Gandhi
was a king without a throne; a prince without a scepter. A warrior of the true
order of St. Michael, he carried no ordinary two-edged sword. And still he
conquered an empire and ruled without a title or a crown. What Jesus did not
achieve in his lifetime, Gandhi achieved: Through his instrumentality he
brought an empire to its knees without firing a round of ammunition.
In
the year 2010, here in Suriname, thousands of miles across the ocean from
India, what does this have to do with us?
One
year ago, on the occasion of the 140th Jayanthi, I posed a question:
Where have all the 'Gandhis' gone? The question was a deliberate echo of Bob
Dylan's famous song, 'Where have all the flowers gone?' a song that
reverberated in an era of protest across the international airwaves even as war
raged in parts of south-east Asia. And here we are gathered one year later, and
like an old scratched record, Mr. Taylor poses the same question: 'Where have
all the Gandhis gone?'
Some
of you may ask why repeat the question a year later? The speaker's intent then,
as today, is a deliberate attempt to demythologize Gandhi as a relic of
history, an icon of the last century. It is a serious attempt to wrench
Mohandas Gandhiji out of dry history books and academic study, and instead to
say that his approach is relevant to our world, in our time, at this moment of
history - right here and now with climate change on everyone's doorsteps in the
global village of the 21St century - yes, right here in Suriname -
even in the microcosm of the AlphaMax and the ICC.
One
year ago, I advanced the view that great and noble souls like Jesus and Gandhi,
the Buddha, Mohammed, St. Francis, Mother Teresa, Gurudev Tagore, Shri
Yoganandaji, Dada Lekraj, Bahullah, the list is countless - they do not come to
the world to be worshipped. Instead, they come and are sent as examples,
Promethean light-bearers pointing the way - illuminating a course for those who
follow. While worship may help in the establishing what they espouse, from
their enlightened perspective, of greater importance and significance is the
recognition that we who follow possess similar potentialities as they do, and
therefore, in emulating and follow their examples, we would be agents in
helping to establish a stable world order of peace, mutual respect, and
enlightened happiness.
And
so, the question Mr. Taylor posed last year and this one as well - where have
all the Gandhis gone - is a rhetorical question. It is in fact a call to us
gathered here this evening to become Gandhi-like - not just on this Jayanthi
celebration, but in the living circumstances, however mundane or extraordinary,
life presents or confronts us with.
Dear
friends, allow me to touch on three aspects of the Mahatma's life that I think
are worthy of reflection on this 141st birth anniversary.
The
first is that quality that truth-seeking souls manifest in the ascent to
lasting freedom and greatness: that is the quality of simplicity. Gandhi was an
amazingly simple man - he stripped life down to her utter essentials: be honest
and truthful, and take care in your actions - not to harm others. Here was a
man who even as he walked with
kings, presidents and princes - he
never lost the common touch. 'Harijan' a key Gandhian concept became a
foundation pillar in his vision of social uplift. He even lived as one. No one
was to be overlooked or excluded; none were to be left behind.
Given his concept of trusteeship,
the wealthy or those with considerable means were to function as trustees for
those who had little or were underprivileged. Talk about 'affirmative aciton'
and 'no child left behind' - he was not someone who merely spoke about it, he
walked the talk and made it his business to recruit others in fighting the
cause for betterment of not only the middle class but the poorest of the poor.
In our world where the divide between the rich and poor have reached epic
proportions - the latest scats of Suriname suggest that the wealth of the
nation is in the hands of 1% of the people - any child listening must also ask
him or herself: Where have all the Gandhis gone?
Even
as he debated matters of national significance and sought to find solutions and
strategies for India's struggle for freedom and independence, he found time to
be in the company of sheep and goats, and in utter simplicity, he even found
time to play with clay. He understood the language of children and his
consciousness reached down effortlessly to the inanimate realm - where being a
vegetarian, drinking goat's milk and understanding his role to be a priest and
steward of nature meant as much to him as debating the consequences and virtues
of not taking up arms against India's colonial master, the British, during
World War II. Here was a man for all seasons: a friend of children, a lover of
animals, a clear thinker, a peace-maker, and yet a master strategist when it
came to developing and executing a plan of action for national freedom.
