gandhian philosophy

HAS GANDHIAN PHILOSOPHY BEEN LOST IN PRESENT DAY INDIA

                          Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, the father of our nation was not a person he was a personality. A personality adored by his compatriots, admired even by his adversaries. His principles were fascinatingly simple.  In fact the principles of many great personalities around the world were simple. For instance Jesus Christ, Mother Teresa, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa all of them were austere, their characters immaculate and their love knew no bounds. Gandhiji our beloved Bapuji was a person who filled the air surrounding him with an aura of love. His allegiance to truth was exemplary. He was a man who lived his principles. There was hardly an incident that proved him swaying away from his principles. Before diving into the topic under scrutiny let us recapitulate and recuperate the principles of the father of emancipated India. Yes some of the principles of him are to be recuperated because they went into oblivion, and the present state  of affairs in our nation needs all of his principles to come to its rescue. Gandhiji’s principles are very simple to think of but the most arduous to follow. The main principles of Gandhi were

·         Truthfulness

·         Nonviolence

·         Forbearance

·         Endurance

·         Fortitude and

·         Karma siddhanta.

  If we start listing all the good qualities of such a gigantic personality we need to fill the list with all the virtues one can conceive. Though there are a good number of important qualities and principles followed by Gandhi, each and every one of those principles can be attributed to the above mentioned principles in one way or the other. Even the above mentioned 6 principles are a bit too many and all of them can be grouped under the single name VEDANTA. Here I want to make an important clarification, the word should be understood only in its true sense and it is definitely not pro religious. Now coming to the principles and their essence, Gandhiji followed the principle of truthfulness since he was child and it is evident in his autobiography also. Then coming to the principle of nonviolence, it was not an unknown principle but it was only a principle hardly followed.  And nonviolence was not a principle devised by Gandhi because it is a principle preached by almost all the prominent religions in the world. And every religion quotes that nonviolence is the highest virtue and the person who epitomized the emphasis of the highest virtue is himself the highest personality manifested on this earth and definitely Gandhiji was one of the best personalities manifested on our earth. There is a common misconception among some people that nonviolence is a principle followed by the people who are not bold enough to fight or those who are weak. But this statement could never be justified because people require more fortitude, audacity to remain unmoved against incessant violence and definitely it takes more courage to die without offering any resistance than to die fighting. So the misconception that nonviolence being a weapon for cowards is absolutely baseless. And according to me the strongest people are those who believe in truth than in brute strength. As goes our age old aphorism “truth alone triumphs”. Gandhi himself was a person who was a thorough manifestation of the above mentioned qualities and there is no exaggeration in stating that he was one of the most courageous person ever to take birth. There were innumerable instances that demanded this man’s portrayal of courage and strength and he came out with flying colors each and every time the fate tested him. He was the person who led a nation with diverse cultures and diversified ideas to its freedom. He was indeed the sole uniting force which ignited the hearts of the people and led them triumphantly to a nation free from slavery. Every Indian feels proud to be his compatriot and he is indeed the most celebrated personality other than god in India till date. But was he the most gifted person? The most attractive leader? The most handsome man? The most voluble speaker? The answer is no for all the questions but he was the best follower of his faith, of his principles. And he did not even formulate a new principle. This shows that the principles followed by him were not Gandhian but they were Indian and more importantly they were never formulated, they were only discovered or uncovered ages back and they will never be lost. There were many people who practiced them, in fact lived the principles and there is no doubt that there will be many more even in the coming age. They are perennial like our rivers and we will never lose them. Again coming to Gandhiji’s principles, the most important one is his ability to work for work’s sake. Yes working for works own sake is the philosophy of karma yoga and Gandhi was a karma yogi himself. Karma yoga is a kind of yoga that can be practiced in each and every work we do unlike all other yogas and also the easiest of them. The divinity of karma yoga is in this principle “ work incessantly but never expect a result.” This is the best possible way to work and it has been preached by lord Krishna to Arjuna in our revered epic MAHABHARATA. There was no doubt that Gandhiji tried to lead a life of a karma yogi and he was almost successful in doing so. That is he never wanted to rule India but only wanted to manumit its people from the clutches of slavery and he was successful in doing so. All his ideas were so powerful that he was able to cast a spell on all the people who went on to become his followers and he was undoubtedly a genius at work. In this way if we go on writing about the life and principles of Gandhi no time or paper will be left unfilled. So after gaining some knowledge about the principles of the nations father now we can come to the present situation of our nation..

