Relevance of Mahatma

(As Published in DNA on Gandhijayanti,Oct; 02,2009)
A lot of people ask me about people I adore, who my role models are, whom I would want to emulate….
One of them is Mahatma Gandhi.
Its 140 years that he was born and I find it amazing that he is still so very contemporary. People are talking of climate change and global warming these days. Gandhi was so very environment conscious. From cowdung to using natural light, Gandhi could be a called a pioneer and a real visionary in Environmental Issues.
Everybody makes a queue today and spends millions at spas and getting natural treatment for ailments. Gandhiji advocated naturopathy. He advocated vegetarianism much before it became an international rage.
That’s why I say Gandhi-ji was so very contemporary. I think what differentiates normal mortars from leaders is that leaders think much beyond. They are above petty politics.
Nobody can ever ignore Gandhi-this century or next or one after that…because Gandhi is beyond time and space. He will always remain contemporary. Yes, attempts are made(deliberate political attempts, I would say) to tarnish Gandhian ideology but as I said before Gandhi is beyond any time or space. He is ETERNAL. He is going to be forever CONTEMPORARY.
Whether it is Gandhi Chashma or Gandhian style of Naturopathy or his style of Environmental Consciousness, every generation will definitely find something in Gandhi that is so very contemporary. I love one sentence that Gandhi said which is not quoted often.
He said “in this world, there is enough for everbody’s need, but not for their greed.”
So very true. And such a simple explanation about simplicity. The most powerful messages always come in simple packages, isn’t it? These days when we have netas who claim to be guardians of 5.5 crore Gujaratis and who never cease to brag about their achievements and put up their photographs (from CNG rickshaws to AIDS awareness programs) Gandhi comes across a real Global Gujarati for whom vision is not about boasting but providing real leadership.
These days everyone is talking about Emotional Quotient and how it is as important as Intellegence Quotient. (IQ). Gandhi talked about the “human” angle decades ago. In fact, most successfully managed companies in the world today follow the Gandhian ideology. Gandhi was not against technology. He rather wanted to empower every person. For him, the Machine was not as important as the Man behind the machine. And more important than the Man too, was the Organisation. He believed that Organisations have to be people centric not machine or technology centric. This is basically the concept of every good governance and good management isn’t it?
Good Governance isn’t all about empowering five industrialists but to ensure equitable growth and development. Good governance is all about giving fair chance and treatment to one and all. Good governance does not mean whipping up communal and casteist passions. Good governance is not about hollow rhetoric.
These are my thoughts on Gandhi as I remember and pay my homage to the Father of the Nation.
There are four persons who have impressed me and whom I consider a Strong Force in my life.
There is no chronological order to this short list. But I would say Mahatma Gandhi, Lord Krishna and Shri Rajiv Gandhi.
END
Some more thoughts.
Before Gandhi becomes God

Interest in Gandhi is reviving world over. The way we have been talking about Gandhi, we are probably going on the path of making Gandhi another God. The problem with all our gods is that they are most talked and praised about, but least followed in real term. The same is happening in the case of Gandhi.
He immortalized the bhajan Vaishnavjan to tene kahiye je peed parai jane. Most of the functions about Gandhi have this bhajan. How many of us have taken this bhajan in its spirit of humanitarian approach- to think about others, their pains and miseries? I am no exception. Whenever I hear it, this question comes to my mind. And as a political leader, I have to listen it many more times than most of others.
Ishwar Allah tere naam sabko sanmati de bhagwan is another bhajan which Gandhi liked the most and it in his prayers. I feel that hardly there can be any other more powerful message about communal harmony. Despite all this, we are still striving for a society which thinks about others pain and misery which coexists peacefully amidst faiths and culture.
I am not scripting a lecture for October 2. I am sharing my thoughts with you all. The advantage with Gandhi is that he lived on this planet Earth in 20th century when we had well developed means to documents what he spoke, what he did and what happened. All this shows that Gandhi was an average man in flesh and blood who lived with common people the way all of us live.
I think that probably Gandhi is the best example to follow because of the documentation of his life in a manner in which we can know him without historical distortion wrapped in myths and mysteries. His ability to achieve so called impossible results through his universally available simple means is the result of his faith in his conviction of Ishwar allah and his commitment to vaishnav jan.
Albert Einstein said on the death of Gandhi that people in future would not believe that a man like Gandhi existed in flesh and blood. Yes what he did was quite unbelievable even at that time. But the way he did was very simple and very transparent and well documented. But going by human nature of deification, I think sooner or later we will have Gandhi in the list of gods. But a god across all religions and faiths.
But we should try at least once with all sincerity the Gandhian way. The message of these two bhajans is enough to make India, Ramraj of Gandhi, an excellent place to live and grow. It is not difficult. It is just to think by heart instead of mind. Yes, a heart sensitive to what it sees what it experiences.
This is central to the way Gandhi thought. This was the main idea when Gandhi rejected Lord Macaulay’s mind based education system of 3Rs and suggested his own heart based education system of 4H. He said that we should not have reading, writing and arithmetic as the basis of education. Instead, it should be based on head, hand, heart and health. The addition of heart makes the difference to our perspective of the world.
Gandhi did not stop with the suggestion. He set up Gujarat Vidyapith in Ahmedabad with this philosophy. And it was the heart that made Vidyapith staff and students jump into quit India movement. It was a classical example of education for change.
Adulation and adoration of Gandhi reminds me of Rajnish who said that none of us has become Christian, but we have made Christ, Christian, none of us has become Bauddh, but we have turned Buddha, the bauddh. Let’s try Gandhi before Gandhi becomes God and confined to lectures and seminars only.