A Summary of the Acharya – Gandhiji Conversation:
A=Acharya, G=Gandhi
A: “I appreciate your pointing out about a good thing to mankind. Energy is essential for leading a righteous life. Danger only will result by leading a life based on physical entities bereft of religion.”
G: “Yes, I do understand”.
A: “Our Bharat is one of the very ancient countries of the world. Our country is endowed with old, excellent learning and with an ancient culture. In the past, people followed the social dictum of Varnashrama Dharma, they were engaged in the activities assigned to them, and thereby protected their dharma and enjoyed happiness in the world and in the next”.
G: “Modern society is different from the society of the past. Will it be possible to go along with the ancient ideals of social life?”
A: “ The quality of cold water is different from the quality of hot water. If both get mixed they will loose their natural characteristics and become useless. Society of course will not be uniform. For instance take a mango tree. It has several branches. In these branches flowers blossom and mangoes emerge at different times. But the tree is
only one. Society is, like the tree, only one. Even as the different branches and the trunk combine into tree, all castes together form society. Nowadays, politicians enter the fields of religion and society and try to make in roads into them and to change them. And this had weakened our religion, and altogether changed the smooth running of the world”.
G: “I concur with the opinion of your Holiness”.
A: “What is the necessity for the removal of untouchability?”
G: “Among the people of Bharatadesa, besides Hindus, there are Muslims, Christians, and also some other religionists. Hence it seems to me that untouchability needs to be removed, what does your Holiness think about entry of the untouchables into temples”?
A: “Temples are sacred places. They are intended for those who believe that God is enshrined in the Sanctum sanctorum of the temple. The Agamas extol the sacred nature of the temples. Those who do not have faith in the Agama Shastras and those who do not accept the principles enunciated by the Agamas in connection with the purity and sanctity of the temple are decidedly unfit for entering our temples”.
(Later after a talk between the two for more than twenty minutes over other problems, almost towards the end, the conversation turned on to the murder of Swami Sraddhananda).
A: ‘I suppose, you know about how Swami Sradddhananda has been killed by a Muslim recently”.
G: “Yes. In the present condition of our land how can we attain unity amidst Hindus and Muslims”.
A: “In case a Hindu kills you or me in the future, can we hate the entire Hindu community on that count?”
(In the letter of Sri Swaminathan published in the Statesman(1985), he has hinted that Rajaji expressed to his friends, the prophetic remark of His Holiness immediately after the assassination of the Mahatma).
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