Many a times have we heard and studied about the Father of our Nation, our pride and joy, Mahatma Gandhi. His devotion to spreading messages of love, non-violence and truth has highly impressed the entire world, and is continued to be praised, even today…or is it? Apart from our history lessons in school and the various programmes conducted to commemorate the related occasions (why, even the recent Gandhi Jayanti, when this thought struck me), have we once stopped and looked deeper into Gandhiji’s principles? The world we live in today could hardly be any different from the global community one-and-a-half centuries ago. Amidst all what’s going on in this busy world, have we ever wondered how Bapuji’s aspects of simple living and high thinking could actually benefit us? The honest answer would be ‘No’, but we can change that by taking a closer look at the current scenario of the world and how Gandhiji’s ways can be a simple but effective solution for this.

It’s sad to see that today, fights are initiated between two people, two communities, two states or even to the extremes of two countries, for the simplest of reasons. People are mercilessly being killed, treated like scum and not granted justice- brutal rape cases- or set against each other because of fights over land, superiority or countless other seemingly silly ideas. To top it all, we have people murdering certain others for differences in religion. These are only a small part of the issues, but they all something in common: ignorant, power-hungry people.

Where are all the morals and values we learnt in school? “Honesty is the best policy”, “Speak nothing but the truth”, Forgive and forget”, “All are equal”. They seemed to have vanished from existence itself. Despite being taught time and again by our teachers, elders, parents and almost everyone, we fail to remember and practice these traits.

This is where Mahatma Gandhi’s principles come into the picture; the four fundamentals: Truth (Satya), Ahimsa (Non-violence), Welfare of all (Sarvodaya) and Peaceful protest (Satyagraha). These surely are familiar to us all, having had these words plastered over our history textbooks in almost every chapter. Well, why not let it come to reality, then? In this corrupt little planet, the only way we can create a difference is by acknowledging these virtues and putting them to practice. And the sooner, the better! It is said that young minds imbibe ideas comparatively quicker, and it is also common knowledge that the healthy thoughts planted in minds at a young age bloom into beautiful habits in life; we can use this to our advantage. Parents and adults should train these notions into children young, and we children must understand and respect these views. Instead of turning to feuds and weapons for petty reasons, let’s do it the non-violent way: The Gandhian way. If ‘Sarvodaya’ exists, there isn’t a need for fight. If ‘Satya” is upheld and embraced, there needn’t be lies, leading to fights. If someone comes up with a provocative reason, let the thoughts of ‘Ahimsa’ and ‘Satyagraha’ take over you. If all these four correlated factors exist in harmony, the world itself can change into a totally different place: a place of peace, a place of love.

This may probably be the best example of something “easier said than done”. For this, we require high patience, sheer determination and a strong mindset that “Yes, we can do it, we should do it, and we will do it.” The world may be advanced in several aspects, but when it comes to humanity, it is in shambles. So forget not the teachings of Gandhiji; we are nothing in this condition without it. Sure, we may have been blinded sometimes, ignoring the truth and forgetting the consequences for our actions, but as long as we’ve learnt our lesson and believed to change, things will be fine. Therefore, my dear fellow beings, let’s work together, peacefully, truthfully, for the welfare of all, in a non-violent manner, and heal the world, make it a better place, for you, and for me and the entire human race.

(Thank you MJ)

Thank you.