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ACHARYA MAHAPRAGYA'S SPECIAL MESSAGE
Achrya Shree Tulsi - A divinity with a Difference
Acharya Tulsi's personality is multifaceted and can be grasped only when all the facets are intensively studied. He was duly initiated into the Jain sect Terapanth by the eight Acharya of the sect, Kalugani. He became a monk at the young age of eleven and was rigorously apprenticed for a similar career to the great Acharya. As a result he became an erudite scholar. At the age of fifteen he started instructing younger monks and he was duly nominated by the revered Kalugani as his successor. He remained an Acharya in waiting only for three days and after the demise of his Guru he became the ninth Acharya of Terapanth. For the twenty year young monk to become Head of the Terapanth Order was nothing short of a miracle.
In the first eleven years as Acharya he imparted an intensive training to his disciples and made them fully competent for performing their future responsibilities effectively. The most memorable event of this period was the launching of the ANUVRAT Movement. Soon after the attainment of independence on 15th August 1947 the whole nation became agog with the newly earned status of a free nation, ignoring the many distortions and aberrations following the great event. It was at this juncture that Acharya Tulsi gave a clarion call "work for true independence". No freedom can be worth its name without an accompanying development of righteousness and non-violence. It has to transcend the narrow sectarian distorted vision of agitationist and has to awaken a deep awareness of moral and spiritual values.
The Acharya's clarion call echoed through out the nation and earned the respect of the saner sections of society. Its spirit was actualized and made operational in the practice of ANUVRAT.
In its quintessence ANUVRAT is a code of conduct aimed at cultivating moral values. Its relevance at that time, as now, was truly global in the background of the Second World War and the inhuman use of nuclear bombs for human annihilation. Its global character was responsible for eliciting favourable reaction from many people in the West, so much so that the Time Magazine wholeheartedly supported the ANUVRAT movement.
It was felt that without a resolute undertaking on the part of the people to rigorously adhere to the moral code of ANUVRAT the movement could not make any headway and it was with this background that Preksha Dyan (Perceptive Meditation) came to receive central attention. Further Acharya Tulsi thought that the ordinary people needed an instructional programme whereby they could live a better life in harmony with the principles of ANUVRAT. The outcome of this thinking was this propagation of Jivan Vigyan - (Science of Living) which took concrete shape as an important instrumentality of supplementing and complementing the existing educational system in the country.
Since at the heart of the whole movement was the basic concept of non-violence, training programmes for initiating people in practising non-violence were formulated. At the same time efforts were made through various seminars and symposia throughout the country to create a body of enlightened opinion in favour of ANUVRAT, PREKSHA DHYAN AND JIVAN VIGYAN which culminated in the production of dozens of books and articles in these areas of moral rejuvenation.
While all this was being done, Acharya Tulsi did not ignore the cultural and spiritual tradition of a long past and initiated an ambitious project of research in and editing of the Agams (Jain scriptures). It turned out to be monumental achievement, more so because it was all done without the aid of computers and other modern devices.
Acharya Tulsi had all those qualities which go into the making of emergent individuals, great personages and saints. It was his foresighted vision which was transformed into the establishment of scores of important institutions, the most noteworthy among which being Jain Vishva Bharati and a University in Ladnun the birth place of the Acharya. Further generations will remember with gratitude the solid contributions he made to make the world a happier and peaceful and non violent place to live in. Though the Acharya is no more with us physically, his message of universal brotherhood and international harmony will continue to inspire generations to come.
By Acharya Mahapragya
