write an article on on the topic given below as quickly as possible. the article should be of more than 1000 words. know the topic is"is Gandhi relevant today ?"
Answers
Explanation:
G- andhiji not only gave India its freedom but also gave the world and us a new thought on nonviolence and sustainable living. His teachings and experiments are more valid today than ever before, especially when we are trying to find solutions to worldwide greed, corruption, violence and runaway consumptive lifestyle which are putting a very heavy burden on the world’s resources.
Through ages India has time and again given to the world a new thought. Thus Buddhism, Jainism, Yogic system, Sikhism are part of the great spiritual thought given by India from time to time. Gandhiji’s message of nonviolence and sustainable living is a continuation of that long tradition.
To my mind Gandhiji’s greatest contribution to sustainable development was two fold. Firstly his experiments in simple living and high thinking. He believed that with simple living the resources of the planet earth can sustain us comfortably and his famous saying that earth provides us enough for our needs but not for our greed is extremely apt today. Secondly his insistence on all inclusive growth of the society and hence his focus on rural development.
I will try to show in this essay how both these issues are as relevant today as they were 100 years ago when Gandhiji enumerated them.
Gandhi’s spirituality
Gandhiji was a highly evolved and spiritual human being. To him spirituality came first. Other things like politics, public life etc. were by-products of his spirituality. Also as a person progresses on the path of spirituality, his or her priorities in life change. The focus of life shifts more towards getting personal happiness through mental peace or by helping others and less on material needs, greed and desires. Gandhiji’s experiments on simple and sustainable living followed his own spiritual progress.
He also realized from an early age the importance of a great body and mind. In this he was following the tenets of ancient Yogic system which stresses on a healthy body and a powerful mind. Thus all his experiments on food, brahmacharya (celibacy) and fasting came from this belief. Besides he also realized that to fight a powerful enemy like Britain, he had to make his body-temple extremely powerful so that it could sustain long fights. This meant that it had to need least amount of comforts and external inputs and thus Gandhiji showed that with simple living he could produce the highest quality of thought. To my mind this was an ultimate example of sustainable living.
The spirit of Bhagwad Gita’s Karma Yoga guided him in his endeavors and he considered it as his duty to help his countrymen and fellow beings. There are many instances of people who saw his glowing skin, aura, and felt the presence of his personality whenever they met him. That is only possible for a Yogi of very high order.
My father who was involved in the freedom struggle and went to jail with Gandhiji told me of a remarkable instance. In early 1940's just before the quit India movement, a mammoth public meeting took place in Allahabad. Between half to a million people were present. Gandhiji was late for the meeting. All the great leaders of independence movement were giving their speeches and trying to calm the crowd, which was quite restless. Then suddenly Gandhiji came, climbed on the dais and put a finger on his lips. A wave of silence swept the grounds starting from dais. My father termed it as a remarkable experience of the power of a small frail man over the masses.
Possessed with a great body and a powerful mind he also became fearless and it is this quality of fearlessness which made him blaze new trails and produce novel political strategies like nonviolence, Satyagraha, etc. Time and again he showed his fearlessness by dealing with British on equal terms. In 1920s and 30s during the height of colonial rule such a behavior of a subject in front of his colonial masters was unique and provided a quantum jump in raising the consciousness of Indians.
Besides this quality of fearlessness also rooted him deeply in the path of Karma Yoga and hence he believed only in work and power of will and never in any astrologers, palmist etc.
When the brain becomes very powerful it also becomes sensitive to the surroundings. This is the genesis of nonviolence as this makes all life sacred.
Gandhiji as the pujari (priest) of nonviolence used it for everything including industrialization. He rightly thought the industrialization of 1920s to be a violent system with heavy machinery, very inefficient energy and materials conversion technologies and no concern for the environment. Intuitively he revolted against those systems and felt that simple life (with few needs) and most of the daily things to be produced from locally available materials was nonviolent and in tune with the nature.