Relevance of Mahatma Gandhi's Philosophy in Modern Era

by Aman Kohli

Mahatma Gandhi, "The Father Of The Nation", rests peacefully at RajGhat… or is it VijayGhat… or… ShaktiSthala? Sure? OK, let’s check it out. Ask the next five youngsters (age 12-19 years) you meet the following question "Whose smadhi is at Rajghat?" The answer may surprise and even shock some of us. For, this is what I found when I visited Bapu’s Samadhi last weekend. One of the visitors from the new generation seemed to be pretty sure that it was Gandhi’s samadhi… Indira Gandhi’s of course. Some of the others were not sure either.

But these youngsters may not be to blame. For those who have seen the era of Bapuji only can imagine what strength he used to represent. I also did not have the opportunity, but out of curiosity happened to go through his autobiography "My Experiments with truth". Main reason of my curiosity, besides the obvious, was Prof. Arindam Chowdhary’s theory "I" Management, i.e. "Indian" Management, wherein he maintains that unless we know our history and culture, we cannot and should not proclaim ourselves to be proud Indians.

I must say, that having read the book, I am indeed extremely impressed as millions might already have been, and present some of Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophies’ which are all the more relevant in todays’ context:

(A) MAHATMA GANDHI ON PARENTING
Gandhii was of firm believer that young children should not be separated from their parents for studies or any other reason. "The education that a child imbibes in a well-ordered household is impossible to obtain in hostels", he used to say. This is particularly true in todays’ fast world where one can see children as young as 6 months of age, being left in crèches to be looked after because both the parents are working. One must not forget that children form 80% of their mental make-up in the first six years. Wonder what sort of legacy we are passing on to our next generation… or is there any legacy at all. Another belief, which he held, was that "for proper upbringing of children, the parents ought to have a general knowledge of the care and nursing of babies". For example, did you know that the education of the child begins with conception. The physical and mental states of the parents at the moment of conception are reproduced in the body of the infant. Thereafter mother’s moods, desires and temperament, all have an effect on child’s mental state.

Gandhiji also regarded Character building above all other learnings. "I had always given the first place to the culture of the heart or the building of character, and as I felt confident that moral training could be given to all alike, no matter how different their ages and their upbringing, I decided to live amongst my children all the 24 hours of the day as their father. I regarded character building as the proper foundation for their education and if the foundation was firmly laid, they would be able to face life in a much better way", he used to say. Gandhiji never propagated to force one’s viewpoint on the children. "It is idle to expect one’s children and wards necessarily to follow the same course of evolution as oneself."

(B) MAHATMA GANDHI ON GOD AND TRUTH
Gandhiji was a firm believer in God and his existence. He was of the opinion that God had better plans for all the beings who are true "Man makes his plans to be often upset by God, but, at the same time, where the ultimate goal is the search of truth, no matter how a man’s plans are frustrated, the issue is never injurious and often better that anticipated." So sometimes when we know that we are right, we must hold on as God will guide us through his plans which are even better than we had ever imagined. "When every hope is gone, when helpers flee and comforts flee, I find that help arrives somehow, from I know not where." He believed in the powers of prayer "Worship and Prayers are no superstition. Prayer is an unfailing means of cleansing the heart of passions." Gandhiji drew most of his life’s guidelines through the Religious books. Ramayana and Gita were his favorites. "Ramayana of Tulsidas is the greatest book in all devotional literature", he said. Of Gita, he held a very high opinion. "Gita became an infallible guide of conduct. Just as I turned to English dictionary for the meaning of English words I did not understand, I turned to Gita as the dictionary of conduct for a ready solution of all my troubles and trials."

Gandhiji was a leader in true sense. He used to experiment new things, deeds, acts in his search for the truth. He called them his „experiments". Some of them were adopting vegetarianism, belief in nature’s remedies for all illnesses, taking only fruits and nuts for food, practicing yoga, observance of „brahmacharya", self help including cooking and washing clothes, going for long walks, memorizing chapters of Gita and so on. Gandhiji used to draw energy from God for all his experiments with truth. "He who would go in for novel experiments must begin with himself. That leads to a quicker discovery of truth, and God always protects the honest experimenter." All his experiments were aimed at self realization in which he found the eternal truth. "The lust of the mind cannot be rooted out except by intense self-examination, surrender to God and grace."

(C) MAHATMA GANDHI ON CHARACTER
Mahatma Gandhi was a strong follower of his conscience. "I had long since taught myself to follow the inner voice. To act against it would be difficult and painful to me." He believed in following the path of his heart and, where none existed, to make one. He propagated that it is better to try and fail for a cause that you believe in than to succeed in some alien cause. He quotes text from Gita to prove his point:

"Finally, this is better, than one do,
His own task as he may, even though he fail,
Than take tasks not his own, though they seem good.
To die performing duty is no ill,
But who seeks other roads shall wander still"

So even though it is OK to do one’s duty, but in the end it’ll not give you that sense of satisfaction, which you may get when you do tasks that you believe in.

Regarding freedom he said, "Where a choice has to be made between liberty and learning, liberty should be preferred a 1000 times more than learning. It is far better to remain illiterate and break stones for the sake of liberty than to go in for a literary education in chains of slavery". Thus one should not bear injustice in the name of working or doing ones’ duty, but rather break free and do a job even of lesser value. No job is mean .A lawyer’s work is the same as a barber’s and all have equal right of earning their livelihood from their work.

He realized the difficulties that any leader or reformer has to face in order to bring about the change. "Without infinite patience, it was impossible to get the people to do any work. It is the reformer who’s anxious for the reform and not the society, from which he should expect nothing better than opposition, abhorrence and moral persecution."

(D) MAHATMA GANDHI ON KEEPING FIT
Gandhiji believed in regular exercise and strict diet control to keep fit. He used to regularly practice yoga. "One should always find time for exercise, just as one does for meals." On fasting he had particularly interesting views. He claimed that fasting is useful only when mind cooperates with the starving body and cultivates distaste for objects denied to body during fasting. In other words the mind should not be distracted by delicacies to be relished at the end of fasting, otherwise there s no use of such mechanical fasting.

Thus the life and preaching of Mahatma Gandhi can give us what we all strive for throughout our lives: True sense of satisfaction and happiness.

Copyright, sources and comments
Copyright for this text has Aman Kohli. Copies of this text without his name are a violation of international copyright laws. The text was written in April 2001 and contains about 1370 words.
Aman Kohli is Bachelor of Engineering and Master of management Studies in India.

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