Mahatma for the Mankind

De di hame aazadi bina kharag bina dhal…
Sabarmati ke sant toone kar diya kamal !!!

You got us freedom without cane without sword !!
Hail you Oh! Saint of Sabarmati ... What a magical spell you bound !!!

These mesmerizing thoughts of Poet Pradeep for Mahatma… were simple but were straight from the heart.
In a way epitomizes the Man Mahatma was, for he was the simplest among all the simple, honest among all the honest, humblest among the humble and yet rose to become the greatest of the all the greats!!!!

Gandhi never held an office of profit and never served as President, Governor, Prime minister or even as a member of Parliament (he only held for a year the post of President of congress in his whole life), If wished he could have held on any post with ease, but he preferred to rule his people by his life and by his noble spirit.

Gandhi was not well built, he was not even a great orator … but how did he then become the Bapu for Masses???

Because he was the voice of the voiceless… he was the hope for the hopeless … for he chose to be connected to the people to the core and be a part of their agony and life.

The above is clearly depicted in Tagore’s words on Mahatma “He who stood @ the cottage door of the destitute million, clad as one of themselves & talking them in their own language”

His ideas when analyzed stem from the basics of life. He believed in overcoming his enemies not with muscular strength, but with his spiritual supremacy … for he knew muscular strength weakens with time, while the spiritual strength grows!!!

A British Politician in 1964 at the death of Nehru remarked “It is sometimes said that Britain liberated India, Infact the reverse is the truth. Gandhi and Nehru liberated us by winning their freedom, they freed us from the ignorance and prejudice that lay behind the myth of Britain’s imperial destiny”

Alfred Einstein in 1934 remarked “Generations to come will scarce believe that such a man as this walked the earth in flesh and blood” and it seems has come true. Today’s world hardly is able to connect itself to Gandhian era or his values…

Yes Gandhi denounced westernization, he even denounced Industrialization. Even his stern supporters like Nehru had reservations on his above ideas. Gandhi believed the more we move towards industrialization and westernization … the more we become dependent on the materialistic needs of life, which corrupt one’s mind and soul irreparably. He believed India’s culture and society was so well built and rich, that it could it sustain itself as it had sustained for thousands of years and would continue to grow and eventually shall become an example to the world peace and unity.

Mind you Gandhi lived in an era of ruthless dictators like Hitler, Stalin, Churchill etc and was only leader of world status who fought the war of oppression with the sword of non – violence.

World leaders for many generations took Gandhi as their idol and his principles as guiding path in their own struggles like Martin Luther King Jr and Nelson Mandela.

Martin Luther King remarked “In a real sense, Mahatma Gandhi embodied in his life certain universal principles that are inherent in the moral structure of the universe, and these principles are as inescapable as the law of gravitation”

It can be debated that his values for today’s modern world are of little importance or relevance … but his one value … one strength which can be imbibed and is immortal - is to sustain the strength of your inner truth… Be truthful to yourself … to your friends… to your families …. to your country … and to the entire mankind. That will be the biggest tribute that one can give to this Mahatma of Mankind.

Tributes,
Karthik