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{{EngvarB|date=September 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2014}}
{{Infobox religious biography
| honorific-prefix =
| religion = [[Jainism]]
| sect = [[Digamber]]
| birth_date = {{birth date|1890|4|21|df=y}}
| birth_place = Umrala, [[Bhavnagar State]], [[British India]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1980|11|28|1890|4|21}}
| death_place = [[Mumbai]], [[Maharashtra]]
| mother = Ujamba
| father = Motichand Bhai
| works = Jain scholar, philosopher and spiritual leader
}}
{{Jainism}}
'''Kanji Swami''' (1890–1980) was a teacher of [[Jainism]].<ref name="hpw" /><ref name="rj" /> He was deeply influenced by the ''[[Samayasāra]]'' of [[Kundakunda]] in 1932. He 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]] of [[Kathiawar]]" by the people who were influenced by his religious teachings and philosophy.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mangalayatan.com/gurudevshri.html |title=Archived copy |access-date=2015-11-19 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151119223839/http://www.mangalayatan.com/gurudevshri.html |archive-date=19 November 2015 }}</ref>

==Biography==
===Early years===
Kanji Swami was born in Umrala, a small village in the [[Kathiawar]] region of [[Gujarat]], in 1890 to a [[Sthanakvasi]] family.{{sfn|Dundas|2002|p=255}} 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.<ref name="hpw" /><ref name="phil" />

===Renunciation and later life===
Kanji Swami became a [[Sthanakvasi|Sthānakavāsī]] [[Jain monasticism|monastic]] in 1913 under Hirachanda.{{sfn|Dundas|2002|p=255}} 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.{{sfn|Dundas|2002|p=256}} Being a believer in self effort for achieving emancipation, he quickly became a learned and famous monk and, backed by his seventeen renditions of the [[Bhagavati Sutra]]. He was known as "[[Koh-i-Noor]] of [[Kathiawar]]" (the gem of the Kathiawad region).{{sfn|Dundas|2002|p=256}}

During 1921, he read [[Kundakunda]]'s ''[[Samayasāra]]'', which influenced him greatly. He also studied writings of [[Pandit Todarmal]] and [[Shrimad Rajchandra]]. Other influences were [[Amritchandra]] and [[Banarasidas]]. 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 to [[Digambara]] texts.<ref name="hpw" /><ref name="phil" />{{sfn|Dundas|2002|p=256}}

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 Digambara [[Śrāvaka|lay scholar]] at [[Songadh (Saurashtra)|Songadh]] in [[Gujarat]] in 1934.{{sfn|Dundas|2002|p=256}} His lectures were recorded on tapes and have been published. His emphasis was on ''Nishcaya Naya'', the higher level of truth, over ''Vyavahara Naya'', ordinary life.<ref name="hpw"/><ref name="phil" /> Kanji Swami died on 28 November 1980 at [[Mumbai]].<ref name="hpw" />

==Philosophy==
Kanji Panth is a school of [[Jain schools and branches#Others|Digambara Jainism]] that posits that the discriminative knowledge between the "true pure knowledge self" and "the other" is the true and the only procedure of self-realization and the path of [[Moksha (Jainism)|liberation]] where definitions of "true pure knowledge self" and "the other" is as originally practiced and described in [[Samaysara]] (Essence of Self), [[Pravachanasara]] (Essence of Doctrine) and [[Pancastikayasara]] (The five cosmic constituents) and their commentaries.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.philtar.ac.uk/encyclopedia/jainism/index.html|title=Jainism|website=Philtar.ac.uk|access-date=22 December 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.philtar.ac.uk/encyclopedia/jainism/kanji.html|title=Kanji Svami Panth|website=Philtar.ac.uk|access-date=22 December 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.isjs.in/sites/all/themes/school/images/jain_in_india_a_d_Abroad.pdf|title=Kanji Svami Panth|page=24}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cs.colostate.edu/~malaiya/kanji.html|title= Kanji Swami Panth}}</ref> They also quote [[Amritchandra]] for their support: "In this world, only those are liberated who have understood the 'art of discriminative knowledge'; In this world, only those are in bondage who do not know the 'art of discriminative knowledge'".{{cn|date=May 2020}}

