Saturday, October 31, 2015

A question of life and death

“I know that death is inevitable, no matter what precautions man deludes himself with.”

–Gandhi (Young India, July 2, 1931)
There is a story from the Middle East about a man who runs right into Death in the marketplace, and Death backs away from him, clearly startled. The man doesn’t take the time to say ‘excuse me’, instead, takes off running, and decides to move away to another village, miles and miles away. Death is there waiting for him. I thought I left you in the other town! he cries out, and Death replies, Oh yes. I was quite startled to see you there because I had an appointment with you here! A short parable to highlight that we cannot hide or run away from death.
Nonviolence is a scary idea to the so-called powerful, and they sometimes will not stop short of murder to stop it. When Gandhi began talking about nonviolence, people tried to scare him with the threat of death at every turn. Life was not so precious that it meant sacrificing his ideals to survive. The purpose of life, for him, was to perfect those ideals. If Death came for him, he would not hide, but greet it with reverence, courage and even grace. He proved this on many occasions.
That said, he did not invite death without extreme discrimination. We have to remember the tools of nonviolent conflict intervention: precisely because our lives are a trust, we do not offer them lightly, e.g. at too early a stage in a conflict, nor would we offer our lives because we hate life, or we hate people, or certainly not because we feel that our lives — or those of anyone — don’t matter. That has nothing to do with nonviolence. Anything done for nonviolence is done out of a deep and great love — this endures. You’ve probably seen the cartoon in which Gandhi and King are talking and one says to the other, “the funny thing is, they think they’ve killed you.”
This is the power of self-sacrifice carried to the extreme: renouncing that which you hold most dear, including life itself.

Experiment in Nonviolence:
Can you see in your own experience a proportion between your ability to sacrifice something and the power you gain by doing so?

Thought For The Day ( PERFECTION )

Mahatma Gandhi Quotes on Perfection

Friday, October 30, 2015

Gandhi’s ideal political system?

“If national life becomes so perfect as to become self-regulated, no representation becomes necessary.”

–Gandhi (Young India, July 2, 1931)
Gandhi’s ideal political system? Two words: Enlightened anarchy. (If you are like me, you will need a minute to take that in. But hold on to your seat, because it gets better…) It really shouldn’t be too big of a surprise to us, though, if you think about his insistence upon swaraj, or freedom. When he talked about it, he was talking about more than just freedom from the British Raj through self-sufficiency and economic independence; he was talking about a society where each person had enough discrimination, nonviolent discipline and self-restraint to be able to look as deeply inward at themselves as they look out to the world in which they wish to live. He puts it this way: “In such a state, every one is his or her own ruler,” and then he goes on to say, “In the ideal State, therefore, there is no political power because there is no State.” This is getting good. And then he adds, just to whet our appetites even more, that in such a state where “the power is generated from within” there wouldn’t be any need for police and military. I’m in. But then he comes back to Earth a bit and reminds us that this kind of a state is an ideal, like perfect ahimsa. As with ideals, all we can do is strive toward them and that struggle is worth every ounce of energy we give it. The way forward then? Develop the mindset of personal swaraj; in other words, develop these qualities within ourselves. As we often say around the Metta Center, nonviolence or “the revolution” is not about putting the right kind of person in power, it’s about awakening the right kind of power in people. Like you and me.

Experiment in Nonviolence:
What is your most ideal vision of the State? How does it overlap with Gandhi’s vision?

Courtesy: www.mettacenter.org

Thought For The Day ( HUMAN NATURE )

Mahatma Gandhi Quotes on Human Nature

Saturday, October 17, 2015

Reformed criminal spreads Gandhian thoughts in Inmates of different Jails

Reformed criminal spreads Gandhian thoughts in Inmates of different Jails

 
Reformed criminal Laxman Gole spread Gandhian thoughts among jails

A hardened criminal a decade ago, Laxman Gole's life now revolves around reforming lives of hundreds of convicts serving jail terms across the state. And his tool is 'The Story of My Experiments with Truth', an autobiography of Mahatma Gandhi.

Convicted for a number of crimes in 2005, Gole has been preaching Gandhi's views among prisoners all over the state through Bombay Sarvodaya Mandal. He conducted a sort of examination for 452 inmates of Nashik, Aurangabad, Taloja and Nagpur Jail in Maharashtra on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti. 

