A Great Seer – Mahatma Gandhi

[Prof. Dr. Yogendra Yadav]

Prof. Dr. Yogendra Yadav

Senior Gandhian Scholar, Professor, Editor and Linguist

Gandhi International Study and Research Institute, Jalgaon, Maharashtra, India

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A Great Seer – Mahatma Gandhi

 

Kavi Rajchandra was born in a place called Vavania in Kathiawar. I came in touch with him in 1891, the day of my return from London, at Dr. P. J. Mehta’s residence in Bombay. Kavi, as I used to call him, was nearly related to Dr. Mehta. He was introduced to me as a shatavadhani, i.e., one who can remember a hundred things at a time. Kavi was quite young at the time, not much older than I was then, i.e., 21 years. He had, however, given up all public exhibitions of his powers and was given to purely religious pursuits. I was much struck by his simplicity and independence of judgment. He was free from all touch of blind orthodoxy. What struck me perhaps more was his combining business with religion in practice. A student of the philosophy of religion, he tried to practise what he believed. Himself a Jain, his toleration of the other creeds was remarkable. He had a chance of going to England for studies, but he would not go.

He would not learn English. His schooling was quite elementary. But he was a genius. He knew Sanskrit, Magadhi and, I believe, Pali. He was a voracious reader of religious literature and had acquired through Gujarati sources knowledge, enough for his purpose, of Islam, Christianity and Zoroastrianism. Such was the man who captivated my heart in religious matters as no other man has till now. I have said elsewhere that in moulding my inner life Tolstoy and Ruskin vied with Kavi. But Kavi’s influence was undoubtedly deeper if only because I had come in closest personal touch with him. His judgment appealed to my moral sense in the vast majority of cases. The bedrock of his faith was unquestionably ahimsa. His ahimsa was not of the crude type we witness today among its so-called votaries who confine their attention merely to the saving of aged cattle and insect life. His ahimsa, if it included the tiniest insect, also covered the whole of humanity. Yet I never could regard Kavi as a perfect man. But of all the men I knew he appeared to me to be nearer perfection than the rest. Alas! He died all too young (thirty-three years) when he felt that he was surely going to see truth face to face. He has had many worshippers but not as many followers. His writings, largely consisting or soulful letters to inquirers have been collected and published. An attempt is being made to have them translated in Hindi. I know that they would bear an English translation. They are largely based on inward experience.

Reference:

Modern Review, June 1930