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A DEDICATED SOUL
faiths used to call on him, hear his talks and invite him to address meetings. He solved the difficulties and problems confronting individuals and institutions. He was fearless and outspoken in his views. Behind this disciplined outlook, he was tender and soft to the distressed and unhappy. It did not matter to which strata of society his callers belonged. Direct contact helped him to know the pulse of the society. During his stay in Gujarat, he took active part in the Conference of Jaina Sadhus at Ahmedabad and gave an exemplary lead to establish unity and purity amongst the priestly class. He disliked theories, doctrines, dogmas and principles based on wrong notions and aptitudes. His views were revolutionary to a great extent. This created misunderstandings, which were based on narrow outlook. He never liked to slacken the rules and regulations, governing the austere life of a person, who has renounced this worldly life. He was against all unnecessary expenses either in religious or marriage ceremonies. He was against some of the deeprooted evils, which corroded the sinews of society. He had an abhorrence for the custom of marriage dowry.
THE SCHEME FOR THE MIDDLE CLASS
His last visit to Bombay proved memorable. During his journey on foot through villages, towns and cities of the Punjab, Madhya Bharat, Gujarat and Saurāștra, he was deeply moved by the hard-stricken lot of the middle and the lower strata of the society. He was preoccupied during the last months of his life in finding a solution of this unhappy state of affairs. The problem of plenty and poverty was uppermost in his mind. He urged generous minded persons to contribute large sums for the welfare and betterment of the aggrieved people. Response was not encouraging; but he was not disheartened. A target for collecting a token fund was fixed; and he decided to forgo milk, if the target was not reached within some days. This decision gingered up all activities. Men, women and children of all ranks and ages moved ceaselessly to collect funds. Acārya Vijayavallabhasûri helped the campaign by delivering speeches in different wards of the city. Sincere and unified efforts created a magic influence of unloosening the purse strings and the target amount was collected ahead of the scheduled hour! This has been a unique incident from which the posterity and pessimistic workers will derive a great lesson of zeal and will. It provided a pointer to the immense potentialities of this great stage.
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