PRESENT DAY INDIA:

      Before going into the more important topic of the problems persisting in our nation we need to have the knowledge of the amount of progress we have achieved as an independent nation. India is the largest democracy in the world and the growth rate of India is far higher than many other nations. The problems such as illiteracy, religious superstitions have been reduced considerably. India as a nation is being able to conduct some prestigious international events and last but the most important fact that the harmony among the people of different religions, castes, sects is awe inspiring even though many note that the unity is slowly losing ground. There are many other improvements which are being very well advertised by the governments and we need to about each and every development as that helps us in building our self confidence which is very important for us Indians to cope with all kinds of problems that arise. Even though there are many achievements to its credit independent india has more problems than ever to fight.

                            So after getting briefed about our successes let us now concentrate on the most important problems that the nation is suffering from. All the important problems that the nation is facing now are highly complicated one can say that there is no proper solution for many of them and only temporary measures can be undertaken to alleviate the people from those problems. Some important problems are

·         The Kashmir issue

·         Corruption

·          Poverty

·         Population explosion and unemployment.

There are many other important problems but if we can solve the above issues, many other issues can be addressed easily. Let us observe these issues in a brief way to try and find some feasible solutions to them.

THE KASHMIR ISSUE:

      . Every part of India has been emancipated 63 years ago except for Kashmir and this audacious statement of mine is strongly supported by United Nations, according to whom the Kashmir under India is only partly free and Pak occupied Kashmir is not at all free. This statement alone shows the present situation of the state which is very well known for its sedate quietude. The state most often described as the land  for astute and ascetic people, in the proper Hindu sense a moksha centre i.e..a place where moksha can be achieved with a relatively less effort… is now in such a crisis. So what are the reasons for the present crisis? What are the factors that changed this heavenly place into a dungeon? And what are the necessary steps to culminate the dire situation in the state are the questions that need to be answered sooner than later………..

           The state of Kashmir was one of the most serene and beautiful places in the world and it still is , but for the never ending boundary disputes between two nations which were together once. The important factors that turned this godly place into a god forsaken one are as diversified as the people  present in the nation. The important factors apart from the above mentioned boundary disputes are 1. The infiltration of foreign militants  2.The religious fanaticism 3. The power hungry politicians and finally the people with callous, insouciant attitude and there is another threat that is reasonably well concealed and probably the most hazardous one that is the Chinese planning to occupy the state. Each and every factor is rampant in the state’s present situation and every factor should be addressed and then only we can at least try to improve state’s clime. So after analyzing the state of affairs in my own way the only solution my mind comes across is the solution that everyone of us know, the same solution that helped us to become free, yes it is the peaceful revolt against the all the evils. I know this may sound quixotic but it is not impossible.

CORRUPTION :

               India is going to conduct the common wealth games this year. The first important news regarding the same were about the corruption in the organization of the CWG. India’s most famous gaming event IPL is clouded with the allegations of corruption. And to our horror almost all the important governing decisions are influenced either by power or money. This is the order of the day in our nation. Does this mean that only we are corrupt? No there are many other nations more corrupted than we are. So speaking frankly we can say that this is not the problem of a nation but this is the problem of entire mankind. If I am not a bit harsh human beings are the most selfish species existing on earth right now. So can we leave the present state of affairs as they are? No because if we see there are many people who are far less corrupt and more cooperative than we are. This shows that even corruption can be reduced and if planned properly can be eradicated. This may be an optimistic idea but it is definitely possible. The solution again is the same old Gandhian or Indian principle of love. As goes the maxim ” love the neighbor as thyself.” This principle is not even Indian, it is the principle of the world but only that the reason to love has been elucidated well in the philosophy of Vedanta. The reason is according to the advita philosophy, every living being on earth is a different manifestation of the divine being. So according to this loving the neighbor is nothing but loving himself. But it takes a lot of time to even to understand such a statement and once it is understood nothing can stand between such a person and god and to talk about corruption! It would have lost its significance long time back. This again proves the power of philosophy.

