Acharya Mahapragya: A Journey to Wisdom

By Sohan Lal Gandhi

The Making of a Monk

Acharya Mahapragya (1920-2010) -- the tenth acharya of the Jain Swetambar Terapanth -- was a divine presence. One of the most revered Jain thinkers, he was often hailed as a 'modern Vivekananda'. He delved deep into the inner world and devised Preksha Meditation, a scientifically tested system to know the self. He was also a scholar of Indian and Western philosophy and religion, a prolific writer and the brain behind the Jain Vishva Bharati University. Born in a village in Rajasthan, he became a monk at the age of ten and received his education under Acharya Tulsi, who launched the Anuvrat Movement in 1949 to rid the world of hatred. Acharya Mahapragya himself undertook the Ahimsa Yatra in 2001, traversing more than 10,000 km on foot. This remarkable feat at the age of eighty-one won him the Communal Harmony Award in 2004. Acharya Mahapragya: A Journey to Wisdom traces his growth from little Nathmal, who would fly into a rage and refuse to eat, to his asceticism, which earned him the name of Mahapragya -- the very embodiment of wisdom and inner peace. It offers insights into his thoughts on science and spirituality, and the philosophy of anekanta. A much-needed examination of a towering figure whose relevance is not confined to the faith he belonged to.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Element
• Release date: Aug 31, 2015
• ISBN: 9789351773962

Sohan Lal Gandhi

Dr S.L. Gandhi is the international president of the Anuvrat Global Organization (ANUVIBHA), a centre for peace and nonviolent action associated with the United Nations Department of Public Information. He has been at the forefront of national and international campaigns for disarmament, interfaith harmony, nonviolent conflict resolution, vegetarianism, ecological and environmental ethics and regeneration of moral and spiritual values. Dr Gandhi has travelled extensively, presenting papers and delivering keynote addresses at a number of international conferences held in various parts of the world. He was invited as a panel speaker by the then president of the UN General Assembly at an interactive hearing with civil society on the occasion of a high-level dialogue on inter-religious understanding held at the UN headquarters in October 2007. He currently holds the rank of an Honorary Professor of Peace and Nonviolent Studies at the Intercultural Open University Foundation. He has received numerous honours, including the Scholarly Achievement Award by the Institute of Oriental Philosophy, Tokyo (1988), IOU Peace Award (2000) and Acharya Tulsi Anekanta Samman by the Jain Vishva Bharati University, Ladnun, and Mahadeo Saraogi Foundation, Kolkata (2002).

Book preview

Introduction

Innumerable human beings who come into this world leave its precincts ‘unwept and unsung’. They do nothing to distinguish themselves from others and remain engrossed in the struggle to make ends meet. They appear unnoticed and vanish from the planet without making any contribution. No one ever thinks of them or remembers them. Only a few of them make their mark and leave behind a legacy of uniqueness.

The story of Acharya Mahapragya’s life is a glorious story of ascetic refulgence. The journey of his life begins from a small village called Tamkor in the Jhunjhunu district of Rajasthan. At that time, this village didn’t have even the most basic amenities like electricity, roads, a school, a dispensary nor were there any means of communication or transport. During the rainy season, the village remained virtually cut off from the rest of the state. In such an ambience of underdevelopment and ignorance, Acharya Mahapragya was born on 14 June 1920.

Though he was given the name of Indrachand during the naming ceremony, he was renamed as Nathmal since his nose was pierced and a ring inserted into it as part of the ritual to ensure his longevity. We wonder if the secret of Acharya Mahapragya’s long life lay in this occult practice or it was sheer coincidence. I am convinced beyond doubt that the secret of his longevity lay in the calmness of his mind which he had attained by prolonged meditative practices and austerities.

When the child Natthu was hardly two and half months old, his father died. What astonishes me is that a child born and brought up in such adverse circumstances, without any formal schooling, develops his pragya (intelligence or sagacity) to so great an extent that he is widely recognized as mahapragya (a man of great wisdom). His ascent to the pinnacle of ascetic radiance was gradual and phenomenal. He grew up under the shadow of his devout mother. In those days things were extremely cheap. The child Natthu’s family had all the basic resources to live comfortably, but the loss of his father at this tender age was in itself a great disaster. His mother evinced extraordinary qualities of patience and perseverance and brought her children up in such a way that they hardly felt the vacuum.

