We can afford to forget Gandhi but not his message!!!

We can afford to forget Gandhi but not his message!!!

 When I picked the 2^nd Oct Times Of India, Chennai Edition , I was expecting the front page to have something about Gandhi Jayanti, but there was nothing on the first page. Only the second and the third page had some ads from a Government Department and a bank, to my surprise the Editorial page had no article about Gandhiji, the father of the nation was just confined to the sacred space. Initially I was a bit dazed at the overlook of Gandhi on his Jayanti.

I just waited that may be some of my friends would send an SMS saying Happy Gandhi Jayanti, but the whole day passed ,finally I sent some messages but none replied. Finally I thought my facebook and orkut accounts will have something about him...but that was just a thought, there was not a single message.  There was nothing much on the TV channels either, only Sony PIX was showing ‘Gandhi’, and I watched that.

It seems talking about Gandhi is out of fashion now. And it is in harmony with our society, when people are forgetting their biological father, how can they be expected to remember the symbolic father? It now needs a Munna Bhai to get people reminded of the epitome of non-violence, M K Gandhi.

Gandhi was a perfect marriage of a Politician and a Yogi. He did what none had thought was possible, he won battles after battles without even raising his hand and ultimately won freedom for India.

When asked what message he’d like to give to the world, he said, “My Life is my message”, in my opinion we have a few very important learning from his life:

1.       Practice before you preach

          Once a woman brought her son, who used to eat too much gur (a kind of sweet), to Gandhiji,       requesting him to scold the boy and get him rid of this habit , Gandhiji thought for a while and told to bring the boy after 1 week. And when the woman came back after a week, he made the boy understand to leave this habit. In that one week Gandhi himself got rid of the habit of eating too much gur.  It requires a little self-control. Before we advise anything, we just need to think, are we doing the same or not?

2.       Always speak the truth

This is very difficult. That’s why even after 60 years of his death no one like him has come into the picture. And remember he was a lawyer, who spoke nothing but the truth. Amazing, isn’t it?

But what we can do is become 95-99% Gandhi in this aspect and speak the truth most of the times if not always!!! Off course we cannot disagree with our wife/girlfriend that she’s the most beautiful woman in the society.

3.       Practice Non-Violence:

Looks easy but it is not. Non-violence doesn’t only mean that you have to be non-violent in your action but also in your thoughts. This habit can be inculcated by keeping an eye on our actions and thoughts and improving each day.

4         You need not be extraordinary to do extraordinary things:

Gandhiji was just an average or below average person on most of the parameters which we regard as success traits. He was meekly built, had a soft voice and was just average in studies. He had nothing extraordinary as such. But then he was a man of conviction and character, having a strong will power and self belief. And we all know his contribution to the world.

Please visit the below link to know more about this great man.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi