Eyecatchers-109: "International Day of Non-violence"

The United Nations General Assembly decided on June 15, 2007 to observe October 2, the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, as International Day of Non-Violence. Kudos to the UN; it is a fitting tribute to the Mahatma. Let us pledge that we will do our best to promote non-violence and spread love and fellow-feeling among people.

Wikipedia article on “INTERNATIONAL DAY OF NON-VIOLENCE”:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Day_of_Non-Violence

Article from UN News Service:

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=22926&Cr=non&Cr1=violence

Grateful thanks to UN News Service and Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Random Thoughts-13: "On Gandhiji"

Gandhi Jayanthi (Gandhiji’s birthday) is being celebrated today not only in India but all over the world. On this day, I paid my humble homage to Gandhi by offering flowers to his portrait, reading a few inspiring passages written by him and also by posting my thoughts of him in my blogs.

Not that I think of him on his Jayanthi only; actually his smiling portrait adorns the foyer of our office and daily while entering the office, I mentally offer my respects to him and seek his blessings to live truthfully.

To me Gandhiji stands for, as I have said elsewhere in my blog:

NON-VIOLENCE IN THOUGHT, WORD AND DEED

TRUTHFULNESS IN THOUGHT, WORD AND DEED

UNIVERSAL LOVE

SIMPLE LIVING AND HIGH-THINKING

NON-COVETOUSNESS AND NON-POSSESSIVENESS and

SELFLESS LIFE AND SELFLESS SERVICE.

I should like to think that I am moving towards these ideals albeit inch by inch.

I also have a desire to read his complete works (I think they run into more than 100 bulky volumes), before I die and quote from them extensively in my blogs. I hope they will inspire and guide me, as also others who visit my blogs and have the patience to read them.

Some of his lofty and wonderful thoughts I have posted in my blog, “Role Models and Inspiring Lives”. Just a look at them would convince anybody how great and noble a soul he was.

I shall be immensely happy if the younger generation, especially my children, Priya and Vinod, read his writings and benefit by them.

I salute you, Mahatmaji, on this day and may I always keep you in my mind so that inspires me to tread the path of Truth and follow your noble ideals! No matter how many times I fail, I should still pursue these goals till the end, without losing heart.

Detailed Wikipedia article on: “MOHANDAS KARAMCHAND GANDHI”: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahatma_Gandhi

Full text of Gandhiji’s Autobiography, “THE STORY OF MY EXPERIMENTS WITH TRUTH“: http://wikilivres.info/wiki/An_Autobiography_or_The_Story_of_my_Experiments_with_Truth

Grateful thanks to Wikilivres and Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Gandhi Jayanthi 2008

Gandhi Jayanthi (Gandhiji’s birthday) is being celebrated today not only in India but all over the world. The world is slowly realizing the relevance of Gandhiji and the magnitude of his greatness. However, the younger generation, who are the makers of tomorrow’s history, don’t seem much aware of his life and greatness. It is a sad fact.

* “Experience has taught me that silence is a part of the spiritual discipline of a votary of truth. Proneness to exaggerate, to suppress or modify the truth, wittingly or unwittingly, is a natural weakness of man, and silence is necessary in order to surmount it. A man of few words will rarely be thoughtless in his speech; he will measure every word.”

* “What a great thing it would be if we in our busy lives could retire into ourselves each day for at least a couple of hours and prepare our minds to listen to the Voice of the Great Silence.”

* “Silence is a great help to a seeker after Truth life myself. In the attitude of silence, the soul finds the path in a clearer light, and what is elusive and deceptive resolves itself into crystal clearness. Our life is a long and arduous quest after Truth, and the soul requires inward restfulness to attain its full height.”

Courtesy: “TRUTH IS GOD” (Selection from the Writings of Mahatma Gandhi), Published by Navajeevan Press, Ahmedabad-380014. Grateful thanks to the Navajeevan Press.

Today in commemoration of Gandhi Jayanthi, I pay tribute to the Mahatma by reading his writings and also by posting a few passages from him.

* “I am but a poor struggling soul yearning to be wholly good – wholly truthful and wholly non-violent in thought, word and deed, but ever failing to reach the ideal which I know to be true. It is a painful climb, but the pain of it is a positive pleasure to me. Each step upward makes me feel stronger and fit for the next.”

* “To see the universal and all-pervading spirit of Truth face to face, one must be able to love the meanest of creation as oneself. And a man who aspires after that cannot afford to keep out of any field of life. That is why my devotion of Truth has drawn me into the field of politics; and I can say without the slightest hesitation, and yet in all humility, that those who say that religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion means.”

* “The instruments for the quest of Truth are as simple as they are difficult. They may appear quite impossible to an arrogant person, and quite possible to an innocent child. The seeker after Truth should be humbler than the dust. The world crushes the dust under its feet, but the seeker after Truth should be so humble himself that even the dust could crush him. Only then, and not till then, will he have a glimpse of Truth.”

In the News-4: "Gandhi Award for Mandela"

South African leader Nelson Mandela was conferred the Mahatma Gandhi International Award for Reconciliation and Peace-2008.

Courtesy: The Hindu, Madurai, July 24, 2008.
Detailed article on Nelson Mandela from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela

Grateful thanks to The Hindu and Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

How To-1: "How to Follow Gandhi’s Principles"

http://www.wikihow.com/

How to Follow Gandhi’s Principles
from wikiHow – The How to Manual That You Can Edit

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” Mahatma Gandhi from India.

