Shyam Parekh
Koba (Gandhinagar):
President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam delayed his Kutch visit to meet him. L.K. Advani came with his family to seek his blessings, immediately after becoming deputy minister. RSS chief K. Sudershan will be spending a day with three chief ministers and spend two hours with him.
The white-clad 83-year old Acharya Mahapragya, heads the Terapanthi Jains, the smallest sect among the Jains. He, therefore, would be hardly of any consequence for the vote-bank considerations of the politicians. Then what draws hordes of politicians to him?
State leaders like Narendra Modi and Shankersingh Vaghela have been frequenting this place off and on to meet the Acharya. Even super-cop K.P.S. Gill went to meet him five times during his short tenure in Gujarat. Is it that in the post-riot period, politicians are taking succour in Jainism, a philosophy that professes non-violence?
“Chintan par pathdarshan. Dirghkalin Chintan. (Guidance on thinking-philosophy. Long-term thinking). They seek guidance on how to deal with national and social problems,” softly replies the Acharya.
His disciples and followers recall what the Acharya told the President. “Sampraday se upar dharma, dal se upar desh (religion over sects, nation above political party)”. Kalam reportedly requested the Acharya to give this message to every politician that visits him. But, do the thick-shinned politicians learn anything from him? “The August 15 message of the President, reflects on ahimsa, of what we discussed”, the Acharya says.
Followers say his suggestion impressed former prime minister late Rajiv Gandhi who corrected the official definition of secular from ‘dharma-nirpeksha’ to ‘pantha-nirpeksha.’
“How can a nation be dharma-nirpeksha? You should be above and aloof from the sects, but not religion”, was what he told the ex-PM. Be it for solving deadlock in Parliament proceedings or for convincing Longowal pact, politicians seek his help. Prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee spares time to listen to his Sanskrit poems too.
The Acharya has embarked on a four-year ‘Ahimsa Mahayatra’ through Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Madhya Pradesh, since December 2001. “Something needed to be done about Ahimsa, which is not about no wars and no killings. Even domestic violence and anger are forms of himsa,” he explains. The yatra marks 2600th birth anniversary of Lord Mahavir.
Ask him what are the problems that the world is facing, he will probably say, “Leaders are not focused. There is lack of resoluteness in them. There is no consistency among them.” But what is the panacea that people turn to him for? “Neutral and balanced thinking is what people look for. Development of ‘spiritual scientific personality’ in a human being is the only solution. But there is no end to problems.”
The Acharya believes that ahimsa can be effective only if the students are trained into its technique. He has devised ‘Jivan Vigyan’ course, which is being adopted by several schools. The Acharya, who wastes no words and believes that “Language is what is causing the wars”, has penned over 250 books, now translated into numerous world languages. Over 100 titles are translated into Gujarati.