She was a pious woman who woke up early in the morning and began her routine with a samayika (a Jain spiritual practice which enjoins a practitioner to abstain from all sinful activities for a period of 48 minutes). During this period she recited aloud a hymn in praise of the 24 Tirthankaras composed by the most revered Jayacharya, the fourth Acharya of Terapanth Religious Order. She also sang songs eulogizing Acharya Bhikshu’s virtues and the true path shown by him. The child Natthu, who remained in his bed, listened to these devotional songs and imbibed the spirit enshrined in them.

As we look back we come to know that he was temperamental by nature. He used to fly into a rage when his wish was ignored or his demand remained unfulfilled. In an enraged state of mind, he would refuse to eat his meals, stop studying and speaking and catch hold of a pillar or a door and would stay clinging to it. He refused to listen to anyone. The members of his family tried all strategies to placate him but they were in vain. When we analyse this aspect of his childhood days today, what puzzles us most is how a child who was so stubbornly persistent in his ways could grow into a perpetually peaceful and serene sage. With the awakening of his discretion and development of knowledge, his anger was almost conquered.

I have also discovered a common trait in spiritual leaders and scientists of eminence. Many were not at all bright in their studies at school or college and were considered mediocre by their teachers. Both Albert Einstein and Thomas Alva Edison, who turned out to be the greatest scientists of their time, didn’t evince any mark of brilliance at school or college. Nevertheless they gave the world amazing and miraculous gifts. Einstein’s theory of relativity revolutionized our understanding of matter, space and time. What is enigmatic is that this genius of the 20th century didn’t show any sign of genius when he was a student. Edison, who was described by his teacher as ‘rotten, addled and spoilt’ and who could not study in a school or college and was taught only by his mother, later invented the electric bulb, the phonogram, the telephone transmitter, the megaphone, the carbon transmitter and an early cine camera. He had more than 1,000 patents to his credit and was instrumental in changing the world.

Similarly Mahatma Gandhi, who shot into prominence as an apostle of nonviolence and who won India her freedom with the weapon of ahimsa, was just a mediocre student at school and college. Another example is that of Jiddu Krishnamurti, one of the finest spiritual leaders of the 20th century, who emerged as a cross-cultural philosopher and propounded the ‘pathless path’ to enlightenment, couldn’t pass even his high school examination in England.

The child monk Natthu’s educator guru Acharya Tulsi also found him dull in the initial years, but the seed of his latent pragya soon sprouted and he developed it further gradually. By the time he was 28, he was considered one of the leading scholars of both Sanskrit and Prakrit not only among the Jains of India but among non-Jains as well. He was only six years younger than his educator-guru Acharya Tulsi. Both Acharya Tulsi and Muni Nathmal, his favourite disciple, made a formidable combination. While the teacher was a strict disciplinarian and a great spiritual administrator, the latter developed into a scholar, a profound researcher, a philosopher and above all a muni who was dedicated to his guru’s mission.

The combined wisdom of the two took the Terapanth Jain Religious Order to new heights. Whether it was the Anuvrat Movement, or Preksha Meditation, or Jivan Vigyan, he was always at the forefront. Acharya Tulsi was a dreamer and wanted to do something new. In Muni Nathmal he found an unrivalled interpreter, a great exponent of his mission and philosophy. The immediate purpose of the Anuvrat Movement was to rid society of the rampant corruption and immorality it was mired in. The communal violence that erupted after India had freed herself from the shackles of slavery took a heavy toll on innocent lives in the name of religion.

Acharya Tulsi was deeply concerned about the blatant abuse of religion and the cruelest form of violence committed in the wake of the partition of the country. He opined that a religion without morality was like a corpse devoid of a soul. The movement initially listed some small vows that enjoined people to abstain from violence and hatred and adhere to a code of ethics. Acharya Tulsi knew the Indian psyche well. An Indian may break laws but will abide by a vow scrupulously. The sanctity of a vow is deeply ingrained in his mind. Once he accepts a vow voluntarily, he will stick to it firmly, come what may. Thousands responded to his appeal by volunteering to pledge themselves to the anuvrat code of conduct. Thus the Anuvrat Movement became a unique movement that sought individual commitment to basic vows.

As the movement grew, it was felt that it should have a firm philosophical basis. Anuvrat, or a basic vow, is not just a vow but it is a philosophy of social excellence and harmony. No society can prosper if it is not regulated by discipline and an ethical code of conduct. Acharya Tulsi entrusted Muni Nathmal with the responsibility of conceptualizing the Anuvrat Movement by putting it on a foundation of social philosophy. Muni Nathmal had an in-depth knowledge of the ancient as well as the modern schools of thought. He had not only studied Karl Marx thoroughly but also gained an insight into modern science. He authored the much needed classic Anuvrat Darshan which was hailed as a philosophical commentary on anuvrat. To enable readers to know the maturity of his thinking, I quote a few lines from this book, which established anuvrat as a philosophy of life:

Karl Marx’s socialistic philosophy had laid down that an individual should merge himself completely with society and be one with it, but at the same time we are a witness to the fiascos of the communist regimes in Soviet Russia and elsewhere [and can see] that this objective hasn’t been fulfilled nor can it ever be a reality. In a socialistic pattern of society man’s selfishness has been limited by the use of force but it has not led to the drying up of the stream of selfishness from within. Communism may be considered an experiment in limiting selfishness but it doesn’t inspire a person to restrain his selfishness directly. It tries to limit the individual selfishness by the rule of law. Despite such laws, selfishness, more or less, continues unabated. If the law is not enforced strictly, the individual selfishness may even increase. It means that even in a communistic system man has preserved his ‘self-centredness’. In a democratic society the ‘self’ is protected. In it the grip of law is not so firm. Hence, everyone is free to nurture his ‘self-centredness’.

In any system of life, man’s self remains indivisible – he doesn’t renounce his inflated ‘ego’ or ‘self’. One’s boosted ego is the seed of all evils. For whom does a person indulge in violence or lie or steal or accumulate wealth or gratify his sexual urge? He does it only for himself. All material systems are unable to extirpate the ‘self’ because their basis is materialism. The materialistic system doesn’t purify ‘the self’, it only suppresses it. Hence selfishness remains calm seemingly or outwardly but continues to blaze or burn within. That is why man resorts to immorality on the sly. Spirituality alone is the truth which purifies the ‘self’. It means entering the inner world. Once a person attains that state he finds himself alone though he lives in society. He uses the external world but develops no attachment or selfishness towards it. The renunciation of these feelings of the self or attachment in itself is spirituality. It is also the premise or foundation on which ‘anuvrat’ stands.

He conceptualized ‘anuvrat’ as the philosophy of self-restraint. After the publication of Anuvrat Darshan, the movement attracted leading thinkers like Dr S. Radhakrishnan, Dada Dharmadhikari, Jayaprakash Narayan and Acharya Vinoba Bhave. The Anuvrat Movement, though based on small or atomic vows, emerged as a leading movement of the regeneration of values, self-awakening and self-transformation. It was Muni Nathmal (Acharya Mahapragya) who lent it a philosophical basis. What I want to emphasize here is that on account of Muni Nathmal’s deep insight, the Anuvrat Movement turned out to be a national movement of moral awakening, thoroughly non-sectarian in character. It became the social ethos of the nation. It attracted all sections of society irrespective of caste or creed and was also welcomed by the heads of other religious organizations. Muni Nathmal’s personality evolved phenomenally with the passage of time. He emerged as one of the leading thinkers of his time.

The greatest mark of his greatness lay in his perpetual calmness. Refulgence was writ large on his countenance. In Jainism as well as in other religious traditions, anger is considered a deadly sin. It is considered to be the main cause of the inflammation of conflicts. It burns the man who nourishes it and can burn a society or a country. While reading about the ancient rishis of our country, we note that though these rishis had attained phenomenal spiritual powers, they couldn’t conquer anger. Everyone feared Durvasa Rishi lest his anger be provoked by his carelessness or an error.

On the contrary, we have the example of Lord Mahavira, who was bitten by a venomous cobra but his calmness remained firm. He only showered compassion on the animal though it passed venom into his body. In the 20th century, Ramana Maharshi is known for having vanquished anger. I observed Acharya Mahapragya’s life minutely from the first day I met him in 1960 when I was a college student and to the last days of his life. I have no hesitation to say that his kashyas (passions) had been partially suppressed or maybe they were eliminated. Not to speak of anger or indignation, there wasn’t even a trace of displeasure on his countenance. His was an ever-smiling face.

The word ‘meditation’ had a special fascination for Muni Nathmal. In the Jain sacred texts, the words ‘dhyana’, ‘kayotsarga’, etc. appear in several places. Whenever a difficult situation confronted Lord Mahavira, he entered the kayotsarga posture. If literally translated, ‘kayotsarga’ means ‘casting off the body’. It is a trans-human state in which a yogi doesn’t feel the pangs of bodily torture. Muni Nathmal was perplexed as to how one could attain this transcendental state of mind and how he could experience the inner bliss of which the rishis of yore talked so often. His search for the subtle world began when he was just 20 years old and continued till he himself could attain the state of kayotsarga. In order to know the truth or reality of the world, he would remain immersed in the inner world for hours together. He always woke up at 4.00 a.m. and his day began with meditation.

After years of internal trips, he came out with a scientific system of meditation called Preksha Dhyana. No doubt Acharya Mahapragya had attained a supersensory state of mind, which is evident from the depth of wisdom we discover in his books. His guru was exhilarated at his disciple’s achievements. Acharya Mahapragya always believed in direct experience. He wasn’t a blind follower of religious dogmas. The readers of this book, as they go through its pages, will realize how he established new concepts and departed from the established ones. He authored more than a hundred books, many of which are bestsellers.

Only a person endowed with supersensory perception could edit the Jain agamas with new interpretations. What astonishes us is that under the supervision of his guru Acharya Tulsi, he could accomplish the task of editing the obscure Jain agamas in less than 40 years whereas the internationally acclaimed scholars who read the agamas (scriptures) edited by him opined that in the normal course it couldn’t have been possible even in 150 years. I pay my profound obeisance to the versatility of this great soul.

This book consists of three parts. Part One is Acharya Mahapragya’s biography. I have portrayed him as I saw him. It is based on my personal impressions. I have endeavoured to profile this extraordinary saint in a realistic way, and this is the first-ever comprehensive book in English on Acharya Mahapragya’s ascetic refulgence and his contributions to humanity. Part Two consists of some of the samples of his original writings that reflect his intuitive insights and transcendental wisdom. I have myself translated them into English. Part Three consists of his profiles by others. I have edited this section as an appendix to Part One. Only ten out of a large number of tributes I received from all over the world have been included; a separate book is planned for the rest of them.

The contributors included in this section are the late Acharya Tulsi, the educator-guru of Acharya Mahapragya; Acharya Shri Mahashraman, the successor to Acharya Mahapragya; Sadhvi Pramukha Kanakprabha, the head of the nuns of the Terapanth Religious Order; Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, founder of the Art of Living Foundation and an eminent spiritual leader; Swami Avdheshanand, Juna Peethadhishwar and one of the most revered Hindu spiritual leaders; Acharya Shiv Muni, head of Shraman Sangha, one of the biggest Jain religious orders among the Swetambar sect; Dr Gulab Kothari, editor-in-chief of the Rajasthan Patrika Group and an eminent Vedic scholar, writer and thinker; Mr T.K. Jain, chair, Anuvrat International Council for Peace, and former president of ANUVIBHA; and Prof. Glenn D. Paige, professor emeritus, University of Hawaii, and chair, governing council, Centre for Global Nonkilling, Honolulu. I owe a deep sense of gratitude to all of them.

