padmanabha
29th January 2007, 09:50 PM
[tscii:925131bb65]This article on mine was published in the Hindu,(Metroplus) January, 2001.
Gandhiji will be remembered tomorrow on his death anniversary. Politicians will shower rose petals held in ornate plates by well dressed orderlies, on the Mahatama’s Samadhi. There will be grand shows of fasts and satyagrahas by khadi brigades all over the country. Are we not ridiculing the great soul through these gestures? :cry:
YES the memory of Gandhiji is slowly fading from our mind. His concept of satyagraha has been diluted and is now used as a gimmick” says Saraswathi Gandhi, wife of Dr. Kanthilal Gandhi (grandson of Mahatma Gandhi). Satygraha according Gandhiji meant goodwill towards all, especially towards opponents. His prophetic message was not merely for India but for the entire world”
Now the younger generations believe in violence. They have eschewed the path of Satyagraha. She is agitated. It is the lust for power which makes politicians play ducks and drakes, with our system. How then, can the citizens expect the country to become prosperous? Of course, politicians are becoming are prosperous. Do any of the politicians know how much one kilo of sugar or rice costs?” :oops:
“Politicians who do not believe in Gandhian principles use it to achieve their selfish ends, because, Gandhiji’s name has a magic spell. He once said- “Only a Mahatma knows the woes of a Mahatma.” Trivializing his name is a sin” says noted critic, Professor Guptan Nair.
“Satyagraha means holding on to truth at any cost. There are only few true demonstrators who really hold truth so sacred. Hence most satyagrahis of today are only apologists” he says.
He is concerned about the dismal moral situation existing today. Individuals, organized groups, and governments flout legal principles. Organized crimes are excused by governments who want to hold on to power by hook or crook. He proposes a new kind of democracy. Let the majority rule and the runner up join the government for a sort of consensus rule.
“We have no satyagrahis today. Instead we have atyagrahis” syas Kalamamani Kumaresan, a Tamil writer settled in Thiruvananthapuram. According to Gandhiji, education without character, commerce without morality, science without humanity, politics without principles, wealth without work, worship without sacrifice pleasure without conscience are the seven deadly sins. Is there any body that adheres to these principles? He asked. Then how can we expect the next generation to respect Gandhi?
Society has lost its moral moorings and the sanctity of satyagraha is lost. :(
Gandhiji used SATYAGRAHA, as a means to attain social change and reformation. Now we use it as a means to achieve our selfish needs.
On March 30 1919, Satyagraha Day was observed all over the country. It continued till April 18. Satyagraha literally meant holding on to truth. AN adherent of Satyagraha makes a series of attempts to make his opponents listen to the voice of truth, instead of inflicting injury on him. A styagrahi’s faith in self-suffering is rooted in his conviction, that his opponent is intimately related to him. And so the latter cannot do any wrong to the former without causing injury to him. Evil and evil-doer has to be distinguished. This new experiment was successfully implemented in 1906. The first satyagraha campaign in protest against proposed Asiatic Ordinance directed against Indian immigrants in Transvaal.
In the BORSAD Satygraha Gandhuji asked all the satygraha to take a vow, to abide the following conditions.
I will put only hand spun and hand woven clothes
As long as I work as volunteer, I will remain non-violent in word and deed.
I will try to abolish the strain of untouchability.
I will obey the resolution of the satyagraha committee. I undertake all the work assigned to me. I will be prepared to meet all difficulties like jail life, beating, loss of life, without getting angry and violent.
I will strengthen the communal bonds,
I will not ask any help or myself or for my family in case I am sentenced to imprisonment.
When Gandhijis satyagraha resulted in agitation, he said: I am deeply sorry, for it. I am therefore here to submit, not to a light penalty, but to the highest penalty. I do not ask for mercy. I do not plead any extenuating act…”
That was Gandhiji submitting to a law foisted on the country and administered by an alien system. He admitted that the people had erred not in understanding what ahimsa meant and yet did not put him above the law. Our homage to Gandhiji is restricted to lip-service especially that of Satyagraha and non-violence. We inflict thousands of insults on this nation in the name of Gandhiji. And, yet, on every birthday of the man, on every birthday of the man, on every death anniversary, we hypocrites make a beeline, for the samadi.
We fool ourselves and others by staging grand shows of a day’s fast. For us Gandhiji is a mere ploy.
