gandhi

Today is the Birthday of the Father of the Nation.

Seven Social Sins, sometimes called the Seven Blunders of the World, is a list that Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi published in his weekly newspaper Young India on October 22, 1925. Later he gave this same list to his grandson, Arun Gandhi, written on a piece of paper on their final day together shortly before his assassination. (From Wikipedia) As per Mahatma Gandhi there were seven deadly sins that would destroy us.

Wealth Without Work

Pleasure Without Conscience

Knowledge Without Character

Commerce (Business) Without Morality (Ethics)

Science Without Humanity

Religion Without Sacrifice

Politics Without Principle

 

Gandhi said, "I claim to be no more than an average man with less than average ability. I am not a visionary. I claim to be a practical idealist. Nor can I claim any special merit for what I have been able to achieve with laborious research. I have not the shadow of a doubt that any man or woman can achieve what I have, if he or she would make the same effort and cultivate the same hope and faith.

 

Excerpts from Bhagawan Sathya Sai Baba's discourses:

Mahatma Gandhi realised the eternal values enshrined in Bharatiya Culture. He attempted to promote these values through the primary schools he sponsored. When he was in prison, a British officer who visited him often asked him, "I find you sad and worried today. Tell me why?" and Gandhi replied, "I find that the educated person has a hardened heart, more hardened than the heart of an uneducated person. This is something that should not happen. The system is fraught with danger." This made Gandhi try his experiments in imparting Indian ideals to the tender minds in primary schools. The same officer approached Bal Gangadhar Tilak later and told him how Gandhi had accused Western education of hardening the heart. He asked Tilak, "But, I find you have not been spoiled at all by the Western system of education." Tilak replied, "I asserted that I am what I am, inspite of the system of education through which I had to pass." SSS Vol.14

 

The advent of Sathyagraha by Gandhi

Gandhi stayed on among the oppressed Indians and native blacks and devised the strategy of Sathyagraha (passive resistance or civil disobedience) to end the exploitation. When the movement showed signs of quick success, General Smuts invited Gandhi for discussion. Gandhi explained to him that he had to resort to non-violent Sathyagraha since the inhuman policy of insulting and injuring humans having black skins had to be resisted and exterminated. General Smuts retorted by pointing out to Gandhi how millions of Indians--human beings like the rest--were kept out of villages and condemned as untouchables.

 

The General's word acted as a bullet shot right at the heart of Gandhi. Gandhi felt that he had no right to correct another while he was himself infected with the same evil. He decided to return to India and practise the strategy of Sathyagraha for the removal of untouchability and other social evils and to free his Motherland from exploitation by foreigners. Sathyagraha was the path of Truth and Love, of the means being as pure as the ends. Verily, he who accepts criticism gladly and thanks the critic for his remarks is the one really human. Since Gandhi was willing to learn and had the humility to acknowledge criticism, he could mould the people of his land and be hailed as the Father of the Nation.

 

He looked upon the country as one. He planted the seed of unity of all faiths and all communities, which under his guidance grew quickly into a big tree. He built a great movement on the basis of Atmabhalam (soul-force) that strengthened unity and self-confidence. Selfishness that had possessed the nation as an evil genius and mined its progress in material, moral, political and spiritual fields, was suppressed while the movement was on. The people suffered much but sufferings is the prelude to success. There is no rose without thorns. Without giving, no one can gain. How can anything great be achieved without overcoming internal and external obstacles? SSS Vol. 18

 

Three stages of Wisdom related to three bodies

There are three stages of wisdom correlated to those three bodies: Jnaana, Sujnaana and Vijnaana. Knowledge that is gained by the analysis of the objective world and the similarities of the behaviour of its components is Jnaana. When this knowledge is further studied and practised to subserve the best interests of the individual society, it becomes Sujnaana, or beneficial wisdom. The intentions and urges that arise from the purified consciousness saturated with the Divine qualities emanating from the sage is Vijnaana, the Highest Wisdom. It is to be noted that the word Vijnaana is often misused to indicate mere Jnaana, or co-ordinated information, analysed information about sense perceptions arising out of contact with the material objective world. Bharatiya Culture uses the word for the Supreme Wisdom, which denotes the seer, the saint.

 

Intelligence, intellect, intuition---these three govern the thoughts and actions of man. One leads to another. This is the significance of the prayer with which Gandhi awakened the urge of liberation in this vast country, liberation not only from alien rule but also from alien tendencies and trends of thought. He caused the reverberation all over the land from a million throats of the prayer, Sabko sanmathi dhe Bhagavaan---"O Lord! Grant every one the equipment of beneficent intelligence." Once that is assured, progress is certain. SSS Vol.11

 

Be equipped with humility to win God's Grace

Good ideas have to be accepted and bad ones eschewed. Each idea has to be judged in the Supreme Court of Viveka (Wisdom). And, the 'ruling has to be treated as inviolable. Again, the individual born in the lake of Society must swim and float in the calm waters, and joining the river of Progress, merge in the Ocean of Grace. Man has to move from the stance of "I" to the position of "WE;" this day, we see only the wild dance of ego-stricken individuals, who hate society and behave most unsocially. SSS Vol.12

 

On one occasion, a follower told Gandhi, "Independent India is your crown." Gandhi commented: "Independence is my crown; but, separation is my Cross." We have to grasp the sadness of that confession. Divisiveness has become the bane of the nation in all fields. The evil of separatism is infecting the entire country and passions are rising sky high. True humanness yearns for unity. Man seeks the one in the many, unity in diversity. He should not break the unity into diversity. All limbs and organs have to work in unison in order to ensure health. The nation too is a body and the same rule applies to its various limbs and parts. The welfare of the nation depends on the welfare of the societies comprising it and the nation's welfare is proportionate to the welfare of its component States. So, we must promote human values at every stage. What is happening today is just birth, growth and death.

 

When students are good, the country will be good. As is the student, so are the people. Just consider' all persons whom we revere to-day as elders and leaders have been, at one time, students like you. And, you too will replace them later. Make yourself ready therefore by utilising best the chances you have. Your education must make you self-reliant and self-confident. SSS Vol.15

 

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