In the end I seize the opportunity to express my deep gratitude to Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam for the Foreword, which is a source of inspiration to an anuvrat worker like me. My thanks are also due to Mr T.K. Jain for his support and encouragement, and to the officer bearers of ANUVIBHA for making available to me all the resources without which the birth of this book would not have been possible. I am sure the readers will find this book interesting since it is the glorious story of an ascetic’s refulgence, simplicity and, above all, his marvellous journey to wisdom.

Part I

A Glorious Story of Ascetic Refulgence

1

Early Years: His Place of Birth, Mother and Guru

Acharya Mahapragya was one of the most erudite and spiritually elevated saints of India. Very few religious heads possess the qualities that Mahapragyaji evinced in his life. There was nothing extraordinary about his appearance: a tall, frail body, broad forehead with minute lines, shining eyes, beaming visage and a white sheet of cloth covering his body. Those who came into contact with him, sat beside him for some time and had a dialogue with him on the problems that beset the world were amazed at his intuitive insights and wisdom, his quest for the self and his exploration into the mind beyond the mind.

Highly revered and adored for his philosophical insights and sagely wisdom, Acharya Mahapragya’s profound quest for truth attracted widespread attention from the enlightened sections of our society. For over five decades he remained incessantly engaged in discovering techniques and practices for transforming human consciousness. Built upon verifiable foundations of scientific knowledge, his innovative practices and techniques proved to be very popular with the general public. He would have completed 90 years had he lived till 14 June 2010 but he left for his heavenly abode on 9 May that year, one month and six days before entering the 91st year of his life. Out of this long lifespan he spent 79 years as an ascetic. He shone like a luminous star in our galaxy.

Place of Birth

Acharya Mahapragya was born on 14 June 1920 in a small village called Tamkor, now in the Jhunjhunu district of Rajasthan. It was a time when the people in the villages of India lived in a primitive environment. There were no roads, no trains and no cars. The village of Tamkor could be reached only by the two popular means of transport at the time, i.e., bullock carts and camels. No one there had ever seen a truck or a petrol pump. There were wells, but the water in them was salty. Drinking water was scarcely available. The problem of drinking water is even today acute in Rajasthan. In the western part of Rajasthan people still depend on water brought to them by trains or by camels. In some villages, people harvest water from specially constructed tanks. Tamkor was under-developed in the modern sense. It had no school either. Such was the village in which Acharya Mahapragya was born.

The soul is never born; its pure form appears only after it is able to destroy the karmic bondage that shrouds its real nature. The Jains believe that the soul keeps wandering in samsara (the world), unless it actively seeks salvation. During this period the soul takes numerous types of bodies as determined by karma. In Jainism it is believed that if a soul doesn’t follow the path of dharma in the course of its long journey into transmigration, it will be born as a human being only after 8.4 million births in different yonis (forms of existence).

Acharya Mahapragya was born into this transmigratory cycle. When he saw the light of day, he found himself in an open space at the rear of a building. His mother had gone there to give birth to him. His direct contact was established with the stars in the sky. The view of the infinite sky always filled his heart with joy. He also included ‘viewing the sky’ as a part of an experiment in Preksha Meditation.

His birth became an extraordinary event. He had two sisters but no brothers; his mother had given birth to two sons earlier, but they died soon after. In Indian society, in order to protect a child from evil spirits, some rituals are performed, particularly for a mother who has earlier lost children. This ritual followed as soon as he was born. His bua (father’s sister) went on the roof and began to shout – ‘A thief has come’. The members of the Chordia family to which he belonged heard the shouts. They soon came with sticks in their hands. They learned the truth only after they arrived at the place. He was named Nathmal because his nose was pierced and a ring was inserted in it. The other strategy adopted for his security included weighing him against lumps of salt. In the Indian system of living, people leave no stone unturned for the protection of the new-born child.

When the child Natthu (Nathmal) was barely two and a half months old, his father Tolaramji died. Acharya Mahapragya later wrote that he recalled having seen his father. He also had a distinct memory of seeing the dead body of his father lying on the pyre. Can a child of just two and a