Dedicated to dear BAPU

Finally the wait is over.

Yes; for the last few days I was wondering as to what topic I should write on. Finally I've found a socially relevant topic. What better topic than Mahatma Gandhi can be on 2nd Oct?

To begin with, I would say that right from childhood, I've always found Bapu as an inspiring character and a role model. In other words, I would say, he meant God to me. My opinions may be a little prejudiced, but I'll try my best to put some logical work here. This post will be very long. Read only if you dare, and if you do, please read the whole post.

A mascot of truth and nonviolence, preacher and follower of the same, gifted us two biggest weapons ever. Truth in a broader sense comes from honesty, and nonviolence comes from compassion. Both clubbed together, they refer to the respect towards the existence of various forms of life. Apart from his role in Indian independence movement, I would like to pay him the tribute by remembering the scavenging of mediocre, superstitious Indian society then (now also, as the vices like untouchability and religious narrowminded still prevail in rural India, and partly in urban India too).

This ambassador of human rights not only tossed the term harijan, but also toiled to bring all the Indians on the same platform, irrespective of the cast, colour, religion, region or gender. As a kid, I always had faith in truth, but I could never understand nonviolence. If someone slaps me on right side of the face, instead of giving it back to him (with interest), why should I turn the left side of the face towards him? Am I coward? Am I weak? No, turning the left side makes me brave and strong. (Implement this once, it does ask for courage) By doing so, you're belittling the confidence of the other person, you are probably opening the window for the person to give a second thought to his deeds, or giving him an extra opportunity to regret over his unjustifiable actions. Everyone has a sensitive human being inside. For some, he is wide awake, for some, he is deep asleep. By turning left side of your face, you are trying to ring an alarm, which may awake the asleep sensitivity in the violent's heart, and set higher standards of nonviolence, self respect and satisfaction for you.

We all are impatient to some extent, and when we don't get the desired reaction of our violent action, we tend to repeat it once or twice, to boost the evil ego in ourselves, but when we see our actions too tiny to provoke any reactions, it hampers our confidence and superficial belief in violence. It makes us rethink; and those of us, who really rethink, get to know the power of nonviolence. This attainuation of self education is called enlightenment by the likes of Buddha, Mahavir and Osho. (The controversies about Osho are beyond the scope of this blog, it may come in another separtate blog.)

So this was all about truth and nonviolence. Now let us look into Mahatma Gandhi's personal and political life.

Hats off. That's all that comes to my mind.

Someone coming from a comparatively rich family of those times, accepted the minimal of dressing, the minimal of food and sacrificed personal life completely for the sake of national independence and harmony. Harilal Gandhi (Bapu's eldest son) felt that his father shirked from his duties. The poor chap could not understand the concept of वसुधैव कुटुंबकम (वसुधा एव कुटुंबकम meaning the world itself is a family). To some extent he could be right, as a busy national activist may not have been able to spend enough time for the family, and the children could have suffered from frequent ups and downs in the parents' lives; but you cannot have both hands full. One has to choose between a good personal life for the farewell of one's family or a public life for the farewell of the whole human race including one's family without any special preferences. Once again the latter may not be accepted by one's family, as happened in case of Harilal Gandhi. So, one may end up in having a conflict with a family member. The reason could be, improper or insufficient intellectual or philosophical interaction between a father and a son. Accusation lies on both, majorly on father for failing to imbibe necessary qualities in the son, but when the whole country calls him Bapu (father), the son could have had his mind prejudiced and adament.

As a child Mohandas was an average boy, in terms of studies as well as morals. He was afraid of darkness, a little believer in superstitions, and to prove the proverb A MAN IS KNOWN BY THE COMPANY HE KEEPS, he did something that was not acceptable in the conservative, god fearing society of Porbandar. He tasted alcohol, meat and stole a golden ornament from his own house.

I am not trying to criticize the father of the nation. Above, I have made an attempt to show that the qualities which are epitomized by Mahatma Gandhi were not dominant in his childhood nature, they were somewhere deep down in his mind, and probably god fear borne and lacking the basis of philosophy and logic. A bit off the topic, but I would ask, if being an average child he can achieve such heights, why can't we? Ponder over this. Probably we never stole anything from home, never consumed alcohol or meat, or never even thought of doing so; then what distinguishes thousands of Indians from Mahatma Gandhi???

It is the courage.

The courage to practise what you believe in. The courage to abstain from temporary temptations refraining one from conquering the ultimate aim. He was a firm believer of truth and non violence, and he never refrained from practising them anywhere. We all have different different priorities in life, his priority was his principles, with which no compromise was allowed to be made, he compromised with many aspects of one's social life, but never compromised with the ethics. A dedication towards something comes only when you are fully convinced of it. Doublemindedness about prioritization never pays. So, in order to make a mark in something, in order to make your own identity, you need to be convinced and aware of your activities.

There's one more issue, I want to address. I am seeing so many people cursing Bapu these days. I have nothing to say but a polite request. Clean up your mind completely, make it a blank book and go through My experiments with truth. If even after reading this book with a mind without any complexes, if you feel your opinions unchanged, I would love to have a discussion here, but if you can't clean up your prejudices, and keep on currsing the father of the nation, it would be like throwing sand towards the sun. Understand friends, sand is not going to cover up the sun, it will just stop the sunlight from reaching to you only. The benefits will go to one and all, provided you are ready for reception. One more suggestion to anti Gandhi people, if you feel like abusing him, why don't you let your actions speak instead of your words? Why don't you do something commendable and put your opinion forward then? It will contain more mass.