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"I am praying for the
light that will dispel the darkness." Mahatma Gandhi 2
October 1869 - 30 January 1948
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On Faith and
The Heart
"It is impossible that a thing essentially of the soul can
ever be imparted through the intellect. It is just like
trying to import faith in God through the intellect. It
cannot be as it is essentially a matter of the heart. Faith
can be turned into knowledge by experience, and it can come
only through the heart and not the intellect. The intellect,
if anything, acts as a barrier in matters of faith."
On the
importance of our mother languages
"India has to flourish in her own climate, and scenery, and
her own literature. We and our
children must build on our own heritage. If we borrow
another, we impoverish our own.
Our masters chose the wrong way for us, and habit has made
the wrong appear as right."
On Nature of Soul Force
"Non-violence is an active force of the highest order. It is
soul force or the power of the
Godhead within us. Imperfect man cannot grasp the whole of
that Essence — he would not be able
to bear its full blaze— but even an infinitesimal fraction
of it when it becomes active within us,
can work wonders. The sun in the heavens fills the whole,
universe with its life-giving
warmth. But if one went too near it, it would consume him to
ashes. Even, so, it is with
Godhead. We become godlike to the extent we realise
non-violence; but, we can never become
wholly God. Non-violence is like radium in its action. An
infinitesimal quantity of it imbedded
in a malignant growth, acts continuously, silently, and
ceaselessly till it has transformed the whole
mass of the diseased tissue into a healthy one. Similarly,
even a little of true non-violence acts
in a silent subtle, unseen way and leavens the
whole society.
It is self-acting. The soul persists even after death, its
existence does not depend on the
physical body. Similarly, non-violence or soul force too
does not need physical aids for its
propagation or effect. It acts independently of them. It
transcends time and space."
Truth and Non-Violence
"Let it not be said of the great organisation that it used
truth and non-violence as a cloak to cover untruth and
violence."
Man of God, Messenger of Peace and Non-Violence
On messengers of peace:
"He or she must have a living faith in non-violence. This is
impossible without a living
faith in God. A non-violent man can do nothing save by the
power and grace of God. With
out it he won't have the courage to die without anger,
without fear and without retaliation. Such
courage comes from the belief that God sits in the hearts of
all and that there should be no
fear in the presence of God. The knowledge of the
omnipresence of God also means respect for
the lives of even those who may be called opponents or
goondas. This contemplated intervention is a process
of stilling the fury of
man when the brute in him gets the mastery over him.
This messenger of peace must have equal regard for all the
principal religions of the
earth."
On Peace
"Not to believe in the possibility of permanent peace is to
disbelieve the godliness of
human nature. Methods hitherto adopted have failed because
rock-bottom sincerity on the part
of those who have striven has been lacking. Not that they
have realised this lack. Peace is
unattainable by part performance of conditions, even as a
chemical combination is impossible
without complete fulfilment of the conditions of attainment
thereof. If the recognised leaders of
mankind who have control over engines of destruction were
wholly to renounce their
use, with full knowledge of its implications, permanent
peace can be obtained. This is clearly impossible
without the great powers of the earth renouncing their
imperialistic design. This again seems
impossible without great nations ceasing to believe in
soul-destroying competition and to desire to
multiply wants and therefore increase their material
possessions. It is my conviction that
the root of the evil is want of a living faith in a living
God. It is a first-class human tragedy
that peoples of the earth who claim to believe in the
message of Jesus whom they describe as
the Prince of Peace show little of that belief in actual
practice. It is painful to see sincere
Christian divines limiting the scope of Jesus' message to
select individuals. I have been taught
from my childhood and tested the truth by experience that
the primary virtues of mankind
are possible of cultivation by the meanest of the human
species. It is this undoubted universal
possibility that distinguishes the humans from the rest of
God's creation. If even one great nation
were unconditionally to perform the supreme act of
renunciation, many of us would see in our life-time
visible peace established on earth."
Mohandas
Karamchand Gandhi was born on 2 October 1869 in Porbander
Gujarat India. Gandhiji spent his early years in Probander
and Rajkot. He was a Vaishnava (worshipping Vishnu, Rama,
Krishna) and a Jain.
"In my search after Truth I have discarded many ideas
and learnt many new things. Old as I am in age, I have
no feeling that I have ceased to grow inwardly or that
my growth will stop at the dissolution of the flesh."
"What
difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the
homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the
name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty and
democracy?"
"When doubts
haunt me, when disappointments stare me in the face, and
when I see not one trace of light on the horizon I turn to
the
Bhagavad Gita and find a verse to comfort me; and I
immediately begin to smile in the midst of overwhelming
sorrow."
Mahatma Gandhi
"When
I despair, I remember that all through history the way
of truth and love has always won. There have been
tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem
invincible, but in the end, they always fall — think of
it, always."
"It is an
essentially untrue position to take, for a seeker
after truth, that he alone is in absolute possession
of truth."
Gandhiji
"The religion
of non-violence is not meant merely for the Rishis and
saints. It is
meant for the common people as well." Mahatma Gandhi
"An eye for an
eye makes the whole world blind."
"There are many causes that I am prepared to die for but
no causes that I am prepared to kill for."
"Non-violence
is the law of our species as violence is the law of the
brute. The spirit lies dormant in the brute and he knows
no law but that of physical might. The dignity of man
requires obedience to a higher law - to the strength of
the
spirit." Mahatma Gandhi
"Non-violence
and Truth are inseparable like the two sides of a coin."
"[Satyagraha -
Truth Force, Soul Force] is a force which, if it became
universal, would revolutionize social ideas and do away
with despotisms and the ever-growing militarism under
which the nations
are groaning and are being almost crushed to death."
"I have
disregarded the order served upon me not for want of
respect for lawful authority, but in obedience to the
higher law of our being, the voice of conscience."
"When I
admire the wonders of the sunset or the beauty of the
moon, my soul expands in worship of the
Creator."
"It is a right
recognized from times immemorial of the subjects to refuse
to assist the ruler who misrules."
"If
a government does a grave injustice, the subject must
withdraw cooperation, wholly or partially, sufficiently
to wean the ruler from his wickedness."
"We are violent when we support a government whose creed
is violence. It bases itself finally not on right but
might. Its
last appeal is not to reason, nor the heart, but to the
sword. We are tired of this creed and we have risen
against it. Let us ourselves not belie our profession by
being violent."
"We had lost the power of saying 'NO' - It is as
necessary to reject untruth as it is to accept
truth."
"I can retain neither respect nor affection for a
government which has been moving from wrong to wrong in
order to defend its immorality."
“I consider I would be less than truthful if I did not
describe as satanic a government that has been guilty of
fraud, murder, and wanton cruelty, which still remains
unrepentant and resorts to untruth to cover its guilt.”
Gandhiji was
also lovingly called
"Bapu" or "Bapuji" - as the Father of the
Nation
*******
"No nation is good enough to rule another nation." Abraham
Lincoln
"The usual excuse of those who do evil to others is, that
their object is to 'do them good.'" John Morley
"It is no easy matter to proclaim Truth in a country where
the press is muzzled and where secrecy is an almost
essential foundation of prestige, or to stand for
Non-Violence against a Government that rests on force for
its very existence." - Verrier Elwin
*******
The greatness of the man ...
More than just words ...
Hare
Krishna Mantra
Gayatri
Mantra
Aspects
of Hinduism
From
" The Song Celestial" - Bhagavad Gita
Ancient
Hindu Wisdom
Mind
Body Spirit Soul
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