeed are the shackles of worldly attachment!
Patrank - 195 Shrimad Rajchandraji
Mumbai, posh, 1947
Salutations to the True Self in oneness with unparalleled devotion
One who desires the path of liberation should relinquish all other thoughts and contemplate upon this again and again:-
"The soul has been traversing through cycles of birth and death since time immemorial, why is this traversing not coming to an end?
And what can be done to bring this about?"
This statement is immensely meaningful; and without reflecting upon it, without a firm resolve and yearning for it, the slightest awareness even of the direction of the path is not attained; it has not happened in the past and it will not happen in the future.
This is what I have known.
Therefore, all of you should seek that alone.
What else is there to know?
That is being known by me...
The article published by 'pioneer' at the time of His passing away gives some idea of Shrimadji's life, which can be seen from the following extracts.
"At the age of twenty He completely disappeared from the public gaze.
He determined to use His powers and abilities for the instruction and enlightenment of His community and the people at large.
From His very early age He was a voracious reader.
He studied the six schools of religions (Shatdarshan) and other systems of Oriental and western philosophy.
Strange though it may seem, it was a fact that a book was required to be read only once in order to be digested, and without any regular study of Sanskrit and Prakrit, He could accurately understand works in those languages and explain them to others, as only learned scholars could be expected to do."
"Shrimadji now began to inculcate His taste for knowledge in others and soon attracted a large number of disciples, whom He guided to the proper study of jain philosophy.
He found that the Acharyas (religious teachers) of the time held narrow and sectarian views and did not appreciate the change of the times."
"Again, those who renounced the world were generally lacking in some of the good things of the world, and had some reason or other to be dissatisfied with their slot in the world.
Such men could not impress their congregations by their examples.
He believed that if a man of wealth, social position, renounced the world, He could work real good by his example; convinced of His sincerity and disinterestedness, the people would more readily follow His guidance and profit by His preaching.
Holding such views, He had believed that He had not sufficiently qualified himself to appear before the public as an ascetic and a spiritual guide, and He continued steadily a man of the world, though His inclinations were all the other way."
