In the first year of this blog, I posted a summary of an article called Gandhi’s Top 10 Fundamentals for Changing the World. It was one of the more popular early posts here because it used all those keywords – a famous name, “top 10”, etc. But more importantly and why I posted it, the article also contained some key phrases from his teaching. Like “Without action, you aren’t going anywhere.”
Today, about 7 and a half years later, a friend send me a similarly titled article, 10 Reasons Why Gandhi Is My Hero. Where the first was aphorisms from his teaching, this one is quotes from stories about his life.
Gandhi was raised with strong but various Indian philosophy influences then later explored western ones. Plato, Ruskin, Salter, Thoreau, and Tolstoy are said to have been strong influences.
Gandhi was indeed a remarkable man. But he was also very human and apparently not an easy man to deal with. This is often true of driven personalities. While he was heroic and driven to service, some of that drive came from anger. He was motivated to spirituality but not spiritually awakened. He also engaged in some questionable behavior and took some very controversial positions.
I say this not to demean his work in any way – but rather to see him realistically and remind ourselves what an ordinary human can accomplish. I suspect Gandhi would have agreed. He was not enamored of the Mahatma title – he said it “pained” him.
He has inspired many around the world including Martin Luther King and the US civil rights movement. King said “Christ gave us the goals and Mahatma Gandhi the tactics.”
His Birthday on Oct 2 is celebrated as the International Day of Nonviolence or Gandhi Jayanti. He is an example worth remembering – but as the person he was.
Davidya
Last Updated on June 10, 2017 by Davidya
Nice article David! Reminds me of the Bollywood movie “Gandhi, My Father”. A story about his eldest son and the strained relationship they had. Most driven leaders of yesteryears seemed have had troubled marriages and family lives! May be with the age of awakening that will change and we will see balanced and enlightened leaders in all fronts.
Hi Gayanee
Yes, a nice thought. Some people are designed to stir things up but yes, when we resolve the drivers born of our unresolved baggage, things get much smoother all around.
Sorry for the lag in responding. I went off to look up the film and didn’t get back here. 🙂
Thanks, Davidya. And, hello, Gayanee, as well. Fun to see you here.
Davidya, I enjoyed this article (no surprise there!) and find it especially useful that you noted that Gandhi had not, in that lifetime, moved into Enlightenment.
So often people assume that Enlightenment has happened to anybody who has been admired. Or does something important. Or looks particularly enticing. Or whatever.
But Enlightenment is a state of consciousness — as many of your blog articles so beautifully illustrate, there is a fascinating range of states of consciousness really, with basic “Enlightenment” being just a beginning.
(And yet plenty.)
It doesn’t detract from Gandhi’s greatness that he hadn’t moved into Enlightenment.
And it is important for all who care about Enlightenment to be able to understand the difference between admiration and using skills of energetic literacy to discern what is going on with a person, really. (Skills of energetic literacy or whatever else a person would use as a basis for reliable knowledge.)
Agreed, Rose. Distinguishing charisma from presence can be very useful. Also seeing when a teacher or mentor is bringing more than deep truth to the table.
I’ve experienced such problems myself and the trouble it caused students.
We can’t determine these things from appearances. We need energetic literacy and self-authority.