Can ONE make a difference?
Can ‘One’ make a difference? History is filled with stories of legends who changed the course of the world. These legends have taught the mankind that ‘change always starts with one’. They never doubted their ability to bring about the change. Mohandas Karmachand Gandhi was one such legend. He is known to the world as ‘Mahatma’ Gandhi, word ‘Mahatma’ literally translates to ‘great soul’.
Gandhi was not a born ‘Mahatma’ but has evolved as a ‘Mahatma’ by his perseverance to learn from his mistakes. During his childhood, Gandhi started smoking and had owed money to the shopkeeper, to pay off the loan he stole gold from home, however, he could not bear the guilt of stealing in his young heart and he wrote a letter confessing his mistake to his father, Karamchand Gandhi, who was sick and bed ridden at the time. His father simply tore the letter and burst out crying, looking at his father crying Gandhi wept his heart out and resolved never to steal again in his life.
During his childhood he was greatly inspired by the stories of King Shravana who served his parents all through his life and King Sathya Harish Chandra who gave up his kingdom to keep his word. These stories instilled deep values of truth and service in his young heart.
As per the customs prevailing at the time, he got married very young. His father died when he was only 16 years old, Gandhi believed that, it was his mistake to have run away from his duty to serve his sick father and given into the pleasure of sneaking into the bed with his wife that caused his father’s death, this deeply impacted him for rest of his life and he resolved never to run away from his duty again.
He went to South Africa to study law. He was not aware that Indians there were treated as slaves. He boarded train in first class compartment with a first class ticket, but he was asked to move to the van compartment which he refused to do. He was thrown out of the first class compartment by force. This insult made otherwise timid Gandhi a strong person, he chose to fight the ill treatment instead of letting himself succumb to the humiliation. He formed Natal Indian Congress, he wrote its code of conduct. He fought the crimes committed against Indians in South Africa. After using the generally accepted modes of resistance for over 14 years, Gandhi realized that it is time for them to adopt a different route. This led to the emergence of his now famous ‘Satyagraha’ (resistance through nonviolent civil disobedience). Although Indians had to undergo great suffering in adopting the nonviolent civil disobedience they eventually succeeded to get South African government to negotiate with them.
Gandhi returned to India in 1914 with a great experience of working with his nonviolence movement in South Africa. His eloquent and honest speeches immensely influenced the fellow Indians. The 241 mile ‘Salt Sayagraha’ walk opposing tax on salt drew attention to his nonviolence movement through out the country, inspiring masses to follow his path. Later he declared the ‘Quit India’ movement in 1942. Gandhi’s unwavering faith in nonviolence to attain freedom for his country.
Gandhi believed that it is his duty to fight injustice in any form but he would never take help of violence. He said “In this cause against injustice I am prepared to die but there is no cause where I am prepared to kill”. He believed in killing the weakness in the humans not the humans themselves. He said ‘eye for an eye makes the world blind’. Gandhi has gone through intolerable humiliations, he was lynched, he was insulted, he was imprisoned numerous times, he was tortured, he went through great pain and agony, but none of this could shake Gandhi’s determination to fight against injustice.
British empire was no match against Gandhi’s nonviolence weapon which forced the infiltrators to finally leave the country and give India its independence back from 200 exploiting years on the historical day of August the 15th, 1947.
Gandhi always believed to ‘be the change you seek in the world‘. He lived by that motto, he did not believe in long speeches but rather let his actions speak for him.
Gandhi’s message to the entire world:
- never lie, cheat or steal
- never instill pain on any living being by actions or words
- not tolerate injustice in any form
- fight the weakness not the person/society
- fight violence with nonviolence
- remember that nonviolence is the only means and peace is the only destination
Gandhi was an inspiration to millions world wide, one of them was Martin Luther King who paid visit to India to meet Gandhi to gain insights into the nonviolence movement which he used in the war against the racial discrimination toward blacks in the United States. Dr. Martin Luther King envisioned “If humanity is to progress, Gandhi is inescapable. He lived, thought, acted and inspired by the vision of humanity evolving toward a world of peace and harmony”
Albert Einstein said “Generations to come, it may be, will scarce believe that such one as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth”.
Gandhi’s life is a true inspiration for millions and a heartwarming reminder that ‘ONE’ can bring the change that he/she seeks in the world. Gandhi was indeed ‘Mahatma’, a great soul. He inspired millions during his lifetime and generations that followed in making the world a better place.
Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/55638925@N00/255569844/
Source: http://www.mkgandhi.org/main.htm & Wikipedia (For those of you interested in reading Gandhi’s Life events, this is a great website).