SHAME ON US!
:oops: [/tscii:925131bb65]
Gandhiji will be remembered tomorrow on his death anniversary. Politicians will shower rose petals held in ornate plates by well dressed orderlies, on the Mahatama’s Samadhi. There will be grand shows of fasts and satyagrahas by khadi brigades all over the country. Are we not ridiculing the great soul through these gestures? :cry:
YES the memory of Gandhiji is slowly fading from our mind. His concept of satyagraha has been diluted and is now used as a gimmick” says Saraswathi Gandhi, wife of Dr. Kanthilal Gandhi (grandson of Mahatma Gandhi). Satygraha according Gandhiji meant goodwill towards all, especially towards opponents. His prophetic message was not merely for India but for the entire world”
Now the younger generations believe in violence. They have eschewed the path of Satyagraha. She is agitated. It is the lust for power which makes politicians play ducks and drakes, with our system. How then, can the citizens expect the country to become prosperous? Of course, politicians are becoming are prosperous. Do any of the politicians know how much one kilo of sugar or rice costs?” :oops:
“Politicians who do not believe in Gandhian principles use it to achieve their selfish ends, because, Gandhiji’s name has a magic spell. He once said- “Only a Mahatma knows the woes of a Mahatma.” Trivializing his name is a sin” says noted critic, Professor Guptan Nair.
“Satyagraha means holding on to truth at any cost. There are only few true demonstrators who really hold truth so sacred. Hence most satyagrahis of today are only apologists” he says.
He is concerned about the dismal moral situation existing today. Individuals, organized groups, and governments flout legal principles. Organized crimes are excused by governments who want to hold on to power by hook or crook. He proposes a new kind of democracy. Let the majority rule and the runner up join the government for a sort of consensus rule.
“We have no satyagrahis today. Instead we have atyagrahis” syas Kalamamani Kumaresan, a Tamil writer settled in Thiruvananthapuram. According to Gandhiji, education without character, commerce without morality, science without humanity, politics without principles, wealth without work, worship without sacrifice pleasure without conscience are the seven deadly sins. Is there any body that adheres to these principles? He asked. Then how can we expect the next generation to respect Gandhi?
Society has lost its moral moorings and the sanctity of satyagraha is lost. :(
Gandhiji used SATYAGRAHA, as a means to attain social change and reformation. Now we use it as a means to achieve our selfish needs.
On March 30 1919, Satyagraha Day was observed all over the country. It continued till April 18. Satyagraha literally meant holding on to truth. AN adherent of Satyagraha makes a series of attempts to make his opponents listen to the voice of truth, instead of inflicting injury on him. A styagrahi’s faith in self-suffering is rooted in his conviction, that his opponent is intimately related to him. And so the latter cannot do any wrong to the former without causing injury to him. Evil and evil-doer has to be distinguished. This new experiment was successfully implemented in 1906. The first satyagraha campaign in protest against proposed Asiatic Ordinance directed against Indian immigrants in Transvaal.
In the BORSAD Satygraha Gandhuji asked all the satygraha to take a vow, to abide the following conditions.
I will put only hand spun and hand woven clothes
As long as I work as volunteer, I will remain non-violent in word and deed.
I will try to abolish the strain of untouchability.
I will obey the resolution of the satyagraha committee. I undertake all the work assigned to me. I will be prepared to meet all difficulties like jail life, beating, loss of life, without getting angry and violent.
I will strengthen the communal bonds,
I will not ask any help or myself or for my family in case I am sentenced to imprisonment.
When Gandhijis satyagraha resulted in agitation, he said: I am deeply sorry, for it. I am therefore here to submit, not to a light penalty, but to the highest penalty. I do not ask for mercy. I do not plead any extenuating act…”
That was Gandhiji submitting to a law foisted on the country and administered by an alien system. He admitted that the people had erred not in understanding what ahimsa meant and yet did not put him above the law. Our homage to Gandhiji is restricted to lip-service especially that of Satyagraha and non-violence. We inflict thousands of insults on this nation in the name of Gandhiji. And, yet, on every birthday of the man, on every birthday of the man, on every death anniversary, we hypocrites make a beeline, for the samadi.
We fool ourselves and others by staging grand shows of a day’s fast. For us Gandhiji is a mere ploy.
SHAME ON US!
:oops: [/tscii:925131bb65]