Mahatma Gandhi
October 2, 1869 saw the birth of a famous Indian personality, lovingly called, the Father of the Nation. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born to the Diwan of Porbandar, in the state of Kathewar in Gujarat. His mother, Putlibai, was a very religious lady and brought up her son with stories from the scripttures and mythology. Little Gandhi grew up to be an honest, upright student.
At the tender age of 13 he was married to a beautiful damsel named Kasturba. At 19, much to his mother's chagrin, he was sent to England to study law. He promised his mother that he would keep away from wine, women and non-vegetarianism - and he managed to stick to his word.
A Mission in South Africa
He returned to India as a barrister in 1891 and started his own practice at Bombay and Rajkot. In 1893 he went to S. Africa to fight a case. It was there that his life's mission was determined - to fight against injustice. Gandhiji could not tolerate the oppression of the Indians by the whites. So he stayed on in Africa for 12 years and established the Natal Indian Congress to improve the conditions of the Indians there, through peaceful, non-violent methods.
Struggle for Swadeshi
In 1914, Gandhiji returned to India and established the Satyagraha Ashram near Ahmedabad. Inspired by G.K.Gokhale and Lokmanya Tilak, Gandhiji toured the country listening to the woes of the common man. Gandhiji was touched by the plight of his countrymen and so entered the political arena.
He launched 3 significant movements with one goal - freedom from the British rule. The first one was the Non-Cooperation Movement, the objective of which was 'the attainment of swaraj by peaceful and legitimate means'. The method was to boycott foreign goods and official durbars, British courts and schools, give up honours and titles and go back to the use of swadeshi goods.
The second was the Civil Disobedience Movement. Launched on April 6, 1930, it began with the historic Dandi March or the 'Salt Satyagraha'. In order to oppose the British Salt Law, Gandhiji marched to Dandi along with his followers to make their own salt.
Quit India
The third one was the Quit India Movement of 1942, which resulted in the 'Quit India' resolution on August 8, 1942 urging the British to leave India. Finally India gained independence on 15th August 1947. Thanks to the efforts of Gandhiji.
On January 30, 1948, the Mahatma was shot dead by a misguided communalist. As Pandit Nehru put it, 'the light has gone out of our lives and there is darkness everywhere'.
Gandhiji's Teachings
Mahatma Gandhi is arguably, one of the most influential persons of the 20th century. Albert Einstein, very aptly put it, when he said: "Generations will scarce believe that such a one as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth." He was not just a political leader, but a social reformer and a spiritual teacher, too.
Incidents from the Mahatma's life and his well-documented experiments with truth serve as a great way of inculcating values in our children. He stressed that one should always live one's philosophies, beliefs and faith, and he was a prime example of that.
Honesty is the best policy
In primary school, once during a school inspection, Gandhiji had spelt the word, 'kettle' wrong. When his teacher urged him to copy from others and correct the spelling, he refused as he was convinced that it was not the right thing to do. Honesty and truthfulness were qualities he came to embody throughout his lifetime.
In the modern world, we strive to make our children excel in academics, sports and the ways of life, but we must also pay great attention to these character-building attributes, which may seem a little old-fashioned.
Clothes do not a man make
When Gandhiji set out to England to study law, he had a brush with the sophisticated lifestyle of the British. In his pursuit of being an 'English gentleman' he tried dressing up like one. He busted money on fashionable clothes and even a chimney-pot hat in a desperate attempt to belong. He took lessons in dancing and elocution, but these infatuations lasted for a while before common sense dawned. Gandhiji realized that character, and not clothes, made a man.
Much later, his thoughts about dressing took him further in quite the opposite direction and he started dressing in loincloth to empathise with the poorest of the poor. In that, he used the symbolism of dressing as a conscious tool to shape public opinion.
It would be far-fetched to expect that we emulate him, but it would be worthwhile to interpret his experiences and experiments in clothing, in spirit. Teenagers today spend unnecessary time and money on the latest fashion and fads to the detriment of other things. They should be discouraged from such wasteful expenditure and preoccupation.
Ahimsa and Satyagraha
Gandhiji built his life's mission on the two pillars of non-violence and truth. He said: "I have nothing new to teach the world. Truth and non-violence are as old as the hills." His interpretation of non-violence was not limited to abstaining from physical violence; he maintained that faith without action and suffering injustice were forms of violence.
In a society that is getting more strife-torn and ghettoized, we cannot underscore enough these age-old qualities and must seek to inculcate the same in our children.
Work for the larger good
Gandhiji propounded the teachings of the Bhagvad Gita, emphasizing, "work without the expectation of fruits of the labour done". Through the symbols of charkha, the spinning wheel and khadi, the hand-spun fabric, he stressed the message of physical labour. The spinning symbolized harnessing of every idle minute for common productive work. Gandhiji always maintained that one should look beyond one's personal aspirations and needs and work for the common good of society at large.
We must ensure that in the pursuit of name, fame and money, our children do not lose sight of the larger purpose in life. We must teach them to be socially responsible individuals who give back to the society what they gain.
Religious co-existence
Gandhiji was a votary of multi-religious identity. He said: "Even as a tree has a single trunk but many branches and leaves, there is one religion - human religion- but any number of faiths." He maintained: "The essence of all religions is one, only their approaches are different."
Though he drew inspiration from the Bhagvad Gita and was a true Hindu by action, he always remained open to influences from all religions and culture. He said: "I want the cultures of all lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any."
Again, in an age where hate politics and 'us and them' sentiments ride high, Gandhiji's teachings which he practiced diligently stand in good stead for the young generation.
As relevant as ever
Gandhiji's teachings are as relevant today as ever. Every growing child should be acquainted with his life and times, his struggles to shape himself and his politics that so changed the way the world looks at things. For, as he maintained, his life is indeed his message.
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