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Thought For The Day ( TRUTH )

Mahatma Gandhi Quotes on Truth

Thursday, October 15, 2015

Gandhi Journal Article-III (October 2015) : Economic impact of Gandhi's models

Gandhi Journal Article-III (October 2015) : 

Economic impact of Gandhi's models

By Prajakta Desai & Sunil Sonawane 

Gandhi had an innate sympathy for the poor and deprived. This coupled with a direct observation of the predicament of the poor and the oppressed both in India and in South Africa led him to design an economic model that would alleviate the condition of the poor and the deprived. Gandhi believed that the high capitalist endeavors were at the root of all suffering. He believed that business without ethical considerations was fundamentally evil. This led to discrimination, oppression and exploitation. Gandhi also held that there is enough in this world to feed and clothe all. However, there is poverty and deprivation because one group of people thrives on the labor put in by others. Gandhi strongly believed in the ethics of hard work and that one is entitled to take from the system only as much as he is capable of producing. This according to Gandhi, was the only way to fight poverty.

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Thought For The Day ( MUSIC )

Mahatma Gandhi Quotes on Music

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Gandhi Journal Article-II (October 2015) : Empowerment of the Rural Poor: The Gandhian Approach

Gandhi Journal Article-II (October 2015) : Empowerment of the Rural Poor: The Gandhian Approach

By Dr. D. Pulla Rao  
Empowerment of the rural poor has become a major problem of rural India over the last 100 years. In 1930s when Mahatma Gandhi took the reigns of the freedom movement, about 300 millions rural poor were suffering from chronic poverty for 120 days during the lien period of agriculture and were relegated to subsistence living for the rest 245 days in a year. The situation of the rural poor over the last 70 years had further worsened in spite of our continuous efforts to alleviate rural poverty.

Under these circumstances, a close look at the Gandhian approach for empowering the rural poor is highly essential.

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Thought For The Day ( SERVICE )


Saturday, October 10, 2015

Gandhi Journal Article-I (October 2015) : Relevance of Gandhi in Modern Times

Gandhi Journal Article-I (October 2015) : Relevance of Gandhi in Modern Times

By Rajen Baura  
Looking at the present state of affairs in India, the birthplace of Gandhi, one would probably surmise that Gandhism, whatever the term may mean, cannot have any relevance in this twenty-first century. Gandhi is rightly called the Father of the Nation because he single handedly stood up against the mighty British Empire, without any arms, and brought her independence. However, today, Gandhi is mostly forgotten and his relevance questioned even by his ardent devotees. Today Gandhi is remembered in India mostly on his birthday which is celebrated as a national holiday rather as a ritual.

...In real world, Gandhi was a politician, a shrewd politician, who was trying to bring peace and harmony to India on one hand while trying to bring her independence at the same time. For Gandhi, the process of change was very important which must be ethical, nonviolent and democratic giving rights to all minorities. In this respect, he resembles the Buddha for whom the noble eightfold path (of right wisdom, right conduct and right effort), itself is the goal and essence of life. 

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Thought For The Day ( VOW )


Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Record-breaking over 49 lakh hits on Gandhi website during Gandhi Jayanti week

Record-breaking over 49 lakh hits on Gandhi website during Gandhi Jayanti week

 
record-breaking hits on Mahatma Gandhi Website

This Gandhi Jayanti, one spot Mahatma Gandhi information website www.mkgandhi.org got record-breaking 49 lakh hits from all over the world.

The website generally visited by about 9,500 people every day. On the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti, lakhs of curious people from about 200 countries of the world visited the website to know about life & works of Mahatma Gandhi. About 56,702 people on October 1 and 73,256 people on October 2 visits the website. During Gandhi Jayanti, from 27th September to 3rd October, the website got 49,78, 237 hits across the globe which is a record for itself. This comprehensive website is maintained jointly by Gandhian organizations, Bombay Sarvodaya Mandal, Mumbai and Gandhi Research Foundation, Jalgaon.
 
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Mumbai Sarvodaya Mandal - Gandhi Book Centre – Gandhi Research Foundation
299 Tardeo Road, Nana Chowk Mumbai 400 007 MH India
Tel. +91-22-2387 2061 / Email: info@mkgandhi.org Web: www.mkgandhi.org

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