Life & Beyond : THE GANDHI WHO BECAME THE MAHATMA

Tuesday, 2 October 2012

THE GANDHI WHO BECAME THE MAHATMA

Every common man can do the most uncommon things provided he comes to realize how to unlock the potential in him to let his flow of energy go creatively unrestrained. And what could be a better symbolism of this basic truth about the human excellence than Mahatma Gandhi or Baapu or Father of the Nation we know as India or simply Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.

I had read his autobiography at quite an early age. I was drawn by its simplicity and boldness at the same time. Mohandas was indulged in every deed that almost every teenager used to. He was just like you and me.

But unlike the most of his age, the experimental streak that made him Mahatma had started developing in his teenage only. His days in England and South Africa were like one-after-the-other test conditions where he experimented with reflections of his thoughts, education and upbringing on the persona of him. Yes, he was very conscious about his persona that later on built a formidable ideology that subsequently toppled the British Empire in India.

It is true, like every other human being, he, too, was prone to errors and wrong judgement of emotions. But his intention could never be questioned, should never be questioned. He was dearest even to his most archenemies at the personal level.

He was aware of his errors and he mentioned them directly or indirectly. The most notable one was his wish to disband the Indian National Congress after the Independence was achieved. Probably he wanted to mend for promoting Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru at the cost of first Subhash Chandra Bose and then Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.

Yes, Nehru proved his trust right in some senses but on reflecting after 65 years of the Independence, we can easily see what all has gone wrong, worst is the deep root of the dynasty politics in India. Now it is just not about the Gandhis only. Almost everyone is busy promoting kith and kin. Probably, the Mahatma had the hunch of it.

He did commit mistakes but his good deeds, progressive ideology and a revolutionary methodology to achieve the goals simply outdid everything negative on his slate and outshined everyone else. Don’t we say to draw a line bigger than the existing one to prove a point? The Mahatma did the same with a remarkable finesse.

He made his goals common with the ordinary Indian travelling the third class of the railway compartment. He truly became the ‘one’ among them. He honestly tried to embody their souls and succeeded. He became their thoughts from a person among them.

From a Gandhi of Porbandar, he became the Mahatma of the masses.

And his thoughts, or the Gandhian way of life, has permeated not only India but across many parts of the world. No other thought process associated with a single person has become a way of sociopolitical thinking post the emergence of the Mahatma.

In the contemporary world history, he remains unparallel, like the most holy spiritual sage Swami Vivekananda, again an experimental human being who became a thought.