When Arjuna requested Lord Krishna to reveal His imperishable form, if He thinks that it can be seen by him then Lord Krishna said to Arjuna:
Na tu mam shakyase drashtumaneneiva svachakshusha|
Divyam dadami ye chakshuhu pashya me yogameishvaram|| (Gita 11:8)
(meaning: Surely you cannot see Me with these physical eyes f yours; thererfore, I vouchsafe to you the divine eye. With this you behold My divine power of Yoga).
Gandhiji's character is also so much vast and deeper that one cannot understand him with one's own intellect. To understand Gandhiji one must seek the divine knowledge from Shrimad Bhagwad Gita.
Once there was a phase in Gandhi's life when he wanted to quit Hinduism an adopt to Chrisinity. And then Shrimad Rajchandra came in his life. He explained the core of Hinduism to Gandhi and gave him Shreemad Bhagwad Gita. Gandhiji's life was transformed after reading Gita. Shreemad Rajchandra was his spiritual Guru.
Gandhiji completed his law degree in London and he got his first case in Africa. In Africa Gandhi was travelling in train in first class coach. However even though having a first class ticket with him, he was literally thrown out of train saying that coolies (word used for Indians) are not supposed to travel in first class. What you would had done if you were in place of Gandhi? You would have chosen one of the two options as follows:
First: "Let not bother about all this. I am here to fight the case and I will leave Africa soon. I should not involve in all these."
Second: "Make a friendship with highest authority and get all the luxuries as long as I am in Africa".
Normally anyone would have chosen one of the above two easiest options available. However Gandhi did not choose any of these two options. He took third option to challenge the authority of human rights. "If I have first class ticket, I am entitled to travel in first class". The rest is history. In those days there was no such words as "human rights" and certainly not in Africa. If Gandhi have opted for any one of the first two options then the world would not have known Mahatma Gandhi.
I have to pen with very heavy heart that today in 21st century, violation of human rights are visible. Everyone experiences some sort of discrimination in life. And yet we do not opt for third option because we are not Gandhi. We can only talk about human rights.
Due to Corona-19 pandemic, every nation worldwide have begun to rethink about the economic position of their nation. Everyone believed that this pandemic originated from China. Suddenly people began to boycott Chinese products. Many companies are pulling out of China to other countries. Every nation felt that China has become so powerful that no nation can defeat China by weapons. The only way to defeat China is to cripple Chinese economically.
Gandhiji told the same thing 100 years ago. He knew that India will not be able to defeat Britain by weapons. The only way is to cripple Britain economically. He gave message of self dependence (Swavalambi) to Indians and gave them spinning wheal (charakha). He told Indian to weave their cloths. Boycott all British products.
The current Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi is talking about "Atma Nirbhar" - self reliance is not new. It is the same 100 years old philosophy of Gandhiji. Whatever Modi talks and does is only to revive the philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi. That is the reason Narendra Modi has been the most popular Prime Minister world-wide.
Quit India movement:
When Gandhi returned from Africa, he was asked to be at the helm of Congress. However Gandhi wanted to travel across India first to see and meet his fellow citizens. He travelled extensively across India as an ordinary citizen in third class. He saw and witnessed the suffering of his people. When he saw that his own brothers and sisters are surviving half naked, his heart cried and immediately he took vow, "I shall not wear anything except a dhoti till all my brothers and sisters have proper clothes to put on". The world has not seen such consciousness and concern in any leader in past and present and will never see it again in future too. Gandhi continued with this vow till last day of his life.
Did Gandhi asked freedom for his country? Readers of this Blog will be surprised to know that Gandhi never asked freedom for his country. Then what did he ask for? Why did he say, "Quit India"? For Gandhi definition of freedom is not to draw few lines of freedom on paper. Or not to rule the country by his own people. For Gandhi a country is made up of group of many states. States are a collection of many villages, towns and cities. And number of societies together make up for village, town or city. A society is a group of number of families and a family is a group of people living together. For Gandhi freedom for his country is a freedom for every citizen of his country where everyone will live together without any fear. His vision was, each countryman is free to observe his own culture without any prejudice against other culture.
All those people who joined with Gandhi in his mission "quit India", sought freedom for India. None has sought freedom for its people. Gandhi's vison for freedom was, " I want the culture of all lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any"
Did Gandhi got freedom of his vision? His own close associate who wanted freedom for the country have murdered Gandhi's vision and allowed partition of India.
Rest is history known to everyone. Thousands of families were left homeless. Uncounted number of ladies were looted and raped. Many children became orphans. And in the last 70 years trillions of dollars have been spent by both countries in boarder protection. Many lives are lost from both countries in boarder protection. Both countries still continue to spend money and sacrifice lives in boarder protection. Is this the kind of freedom Gandhiji had in mind? If only all his associates had understood the Gandhi's philosophy of freedom then Britain would not dare to divide India in two parts. Would you blame Gandhi for the partition of India? And someone who did not understood Gandhi, accused Gandhi for the partition of India and killed him.
The fact is that no one has ever understood Gandhi. To understand Gandhi one has to be Gandhi. Mahatma Gandhi was neither for Hindus nor for Muslims. He has devoted his entire life for humanity. He was Mahatma (great soul) in true sense.
We human beings have always been, are always and shall always live and die within our owns elf. We always think of us ourselves. We can only talk about welfare of people but we cannot devote our life for people because we are only mortals (jivatma). To know and understand Mahatam is not our cup of tea. Albert Einstein truly said, " Generations to come will scarce believe that such a one as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth".
What is the point in reading biography of Mahatma Gandhi? A simple person of average physical structure freshly graduated in law could have earned lot of money. However going through the nectar of Gita over and over again and practicing the message of Lord Krishna in life, even he did not realized when Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi became Mahatma Gandhi. He just lived as a devotee of humanity.
If you would have visited a library, you will find thousands of books with immense knowledge in it. Human brain is also like a library. Whatever one hear or read is stored in one's brain library. Just as the books stored on the shelves of library are of no use to anyone unless read, similarly the knowledge stored in one's brain library is of no use unless put in practice. Gandhiji has turned his life spiritually and devoted his whole life on the fundamental principals of humanity.
Though partition of India is a sad event, I am confident that some day in future may be 500 or 1000 years later, a new sunrise will come when the leaders and people will realize the mistake done by their ancestors and then India will again be united as whole. That day Gandhiji's vision will come true where each countryman is free to observe his own culture without any prejudice against other culture.
Jai Hind.
Manhar Narsey
