"Importance of Gandhian Principles in modern life "
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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.
As a matter of fact, India is not following any of Gandhi's teachings which are mostly confined to text books. In fact, since independence, the country has witnessed many violent communal riots in this multi communal country. Gandhi's message of 'swabalambi', self-sufficiency with home spun 'khadi' cloth is not used now a days even as a social slogan. Statistics show that the country is definitely not following 'sarvodaya', a broad Gandhian term meaning 'universal upliftment' or 'progress of all' reaching the masses and the downtrodden. On the contrary, India today has the unique distinction of being the only country in the world which has the richest man in the world while at the same time more than 30 per cent of its population lives in dire poverty.
The above shows that today, Gandhism is a very confused 'ism' in India. Today many politicians in India use the term merely as a slogan and the common man make Gandhi almost out of reach of the younger groups by making Gandhi an unwilling 'avatara'. That may be one reason why the only photo we see of Gandhi in India is always that of an old man which brings the image of a very simple and pious man who was meek and mild like Jesus Christ. While Gandhi was not a simple man to say the least, the above does not gives the right image of Gandhi and does not bring any inspiration to the younger group, the group most relevant for Gandhi.
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.
Once we realize this, we realize the essence of Gandhism and realize that it would be wrong to premise that Gandhism is dead in the world. Like Buddhism, which is mostly prevalent now-a-days outside India, the country of its birth, Gandhism today is alive and active outside India. In fact, today there is hardly any country in the world where some activities are not going on along Gandhian lines. There are very few countries in the world where something or the other is not being done, achieved or organized in the name of Gandhi. In short, there is a global non-violent awakening and awareness after Gandhi. The name of Mahatma Gandhi transcends the bounds of race, religion and nation-states, and has emerged as the prophetic voice of the twenty-first century. Today, Gandhi is remembered for his passionate adherence to the practice of non-violence and his supreme humanism, in every corner of the world.
One would wonder, what may be the relevance of Gandhi in this all-pervading materialistic, agnostic and consumerist culture? What is the significance of Gandhi to the modern world and what is the secret of his success? Gandhi has been a great light for the Tibetan leader Dalai Lama who puts Gandhi's success in right perspective. He said, "Many ancient Indian masters have preached ahimsa, non-violence as a philosophy. That was mere philosophical understanding. But Mahatma Gandhi, in this twentieth century, produced a very sophisticated approach because he implemented that very noble philosophy of ahimsa in modern politics, and he succeeded. That is a very great thing."
And that is precisely the greatness of Gandhi and that is the message of Gandhi to the modern world. In the past century many places in the world have been drastically changed through the use of brute force, by the power of guns - the Soviet Union, China, Tibet, Burma, many communist countries in Africa and South America. But eventually the power of guns will have to be changed by the will of the ordinary people. As Dalai Lama said, "We have big war going on today between world peace and world war, between the force of mind and force of materialism, between democracy and totalitarism." To fight these big wars the common ordinary people in this modern age need Gandhism.
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