The Digambara Jain scholar Kundakunda, in his ''Pravacanasara'' 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".{{sfn|Johnson|1995|pp=137–143}}{{Citation not found}} This meditative focus contrasts with the [[anatta]] focus of Buddhism, and the [[Atman (Hinduism)|atman]] focus in various [[vedanta]] schools of Hinduism such as the [[advaita]] and [[vishistadvaita]] schools.{{sfn|Bronkhorst|1993| pp=74, 102, Part I: 1–3, 10–11, 24, Part II: 20–28}}{{Citation not found}}{{sfn|Mahony|1997|pp= 171-177, 222}}{{Citation not found}} A special stress is placed on "pure real perspective" (''Nishchay Naya''), [[predeterminism]], compatibility of [[predeterminism]] and [[free will]], and "knowledge of self". The scripture of [[Samayasara]] is given the highest status as this book describes path to liberation from "pure real perspective" in contrast to [[Tattvartha Sutra]] that describes the same subject matter and has approximately same chapters, but from a different point of view. [[Gatha]] 1, Gatha 8, Gatha 11, Gatha 13, Gatha 38, Gatha 73, Gatha 320 and Gatha 412 of [[Samayasara]] and Gatha 80, Gatha 114 and Gatha 172 of [[Pravachanasara]] are considered particularly important because they include techniques of realizing pure self. Commentaries by [[Amritchandra]] on Samaysaara and Pravachansara is also given utmost importance and is considered an integral part of the book. They often site this statement from [[Albert Einstein]] in support of their philosophy: "Events do not happen. They already exist and are seen on the Time Machine.".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://kanjiswami.org/uploads/media/PDF/012%20Extra%20HI/Old/Varsh-36/GU_1980_05.pdf|title=Reference to Predetermination|page=27}}</ref> Kanji Panth philosophy is similar to that of the Digambara Terapanth denomination in the lineage of [[Pandit Todarmal]], [[Banarasidas]], Rajmal, Deepchand Kasliwal and Shitalprasad which was largely extinct when Kanji Swami arrived on the scene.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://library.jain.org/4.books/Articles/TodarMalSmarakVisangatiyan.pdf|page=13|title=extinction of terapanthi digambar in 1950-60}}</ref>

There is no centralized management of temples. All Temples are managed independently by a local board of trustees. Apart from numerous temples in India,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.atmadharma.com/contacts.html|title=Jain Literature and Jain Logic: World-Wide Contacts|website=Atmadharma.com|access-date=22 December 2017}}</ref> temples exist in [[Brampton Jain Temple|Brampton]], Canada;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://jaintemplecanada.com/index1.html|title=Bhagwan 1008 Adinatha Swamy Jain Temple|website=Jaintemplecanada.com|access-date=22 December 2017}}</ref> [[Harrow, London]], ;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sdja.co.uk|title=Shree Digamber Jain Association|website=Sdja.co.uk|access-date=22 December 2017}}</ref> and [[Mombasa]], Kenya.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jain24.com/jain-temples/mombasa-kenya/|title=Kanji Svami Digambar Jain Temple in Mombasa}}</ref>

In an interview in 1977, he denied being hostile to the traditional [[Jain 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.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Dundas|first1=Paul|title=The Jains|date=1992|publisher=Routledge|location=London|isbn=0415051835|pages=228–29}}</ref> His philosophy is criticised by [[Chandrashekhar Vijay]] in his book, ''Kanjibhai Matpratikar''.

==Legacy==
The ''Digambara Jaina Svādhyāya Mandira'' was built in 1937. It houses the text ''Samayasāra'' in the main temple and the words of Kundakunda's five main treatises have been engraved on its walls. A temple dedicated to Jain [[Tirthankara]] [[Simandhara]] was consecrated in 1941. Kanji Swami travelled throughout India where he gave discourses and consecrated many temples. Songadh is a major centre.<ref name="phil" /> Kanji Swami has many followers in the Jain diaspora.<ref name="hpw" /> They generally regard themselves simply as Digambara Jains, more popularly known as ''Mumukshu'', following the mystical tradition of Kundakunda and Pandit Todarmal.<ref name="phil" />

==See also==
* [[Taran Panth]]

==References==
===Citations===
{{Reflist|refs=
<ref name="hpw">{{cite book | title=Holy People of the World: A Cross-Cultural Encyclopedia | publisher=ABC-CLIO | author=Jestice, Phyllis G. | year=2004 | pages=464 | isbn=9781576073551 | volume=1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H5cQH17-HnMC&pg=PR43}}</ref>
<ref name="rj">{{cite book | title=The Kanji Swami Panth, The universe as audience: metaphor and community among the Jains of North India | publisher=Indian Institute of Advanced Study | author=Jain, Ravindra K. | year=1999 | isbn=8185952647}}</ref>
<ref name="phil">{{cite web | url=http://www.philtar.ac.uk/encyclopedia/jainism/kanji.html | title=Kanji swami Panth | publisher=Division of Religion and philosophy | work=University of Cumbria | access-date=21 February 2013 | author=Dundas | pages=231–2}}</ref>
}}

===Sources===
* {{citation |last=Dundas |first=Paul |title=The Jains |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jdjNkZoGFCgC |year=2002 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-26605-5 }}

{{Jain Gurus}}
{{Jainism Topics}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Swami, Kanji}}
[[Category:1889 births]]
[[Category:1980 deaths]]
[[Category:Place of birth missing]]
[[Category:Indian academics]]
[[Category:Indian Jain religious leaders]]
[[Category:Gujarati people]]
[[Category:Jain reformers]]
[[Category:Scholars of Jainism]]

Kanji Swami - Revision history

imported>Marcocapelle at 13:08, 30 July 2021