Sunday, October 2, 2011

Gandhiji - Birth Anniversary

Today is October 2. The birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. A national holiday.

Needless to say Gandhiji was born in Porbandar on October 2, 1869. Every Indian knows it  by heart. Also there is no need to mention that Gandhiji said "Truth and non-violence are my weapons".

It may be necessary for interested Gandhians or those who want to follow Gandhigiri in their personal life as to what Truth and non-violence may mean. Of course I have no idea as to what Gandhiji meant by those two words and I have learnt Gandhism from school textbooks only.But having a great respect for the great leader and being an accomplished blogger it may interest a few visitors to my site as to what truth and non-violence means to me.

The easier one first. Non-violence. I read in the papers what Baba Ramdev said before he began his protest fast in Delhi. He said,"I create no fear. I have no fear". I have absolutely no idea in what context he was talking. But the statement attracted me. I began to wonder. Then after a few minutes I realised that to me non-violence is "I create no fear. I have no fear.". It made logical sense. If you are non-violent you do not have to fear. You do not kill anyone or pain anyone. So you are free from fear. And secondly you do not create fear. Because you believe in it.

Truth. Truth is a difficult one. It may have meant God to Gandhiji. God is truth. Makes sense. Assuming it is true, then I look out for what God meant to Gandhiji. There is another thing that Gandhiji said. He said, "Cleanliness is next to Godliness.". So maybe being clean is Truth. Quite a far fetched one!!

Anyway when talking of cleanliness it is important to talk about excreta. Human excreta. How do you handle it in your mind. My advise is excrete thoughts of excreta. Do not think about it. Just let it go as you do in the toilet.

Gandiji was a great leader. I wonder whether he would have been happy with the state of affairs in our country. I doubt it.

2 comments:

Alka Gurha said...

I am glad you wrote about him...His strength was leading by example...

You have so many blogs...how do you manage all of them?

Kirtivasan Ganesan said...

Simple ... Not many people comment on them.