Kanji Swami | |
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| Personal life | |
| Born | (1890-04-21)21 April 1890 Umrala,Bhavnagar State,British India |
| Died | 28 November 1980(1980-11-28) (aged 90) |
| Parents |
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| Notable work(s) | Jain scholar, philosopher and spiritual leader |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Jainism |
| Sect | Digambar |
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Kanji Swami (1890–1980) was a teacher ofJainism[1][2] who founded theKanji Swami Pantha.[3] While ordained in theSthānakavāsī monastic order of the Shvetambaras, he was deeply influenced by theSamayasāra, attributed toKundakunda but probably written in stages by multiple authors between 550 and 600 CE to 950-1150 CE,[4] and byShrimad Rajchandra, and lectured on these teachings for 45 years to comprehensively elaborate on the philosophy described by Kundakunda and others. He was given the title of "Koh-i-Noor ofKathiawar" by the people who were influenced by his religious teachings and philosophy.[5]
Kanji Swami was born in Umrala, a small village in theKathiawar region ofGujarat, in 1890 to aSthanakvasi family.[6] Although an able pupil in school, he always had an intuition that the worldly teachings was not something that he was looking out for. His mother died when he was thirteen and he lost his father at the age of seventeen. After this, he started looking after his father's shop. He used the frequent periods of lull in the shop in reading various books on religion and spirituality. Turning down the proposals of marriage, he confided in his brother that he wanted to remain celibate and take renunciation.[1][3]
Kanji Swami became aSthānakavāsīmonastic in 1913 under Hirachanda.[6] During the ceremony, while riding on an elephant, he inauspiciously tore his robe, which was later believed to be an ill omen for his monastic career.[7] Being a believer in self effort for achieving emancipation, he quickly became a learned and famous monk and, backed by his seventeen renditions of theBhagavati Sutra. He was known as "Koh-i-Noor ofKathiawar" (the gem of the Kathiawad region).[7]
During 1921, he readKundakunda'sSamayasāra, which influenced him greatly. He also studied writings ofPandit Todarmal andShrimad Rajchandra. Other influences wereAmritchandra andBanarasidas. During his discourses, he began to incorporate the ideas picked from these studies and began to lead a kind of double life, nominally a Sthānakavāsī monastic but referring toDigambara texts.[1][3][7]
His assertions that "vows, giving and fasting were ultimately worthless if performed without any understanding of the soul" did not endear him to the Sthānakavāsī community. He left Sthānakavāsī monastic life and proclaimed himself a celibate Digambaralay scholar atSongadh inGujarat in 1934.[7]
Kanji Swami elaborated on the Kundakunda-narrative, first attested by Jayasena (ca. 1150–1200[8]), by claiming that, in a previous life, he was present when Kundakunda visited Mahavideha receiving the teachings from Jina Simandhara which gave Kundakunda insight into the true nature of the soul. This presence was suggested to him by Campabahen Mataji, a female disciple, who said that she also had been present then.[9] His lectures were recorded on tapes and have been published. His emphasis was onNishcaya Naya, the higher level of truth, overVyavahara Naya, ordinary life.[1][3]
Kanji Swami died on 28 November 1980 atMumbai.[1]
Kanji incorporated Digambara mystical teachings[1][3][7] inspired byKundakunda (8th c. CE,[10][11]) andShrimad Rajchandra (1867–1901).[3]
In thePravacanasara Kundakunda states that a Jain mendicant should meditate on "I, the pure self". Anyone who considers his body or possessions as "I am this, this is mine" is on the wrong road, while one who meditates, thinking the antithesis and "I am not others, they are not mine, I am one knowledge" is on the right road to meditating on the "soul, the pure self".[12]
Kanji's teachings posit that the discriminative knowledge between the "true pure knowledge self" and "the other" (body, mind, and the material world) is the true and the only procedure of self-realization and the path ofliberation. According to Kanji Swami, the practice of this discriminative knowledge of "true pure knowledge self" and "the other" is as originally practiced and described in works attributed to Kundakunda, namelySamaysara (Essence of Self),Pravachanasara (Essence of Doctrine), andPancastikayasara (The five cosmic constituents) and their commentaries.[3][13][14][a]
In an interview in 1977, Kanji denied being hostile to the traditionalJain monasticism, and regarded monastics as personifying the fundamental principles of Jainism. However, he also pointed out that taking up formal initiation and behavioural practices, like the abandonment of clothes of Digambara monks, and of other possessions, could not make an individual a true monastic unless he had abandoned internal possessions as well.[15]
Kanji Panth is alay movement within Jainism,[3] nominally belonging to theŚvetāmbara[9] but inspired by the Digambara scholarKundakunda (8th c. CE) andShrimad Rajchandra (1867–1901), though "lacking a place in any Digambara ascetic lineage descending from Kundakunda."[3]
Kanji Swami has many followers in the Jain diaspora.[1] They generally regard themselves simply as Digambara Jains, more popularly known asMumukshu, following the mystical tradition of Kundakunda and Pandit Todarmal.[3] According to Neerah Jain, the Kanji Path has created a sharp division within Jainism in northern and central India, as its emphasis onniścayanaya or the ‘ultimate perspective’ violates the Anekantaveda, the principle that truth has many sides.[16] Bauer notes that "[in] recent years there has been a convergence of the Kanji Swami Panth and the Shrimad Rajcandra movement, part of trend toward a more eucumenical and less sectarian Jainism among educated, mobile Jains living overseas."[17]
TheDigambara Jaina Svādhyāya Mandira was built in 1937. It houses the textSamayasāra in the main temple and the words of Kundakunda's five main treatises have been engraved on its walls. A temple dedicated to JainTirthankaraSimandhara was consecrated in 1941. Kanji Swami travelled throughout India where he gave discourses and consecrated many temples. Songadh is a major centre.[3]
There is no centralized management of temples. All Temples are managed independently by a local board of trustees. Apart from numerous temples in India,[18] temples exist inBrampton, Canada;[19]Harrow, London, ;[20] andMombasa, Kenya.[21]
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