Steps

1. To understand what the principles are. There are 6 principles that Gandhi followed:
   • Truth: learning from your own mistakes and conducting experiments on yourself
   • Nonviolence: nonresistance connected in a way to religion
   • Vegetarianism: carved in the Hindu and Jain traditions in India
   • Brahmacharya: spiritual and practical purity
   • Simplicity: giving up unnecessary spending
   • Faith: belief in a Higher power and that all religions are equal

2. Understand what is different of where and when Mahatma Gandhi lived and where and when you live
• He lived in India during the ’30s and ’40s when he was following these principles.
• We live in a society and amongst a generation that has a lot more technology, is more materialistic and we are not fighting for the same reasons (we have ‘freedom’(opportunities to do what we want to do))
3. Manipulate the principles to not lose the meaning behind them but be able to apply them without feeling restricted. Here is an example:
• Truth: fight your own inner demons, fear and insecurities. Everyone is unique in this world and therefore, one should not compare with others. Be honest with yourself of who you are and what you want. If you think there is something to fix, then fix it.
• Nonviolence: control your temper and also your thoughts. What we think, we become and therefore if you always are thinking of hurting someone or feeling extremely angry at someone, those are the vibes you’ll be giving to others. Best way to be nonviolent is to think positive and believe that whatever happens, it is for a good reason.
• Vegetarianism: not everyone can resist meat, but you can control your consumption. For health reasons, avoiding eating a lot of red meat is a good idea.
• Brahmacharya: many of us want to get married and have children or be intimate with someone. Therefore, becoming a brahmacharya might not be possible. However, you could reduce thinking of the opposite sex as an object. You could also wait to be intimate with someone till after marriage.
• Simplicity: life in the western countries tends to be quite fast. Do you need the latest fashion clothing or can you wear the clothes you already have? Do you need 50-100 pairs of shoes? Do you need the latest gadgets? Do you need a brand new BMW? Simplicity doesn’t mean foregoing all your desires, but not buying something right away or something you don’t really need. Simplicity also means being happy with what you are given and have.
• Faith: believing that there is someone or something higher than you. You don’t need to believe in God, but believing that everyone is equal and you are no less or more than someone else. It is knowing your values, ethics and morals. Faith is not following others blindly especially when someone else is doing something that your heart says is not right.

Tips

• Understand what you want out of life and know who you are; in this way you will be following these principles.
• Not all 6 principles need to be followed exactly the same way because your desires and wants also matter.
• See how these principles can fit in your lifestyle and make modifications to your lifestyle where you see it requires
• You can also modify the principles without losing the meaning behind what Gandhi was trying to teach.
• Have patience because it is easy to learn a bad habit, but hard to let go of one.
• Watch film ‘GANDHI’ (English film) on Mahatma Gandhi and ‘Lage Raho Munna Bhai’ (Hindi film)
• Read books on Mahatma Gandhi.

Warnings

• If you have decided to change a part of your life, you will need to be patient because there are days when you might fail and then you will need courage to start again.
  

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Article provided by wikiHow, a collaborative writing project to build the world’s largest, highest quality how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Follow Gandhi’s Principles. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

My Quest : Mahtama Gandhi

I am but a seeker after Truth. I claim to have found a way to it. I claim to be making a ceaseless effort to find it. But I admit that I have not yet found it. To find Truth completely is to realize oneself and one’s destiny, i.e. to become perfect. I am painfully conscious of my imperfections, and therein lies all the strength I possess, because it is a rare thing for a man to know his own limitations.

Young India, 17-11-1921

Courtesy: ‘Truth is God’ by M.K.Gandhi

Published by Navajivan Publishing House, Ahmedabad-380014

‘Let Us Know Gandhi Through Correspondence’ – Riyas, K.P. in Education Express, Supp. to The New Indian Express

Saturday, September 01, 2007
Eyecatchers-27 : ‘Let Us Know Gandhi Through Correspondence’ – Riyas, K.P. in Education Express, Supp. to The New Indian Express

“My life is my message.” It was Gandhi’s message to the world. The Gandhi Study Centre, located in Chennai, is on mission to spread the message of Gandhi’s life and philosophy to the common man with a special focus on youth. The purpose is to teach the society the positive message of Gandhi’s life based on historical facts and analysis, which is becoming increasingly relevant to the world, the centre is conducting correspondence course and study classes for the public and the students.

‘Let Us Know Gandhi Through Correspondence’ is a course conducted in Tamil and English by Gandhi Study Centre, which gives a rare chance to know and familiarise with the life and thoughts of Mahatma.

The course duration is three months. Contact classes at the nearby cities will also be arranged for the benefit of the students. The question paper will be sent to the participants. They can write the exams in their residence itself and send the answer papers to the centre.

The date of exam will be January 30, 2008. Certificates will be sent in due course to the successful candidates. Registration fee and course fee per candidate is Rs.150/- and those who register their names will get study materials free of cost. There is no educational qualification and age limit for enrolling in the course.

The Centre has instituted an award in the name of its founder TD Tirumalai for the students and the schools who take up the exam on My Experiments with Truth. It consists of cash prizes: Rs.1000/- (one first prize), Rs.500/- (six second prizes) and Rs.250/- (six third prizes).

With a good collection of materials on Gandhi, its library and research center has been recognized as one of the resource centres on Gandhi. The library which contains 10,000 books, CDs, video tapes, cassettes and photo collections, is a good resource option for educational institutions, research scholars, social activists and the public alike.

For more details: Gandhi Study Centre, 58,Venkatnarayana Road (near Hindi Prachar Sabha), T.Nagar, Chennai-600017. Ph: (044)24346549, 9444183198

(Excerpt from ‘Let Us Know Gandhi…’ by Riyas K.P. in Education Express, Supp. to The New Indian Express, Madurai, Aug.31, 2007)

Inspiring Lives-2: "Spiritual Stars of The Golden Age – Mahatma Gandhi"

Spiritual Stars of The Golden Age – Mahatma Gandhi