The second aspect of the
Mahatma Mr. Taylor would like to shine a torch on is Gandhi's unswerving
commitment to self-transformation. Gandhi was not born Mahatma Gandhi; he was
born Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, the son of Putlibai and Karamchand. Like you
and me, he was an 'atma' - a living soul. However, he became a Mahatma. The
honorific title of Mahatma, just like the honorific title of Christ, was
bestowed upon Gandhi not at birth; but in Gandhi's case, after he had passed
the midpoint of his life. The question, we should ask therefore is how did he
receive this title? (As a footnote, perhaps, a congruent line of questioning
should be applied to the person of Jesus, on whom the honorific title
of the Christ was bestowed more than 2000 years ago.) The
honorific title of Mahatma -which Gandhi himself was not very comfortable with
- was the result of Gandhi's successful struggle through persistence to push
beyond commonly-accepted limits and standards; indeed the title was the
reflection of the degree of lustrous excellence he had achieved in personal
development, growth, and self-transformation. Here was a man who approached
life as a polynomial series of challenges - some noxious and others quite
innocuous. And, guess what, he was not willing to give up; he made it his
business to persevere and remain undaunted to the bitter, however-bitter end.
Ladies and gentlemen, isn't this
supposed to be true of our lives too? Isn't this what life calls each of us to?
Like Gandhi, we're all engaged in complex, dynamic processes of struggle amid
countless untold challenges. What must be defining for us like him is the
spirit and values we bring to the experiences of our life's struggles. What
must be defining in this drama called life is the quality of the energies we
invest, the quality of the slumbering forces of will we manage to awaken, the
quality of our commitment, and the fortitude we demonstrate as we wage the
battles of life each step of the way, no matter at what cost.
My friends, it is through an
awakening of our slumbering forces of will, an honest awakening of passionate
consciences, an honest awakening of genuine soul commitment, an honest
awakening of fortitude that we can begin to arouse ourselves to an identity
with Gandhi, the man, who became a 'mahatma' after his achievement of lasting self-transformation.
As
parents and adults, don't we ask our children to grow up? In fact, given the
rhythm of life and just the biological necessity of development, we tell them,
"Stop being childish and grow up!" But, doesn't the same principle of
development, pushing the limits and going beyond mundane expectations, apply to
us, the grown-ups and adults as well? Mr. Taylor constantly tells his
colleagues - even in the presence of students: let's not forget, we're also in
school - the classroom of life - and in that cadre, successful
self-transformation is
an outcome of a life of worthy
struggle.
One
final aspect of the Mahatma I would like to touch on this evening is Gandhi's
deep sense of hope and compassion. With him, there was always room for
understanding. As tough as he was with himself and others, condemnation had no
permanent role in his universe. In his closing years, we see this amply
demonstrated in his struggle to convince Mr. Jinnah to stay in the union.
Nonetheless, in this regard, I'd like to project just a few Gandhian aphorisms
for reflection on this topic of compassion and hope:
The weak can never forgive.
Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.
The law an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.
The law of love
could be best understood and learned through little children.
I like your Christ, [but]... your
Christians are so unlike your Christ.
What is obtained by love is retained for all time.
Earth provides enough to satisfy
every man's need, but not every man's greed.
The roots of violence are: Wealth
without work, pleasure without conscience, knowledge without character, commerce
without morality, science without humanity, worship without sacrifice, politics
without principles.
And so, dear friends, even as we
each engage ourselves in the battle of life, let's not forget to move with
caring, kind, loving, compassionate hearts. You see, in the Gandhian universe,
as in the universe of Christ and the Buddha, enthroned in each being, indeed in
each of us, is a Mahatma as well. It's just a matter of time before it is
apparent - even as the same became eventually manifest in the lives of Jesus
the Christ, Gautama Siddhartha, the Buddha, and in the last century, Mohandas
Karamchand Gandhi, the Mahatma.
Permit me to remind you of Gandhi's
words which last year's guest speaker, Ambassador Pascal Alan Nazareth, has
written in his book Gandhi's Outstanding Leadership: "A small body
of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter
the course of history."
The Gandhian vision did not dim in
January 1948 when the lamp of his physical life went out. The vision still
shines in the ether; and given the urgency of this time as the shades of
climate change loom closer - it shines even brighter - merely awaiting
receptive hearts and lives to beam through with renewed, enriched, invigorated brilliance
and brightness.
Jai
Gandhiji!
Sean Taylor
