Jain organisation gifts golden Gita by Muslim artisan to RSS chief

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat was gifted on Sunday with a copy of 'Bhagwad Gita', written in a special ink made from gold by a Muslim artisan, at a function of Jain seers in Surat. 

"We gifted a Golden Gita, made from a special golden ink, to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat to express our solidarity and feeling of brotherhood with Hindu religion and the RSS," said Jain seer Abhaydevsurishwarji Maharaj who handed over the copy to Bhagwat. According to its maker Yunus Shaikh, 346 grams of 24-carat gold was used in writing the 168-page Gita which has 745 shlokas.

"I have used herbs and 24-carat gold to write around 745 shlokas in 168 pages of the Golden Gita and worked on it for more than two months," said Shaikh, a resident of Surendranagar town. Shaikh said he had earlier written holy books of Jainism and Hinduism.

"I had also written many holy books of Jainism and Hinduism. I firmly believe that these religions give us a message of humanity," he said, adding that he did not skip his schedule of offering 'namaz' five times daily while working on Gita. Shaikh also claimed the paper used in Gita is unique and that it will not deteriorate for the next 500 years.

The Gita was handed over to Bhagwat at a function of Jain monks organised by 'Shubhmangalam' organisation. According to an organiser, the making of Gita cost around Rs 7.5 lakh.

In his speech, Bhagwat said Gita teaches 'karmyoga' and its message is not to run away from problems but to face them. "Gita has a message that we should not run away from problems. If we can solve 70 per cent of our problems then remaining 30 per cent (problems) will be solved by the Almighty," Bhagwat said while referring to the preaching of Lord Krishna to his disciple Arjuna as mentioned in epic 'Mahabharata'.