Article: Rājacandra

Lay men listen to monks
Image by British Library © CC0 1.0 (Creative Commons Public Domain)

From an early age Rājacandra was attracted to spiritual considerations, especially to the notion of seeking the self – ātman – and living a life of renunciation – vairāgya.

Rājacandra spent a large part of his childhood talking with monks and lay men about the religious aspects of life. Most residents in Vavania were merchants – vaṇik – among whom were some Jains. Rājacandra often visited both the local vaiṣṇavaashram and the Jain upāśraya, making little distinction between them at the beginning. Then his contacts with the Jain world became more frequent. Monks advised him to read important texts such as the Pratikramaṇa-sūtra. In particular, the scriptures’ emphasis on humility and respect for all living beings touched the heart of the thoughtful young man.

The child Rājacandra demonstrated rare intelligence and unusual powers of concentration. His memory was phenomenal – a lesson read was a lesson learned by heart. He learned mathematics very easily and started writing poems at an early age. He could do many things at the same time, such as discussing various subjects, playing different games, reciting many texts. The boy could not only do eight things at once – aṣṭāvadhānī – which is a pandit quality, but it is said that he could do a hundred things at once – śatāvadhānī. Articles report how he displayed his powers of memorisation and concentration to an audience in Mumbai. However, Rājacandra stopped these public performances, which did not suit his spiritual leanings.

Like the son of any merchant at that time, an important part of Rājacandra’s childhood was dedicated to learning about his father’s business.

Mohandas Gandhi
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The young lawyer Mohandas Gandhi had just come back to India from London and was on his way to South Africa. Although both Rājacandra and Gandhi had been born in Gujarat, they met in Mumbai, in Maharashtra.

Rājacandra greatly influenced Gandhi throughout his life. His teachings directly inspired the concept of non-violence – ahiṃsā – which Gandhi used so effectively during the fight for Indian independence. ‘In my moments of spiritual crisis, he was my refuge’ wrote Gandhi about his friend.

Gandhi called an entire chapter of his autobiography ‘Raichand-bhai’ – meaning ‘Raichand Brother’ – and devoted it to describing his first meeting with Rājacandra:

The thing that did cast its spell over me I came to know afterwards. This was his wide knowledge of the scriptures, his spotless character, and his burning passion for self-realisation. I saw later that this last was the only thing for which he lived

Śrīmad Rājacandra
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In the later part of his life, Rājacandra preferred to stay away from Mumbai, living with his disciples and friends in Gujarat. He spent a year in Idar in Jain circles, teaching during meetings, and testing his intellectual and spiritual faculties with seven veteran monks.

When Rājacandra was 34, some monks invited him to take the vows of an ascetic but, though he had attained high levels of spirituality, he decided not to. He preferred to be a lay man who had attained samādhi within the constraints of secular life, acting as an example to the lay community.

By 1900 his health was deteriorating. When he was staying in Dharampur, Gujarat, his strength ebbed away as he became extremely thin and weak. On 9 April 1901, Rājacandra passed away in Rajkot, Gujarat, surrounded by family, friends and close disciples.

Rājacandra writes the Ātmasiddhi
Image by Shrimad Rajchandra Mission © Shrimad Rajchandra Mission

The main treatise Rājacandra composed at the end of his life is the Ātma-siddhi – Realisation of the Self. Again, the language used is simple Gujarati that Hindi-speakers can read easily. The text invites the voluntary seeker of self-realisation to know the true nature – svarūpa – of the Self, with the help of a true master – sad-guru.

Rājacandra describes the devout person attached to his ritual practices in an empty display of ceremony, in opposition to the true seeker of the Self. Then there are six discourses, following the traditional Indian literary model where a master refutes a disciple’s objections:

1. the Self does exist
2. the Self is eternal
3. the Self is the agent of its own karmic production
4. the Self is the enjoyer of that production
5. Liberationliberation does exist
6. true religion is the instrument of liberation.

At the end of the arguments, the disciple thanks the master for having achieved this state of awakened spirituality and sings his enthusiasm for having reached this state himself.

The Ātma-siddhi is a very popular text and has inspired singers such as Shefaliben Shah, who has composed a musical version of the text like an Indian devotional song. The first English translation of many was by J. L. Jaini in 1923. Another famous translation was published by Brahmacārī Govardhandās in 1957.