POVERTY:

                       Then comes poverty. Many people or all most all the people are poor. Yes, some are poor financially and some are poor in humane values. So our poverty financial poverty can be eradicated only after eradicating all other poverties. The present situation of our nation reminds me of the old proverb “rich getting richer and poor getting poorer.” This suites us exactly as many Indians are billionaires but india is a predominantly poor country. Again the solution is same. Love and love alone can help us become a nation where all its citizens get at least a meal per day.

POPULATION EXPLOSION AND UNEMPLOYMENT:
                      Both these problems go hand in hand. And population explosion is the problem that is unique to our nation. And there is another problem that is a consequence of these two that is the restlessness of youth out of work. This restlessness may become a cause for violence also. The power of youth which is a benediction to any country could become a malediction if it is misguided and we are now experiencing both the effects. This can be addressed if we solve the above problems..

   In this way we have just come across some of the important problems faced by us. And there are many other important problems like terrorism, maoism, separatist movements and religious, sectarian violence. Each of them can be addressed by the proved principles of nonviolence and love.

EPILOGUE:

PROLOGUE:

           After writing about MK Gandhi, his philosophy, vedantic principles and after briefly describing the problems persisting in our nation I thought to mark these final few lines in the present work as an epilogue. But after rereading the title of the essay the matter that I am going to present now will only become the prologue for this essay. Yes this is the prologue and the story that follows will not be presented here but it will be the future story of India. We have seen in short, the principles of father of our nation, then I have tried to present the problems persisting in our nation and also proposed a solution for each problem, a solution already existing, a solution prepared even before the occurEnce of the problem. Yes the solution is the oldest and best ever solution it is LOVE. Love can only be the best possible solution even though it may take some time,  probably a very long time but there will be a result and that too a fruitful result. Now finally after doing all the inspection and introspection regarding Gandhi, his philosophy and India I want to answer the question posed in the title.”HAS THE GANDHIAN PHILOSOPHY BEEN LOST IN PRESENT DAY INDIA?” and my answer is N. absolutely NO. hearty NO. but his answer needs justification and with help of the following points I would like to justify my answer in the best possible way I can.

·         The principles were not at all complex and they are not new to us Indians.

·         Whatever may be the present situation the soul of our nation is spirituality and the principles of Gandhiji are closely related to spirit and so they will be revered at any age and at any time.

·         Even though there are a lot of disturbances surrounding us, the youth some are able to follow those principles and that fact alone is enough to male love as the buzz word of renovated India.

            But mere having the ideals, leading the life by recapitulating the magnanimous personalities and revising the magniloquent speeches is not going to help our cause. We the children of the divine bliss, the progeny of the likes of Gandhi, swami Vivekananda should understand the foundation on which our nation is standing firm i.e. its principles and try to live them. Everyone cannot become a Gandhi but everyone can be abstained from becoming a Laden. My beloved politicians what we need is the education, the knowledge about the principles of such great souls and not their heritage sites. They are the people from  whom we can draw inspiration. Please don’t draw money from their tombs. Friends let us get inspired and work. I would like to end this work by translating some words pronounced by revolutionary writer in a regional language…

“LET THE HOUSES BE BUILT WITH FREEDOM, EQUALITY, FRATERNITY AND PROSPERITY AS FOUNDATIONS AND BRING HAAPPINESS TO PEOPLE……SO THAT THE WORLD BECOMES A BETTER PLACE TO LIVE IN…..”