Mahatma Gandhi
Friday, 2 October 2009
I am here to talk about a man - to talk about a man, no ordinary man. Toward the end of his life he was honoured with the title of Mahatma: Maha means “great”; Atma means “soul”. Mahatma, Great Soul, a person who identified with the poorest of the poor, was a rousing inspiration as a leader to millions - one who loved the very people from whom he was demanding justice and freedom.
Great soul, but he would say “I am just an average man.”
Once he was sitting in a train in Bombay. Just as the train was about to leave, a reporter runs up and asks, “Gandhiji, would you give a message for our readers?”
“My Life is my message,” he says.
You remember how young Gandhi - a young barrister from London travelled in a train in Africa. He was dapper, all decked out in a suit, holding a first class ticket. But the train inspector threw him out. He said “FIRST CLASS, WHITES ONLY.” After he was roughed up and dumped on the platform, he slowly got up. It was night time. Out of the shadows a man comes out - a white man. “I am a lawyer,” he says, “I saw everything - I want to sue that inspector and want to see to it that he is punished.” Dusting off his knees and elbows, straightening himself, Gandhi says, “Revenge will do no good… An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.”
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born on this day, in 1869.
Text written by Sri Sridharan. Images from Life.