|
Ghandi's
Wisdom
Ghandi
was a man of peace, who lived in very violent times.
He believed in the power of love, and the need for rational
thought. His advice and
guidance were powerful forces in their own right, often sought by
prominent world figures and by the people of his native India.
"It
is good to see ourselves as others see us.
Try as we may, we are never able to know ourselves fully as we are,
especially the evil side of us.
This we can do only if we are not angry with our critics
but will take in good heart whatever they might have to say."
Mohandas Karamachand Gandhi
One
famous story of Ghandi’s wisdom is set in 1947.
A fellow countryman, who was seeking solace and redemption,
approached Ghandi. The
man had killed a child! He
had done this great evil in the name of war, religion and politics.
"You
assist an evil system most effectively
by obeying its orders and
decrees.
An evil system never deserves such allegiance.
Allegiance to it means partaking of the evil."
Mohandas Karamachand Gandhi
Unfortunately,
Hindi India and Moslem Pakistan have a long history of violence
against one another, including the violence of this time period.
The child-killer was a Hindi; the child had been a Moslem.
"Man
and his deed are two distinct things.
Whereas a good deed should call forth approbation,
and a wicked deed disapprobation,
the doer of the deed, whether good or wicked,
always deserves respect or pity as the case may be."
Mohandas Karamachand Gandhi
Ghandi
listened to the man’s tale of woe and self-hatred.
Ghandi had no need to condemn the man … the man had already
condemned himself. Ghandi
deliberated over this heart-wrenching crime, which was being
repeated by many other men from each religious fraction, and
eventually Ghandi gave to the desperate and despairing child-killer
the solution which would repair his broken heart and mind.
"Man's
nature is not essentially evil.
Brute nature has been known to yield to the influence of love.
You must never despair of human nature."
Mohandas
Karamachand Gandhi
Ghandi
believed in love, and the fellowship of all men ahead of all
religious politics. He
knew what he would tell the child-killer would stretch the man
beyond the boundaries of ignorance and hatred. Ghandi knew what he
was asking the man to do would have at one time been thought
impossible. He would
instruct the man to accept into his own home the very reason for his
previous atrocity. The
child-killer would have a life-long lesson in compassion,
understanding and love.
Ghandi
said, "Go forth and find a Moslem child who has been
orphaned by the riots. Take
that Moslem child into our own Hindu home and raise him as your own
son, but as a Moslem."
"Hatred
ever kills, love never dies;
such is the vast difference between the two.
What is obtained by hatred proves a burden in reality
for it increases hatred.
What is obtained by love is retained for all time."
Mohandas Karamachand Gandhi
Children
Buy this Magnet at AllPosters.com
Reviews
(applause received) 
Be
the first to review this anecdote - click here.
|
