COMPASSION DEVOTION
Engaged Jainnism Theand LifeTeachings and Teachings of Acharya Sushil1 Kumar Engaged Jainism: The :Life of Acharya Sushil Kumar
1
By Cogen Bohanec, MA, PhD
By Cogen Bohanec, MA, PhD
Cogen Bohanec is an Assistant Professor in Sanskrit and Jain Studies at Arihanta Institute where he teaches Sanskrit language, and Jain philosophy and literature. He is a Visiting Assistant Professor at Claremont School of Theology (CST), and he has taught numerous classes on South Asian Religions and Sanskrit at the Graduate Theological Union (GTU) in Berkeley. Dr. Bohanec specializes in comparative dharma traditions, philosophy of religion, and Sanskrit language and literature, and has numerous publications in those areas. He has a PhD in “Historical and Cultural Studies of Religion” with an emphasis in Hindu Studies from GTU, and he also holds an MA in Buddhist Studies from the Institute of Buddhist Studies at GTU.
Ācārya Suśīl Kumār (aka Sushil Kumar, 1926-1994), who is affectionately referred to as “Gurujī” by his followers, was a mendicant leader of the Jain Śvetāmbara Sthānakavāsī tradition. Apart from being perhaps one of the most revered Jain monks of the twentieth century, he is also notable for having traveled globally to teach the social and spiritual messages of the Jain tradition while forming alliances with many Jain and non-Jain religious leaders, as well as for working with many non-religious leaders to address the world’s pressing social issues.
ascetic under the guidance of Muni Chotelāl, learning the various languages of Jain texts (e.g. Prakrit and Sanskrit) and displaying an amazing propensity to memorize many of the major Jain scriptures. At this young age Gurujī began a practice that would become a signature of his teachings, namely the recitation of, and contemplation upon, the Namokāra Mahāmantra. As he learned to develop and awaken the powers of the mantra, he eventually came to develop it into the Arhum (or Arhaṃ) Yoga system of meditation, which is based on ancient Jain teachings and practices, believed to encompass all Jain teachings. Arhum Yoga is believed to eventually give the practitioner a direct experience (pratyakṣa) of reality beyond our mundane perceptions based on inaccurate mental constructions. He would later write that, “Arhaṃ yoga is a combination of Jñāna Yoga and Haṭha Yoga” where, “In Haṭha Yoga first you have to control your Prāṇa. By Prāṇa you control your mind. When by Prāṇa you are controlling your senses, your mind, your intellect, your consciousness. That is Haṭha Yoga. Haṭha Yogi finds Reality through: devotion; practice; control; concentration; service.” 2
Gurujī, whose birth name was Sardar Singh, was born into a Hindu brahmin family on June 15, 1926, in the village of Shikhopur (aka Sushil Garh, Haryana, India). Even at the young age of seven he was so spiritually inclined that he left home and traveled to Jagraon (Punjab) to meet with and receive instruction from his Guru, a Jain monk by the name of Muni Chotelāl (aka Chhote Lal). Before he was even eight years of age, he had already began living as an
Also at a very young age, Sardar Singh had begun to experience visions of a deceased monk, Muni Roop Chand, during his meditations in Jagraon (Punjab). During these visions Muni Roop Chand began to instruct him on Jain philosophy, and requested that he become a full renunciate, initiated as a monk. The young Sardar Singh began to consider Roop Chand Muni as his guru, and later described one conversation with Muni Roop Chand in his meditative vision as follows:
Some of the sources quoted in this article contain typos, inconsistent editorial decisions, and other errors, but I have quoted them directly as they appear in the sources. 2 Ācārya Suśīl Kumār, 1995. Appāṇaṃ Vosirāmī. Canada: Acharya Sushil Publications Trust. 27, 29. 1
13
