Mahatma

LTTE, Al Qaeda, Taliban, Mafia, Naxals, various right-wing extremists/hard-core fundamentalists – violence is in vogue everywhere. Hate of all accords burns us. Some cause violence to defend/propagate their ideals – for what they believe is true/correct – the only right way to live, and for some, violence is business. It is easy to eliminate than change. Someone in your way? terminate them. ‘Civilized’ discussions are for who can’t fight. Peace is for the weak. Once it was said it takes a greater man to walk away from a fight. Today the same man is considered a sissy. Arnold in Terminator says, “it’s in your blood to kill eachother”. So true. We bay for blood.

But, what if everyone starts fighting each other? your country bombs me, mine bombs yours. You kill my brother, I kill your’s. You pluck my eyes, I’ll pluck yours, let’s both turn blind?? And, what did we do to the person who tried to teach us this futility? We killed him. What the Mahatma said was true then, as it is true now. But, do we revere the great soul? Do we even care?

There’s a growing trend I’ve observed these days (especially in India) of hatred towards the Mahatma. They call him names. They accuse him of tampering with the independence movement. They call him weak. I feel sad for them & for my country. I want to argue with all of them and tell them why they got him wrong, and why all should correctly understand the man. I wonder why no one realizes that it is easy for anyone to face an opponent with a gun in hand, but difficult to stand before one and say, ‘kill me, but you can never conquer me, you can never make me do your bidding voluntarily’. It requires guts to take that stand against an empire. and, knowledge of what true freedom means. He is a tough soul. Some of his beliefs have helped me, guided me through tough times.

• “You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind.” – You can kill me, you can bully me, you can torture me, but, you cannot make me do your will out of my own accord – you can never conquer me. That’s true freedom – a state which cannot be conquered by anyone. Never again did I again feel oppressed. I could face my bullies.
• “Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from indomitable will” – It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog. I might be small and puny. But, I have the will to fight. And, I will conquer my detractors and blaze my path.
• “Nobody can hurt me without my permission” – We are what we are. No one can make us feel low. We cannot please everyone. People will always call us names. We need not/should not give-in to them. We have the ability to disregard what people say to us or let them hurt us. It is we who control how we feel about what others think of us. Ignore the naysayers and march-on for what you believe is true, paying no attention to the critics.
• “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win” – The world will scorn at you. It’ll call you names. It’ll try to discredit you. But, you should still persist, because what you are following the truth – truth of your own heart, and then you’ll win.
• “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind” – do we need an explanation?

The Mahatma did not ask anyone to follow him. He chose a path he believed was correct and ploughed along. Isn’t that conviction we all need today to follow our dreams? With so much bloodshed around, isn’t non-violence the call of the day? With so much fraud everywhere, isn’t truth & personal integrity what we need? More than anytime in the history, it is now that we need to look back to him, look up to him. It is high time we heed to his guidance.