2nd Ocotber 1869

Today, I remember another great person, who have made history, and I personally consider him to be a saint, MOHANDAS KARAMCHAND GANDHI. Gandhiji was born on October 2, 1869, at Porbandar, a small town on the western coast of India.

I am sure all are aware about Gandhji’s life and and His preaching of Ahimsha. Today I would like share on something that I have read about Gandhji that have touched my heart.

The below is a part of the lecture by Professor Madhu Dandwate on "Gandhi's Human Touch”. I read this some years back, but every time I read this, my mind fails to control the tears that swells in my eyes…..

If only we could practice even a small friction of what Ghandji have preached… the world would be a better place to live…Don’t you agree with me????



Women in Champaran

Sensitivity for the problems of women as the weakest among the weak was another trait of Gandhi. Gandhi had sent a team of workers to study and report on the problems of the Champaran district. But the report they gave him did not refer to any problems of the women there. "How can any report be complete without an account of the women's problems?", he asked. The workers told Gandhi that the women of Champaran were very shy and would not meet them. Gandhi then deputed Kasturba Gandhi and Avantikabai Gokhale to visit Champaran to report on women's agony. The women of Champaran would not first meet them and even open their doors.
At sunset, Kasturba Gandhi knocked one door and told the women inside: " We are moving round your town from sunrise to sunset. We are now thirsty. Will you not offer us a glass of water ?" A door was then slightly opened. A woman's hand peeped out with a glass of water on her palm. Kasturba drank water and then said: " Sister we have seen your hand. We have seen the glass of water on your palm. But we want to see the woman behind this hand." The woman inside broke down. She said: "Three women of our household share only one untorn saree and as one woman has gone out with that saree how could others open the door for you and expose our semi-naked bodies?" Kasturba told the weeping woman: "Close the door. The doors of your heart are opened." Kasturba and Avantikabai, touched by the reply, returned to Gandhi with this heart-rending report about women in Champaran. It steeled Gandhi's determination not to rest till the honour of these women were restored.

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Song

Trust you'll enjoy the song....

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Gandhi's Words

FAITH

• Faith gains in strength only when people are willing to lay down their lives for it.
• Faith is not like a delicate flower which would wither away the' slightest' stormy-'weather.
• Robust faith in oneself and brave trust of the opponent, so-called or real, is the best safeguard.
• A living faith cannot be manufactured by the rule of majority.
• What is faith if it is not translated into action?
• Faith is not imparted like secular subjects. It is given through the language of the heart.
• Every living faith must have within itself the power of rejuvenation if it is to live. Just as the body cannot exist without blood, so the soul needs matchless and pure strength of faith.
• Nonviolence succeeds only when we have a real living faith in God.
• My effort should never be to undermine another's faith but to make him a better follower of his own faith.
• My faith is brightest in the midst of impenetrable darkness.
• Nonviolence is the first article of my faith. It is also the last article of my creed.
• Even as a tree has a single trunk but many branches and leaves, there is one religion -human religion- but any number of faiths.

The above is fromhttp://www.fiu.edu/~fcf/Gandhi.quotes.html#FAITH .

Some of these quotes were painstakingly researched and categorized by Sunanda Gandhi from various sources, including some private Gandhi family documents. Others were selected by the FREE CUBA Foundation from Gandhi on Non-violence: A Selection from the Writings of Mahatma Gandhi - Edited by Thomas Merton and Mahatma Gandhi: Selected Political Writings - Edited by Dennis Dalton.

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