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| Paramita Mukherjee Mullick |
Gandhiji and
Rabindranath Tagore shared a unique relationship. Tagore addressed Gandhiji as
Mahatma, which means great soul. Gandhiji to show respect called Tagore,
Gurudev. Gandhiji was indeed a Mahatma, his deeds and teachings are still so
relevant in the present scenario. He was
such a great man that he is worshipped even today. There are three temples
dedicated to Gandhiji in India, one in Sambalpur in Odisha, one in Nidaghatta
in Karnataka and another in Chityal in Telangana.
His memory lingers
in the hearts of admirers all over the world. We Indians are so proud that some
of the well-known personalities of the twentieth and twenty first century cite
Mahatma as their role model. Barack Obama, the former president of the United
States of America had once called Gandhi his ‘real hero’. Romain Rolland said,”
For many he was like the return of Christ. For others, for independent
thinkers, Gandhi was a reincarnation of Jean-Jaques Rosseau and of Tolstoy,
denouncing the illusions and crimes of civilization and preaching to men the
return to nature, to the simple life, to health”. Others like the great Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Said, “If humanity is to progress, Gandhi is
inescapable. He lived thoughts and acted inspired by the vision of humanity
evolving towards a world of peace and harmony. We may ignore him at our own
risk”.
The greatest gift
that Gandhiji gave us is the idea of non-violence. He felt that violence
perpetuates hatred. To him non-violence was not a weapon of cowardice but a
weapon of the brave. Gandhiji was the first leader in history to use the idea
of non-violence for a fight for freedom.
Mohandas
Karamchand Gandhi proclaimed that his life was his message. A simple man clad
in a hand woven dhoti and chadar and
with a stick in his hand, believed that the greatest weapon is one’s own
character. Under his leadership the freedom struggle of India became a truly
mass movement. Gandhi’s principles of truth and honesty were a result of his
childhood exposure to mythological characters like Raja Harish Chandra, a
virtuous king who went through harsh tests, yet never deviated from the truth
and Prahlad, the boy prince who showed his father the greatness of God.
A train ride in
South Africa changed Gandhiji’s life when he was pushed out of the train with
his luggage as coloured people were not allowed in the first class
compartments. This made him promise to fight racial discrimination.
Satyagraha [truth
force] was a powerful weapon adapted by Gandhiji. This concept tremendously
helped in the Indian freedom struggle. He had experimented with Satyagraha in
South Africa first. Satyagraha embraced civil disobedience and a relentless
pursuit of truth and peace. Along with Satyagraha he practiced self-reliance.
Mahatma was
greatly influenced by John Ruskin who believed that being peaceful is more
important than powerful. Ruskin in his writings argued that peace is more
important than earning more and more money. Motivated by this idea, Gandhiji
made an ashram in South Africa where his supporters lived a life of no
luxuries. Even the famous Tolstoy Farm started by him followed the same
principles.
Gopal Krishna
Gokhale urged Gandhiji to start Satyagraha in the Indian freedom struggle.
Gandhiji helmed the agitations in Champaran in Bihar and Kheda in Gujarat to
stop forced indigo cultivation.
Non-cooperation
was a highly powerful weapon of protest and mass action introduced by Gandhiji.
This became immensely popular after the Jallianwalla Bagh massacre. The purpose
of this was to fight British rule in India through peaceful means. It encompassed
numerous actions like refusal to buy British goods, encouragement of the use of
local handicrafts and picketing liquor shops. Ahimsa or non-violence was the
basic norm of non-cooperation. He rallied thousands of Indians towards the
cause of Indian independence under the umbrella of non-cooperation.
Gandhiji stated
that the soul of India lies in our villages; both in monetary and logistic
terms and so no movement can be truly fruitful without the participation of
village people.
His great
thoughts, his teaching made him the Father of the Nation. Great Britain,
against whom he fought for independence, released a stamp in memory of him 21
years after his death. Netherlands has the maximum number of roads named after
Gandhi except India. They have 29 roads. Teachings of the Mahatma can fill up
volumes of books. I tried to just give an essence of his teachings in this
article.
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