Mahatma's: Hard to be Accepted by Fainthearted

Today again i struggled to share and put forth my views, today also i was alone on behalf of a great man of our country, as i tried to justify his precious works, principles and devotion towards our country. All alone, with my respect for this man & his principles which are shadow of my master's (Jesus Christ) teachings. I was wrestling with absurd thinking and views of my friends about this man. I am talking about the thin man, with only two pieces of cloth woven by him to cover his body, man with a long stick in his hand which supported him in his old age and now after many years, i myself was trying to support his views & principles. We were talking about "Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi" or 'Bapu' (Father of our nation). Man who fought against British with two most decisive & accurate weapons: 'satyagraha'(striving for truth) and 'non violence'; with these strong principles he helped earn India its freedom from British.

Man who is worth of great respect & honor for his dedication and work for our country. But each time to my amazement, I come across people having negative thoughts against such noble personality. Especially our young generation, who are to be forerunners of our country's fate? I am very disturbed on seeing such a disrespectful attitude towards Gandhi's noble works. I don't know what misconceptions & misunderstandings do these young ones have about 'Bapu'; may be due to lack of knowledge about our history or ignorance to search truth & strength in bapu's principles and views. Their narrow minded thinking, frame bapuji as a selfish man; one who gambled with his career and life for freedom of his fellowmen just because he was personally humiliated by British in South Africa. They term his satyagrahi life as cause of his personal humiliations and not on any principle grounds of his strive for liberty and rights of his countrymen.

They aren't hesitant to call him a coward & a cunning politician, their pranks on his appearance and his way of living used to grieve me a lot. It's much painful when they laugh at my views, they don't believe in Ahimsa or Non Violence. It's very depressing to find myself alone in middle of those confused and lost minds. Sometimes, it even frustrates me when they counter attack my views of non violence by giving absurd reasoning and examples. Mostly, most of my Muslims friends have a great grudge against Gandhi's fame, may be due to partition of India, as they think that he was responsible for it. Secondly, misunderstanding about Gandhi's role in Bhagat Singh's hanging; sometimes it goes real hard to explain them about the real situation that bapu would have faced. Well, I appreciate Bhagat Singh's zeal for patriotism but bloodshed was not the right way to crown our freedom. It's such a silly thing to have a grudge against the struggle and sacrifice of our freedom fighters; after 60 years of independence we are not yet liberated from chains of division. Unless and until we as Indians don't hold thoughts of unity and harmony in our heart, it wont be possible to experience that ultimate spirit of freedom and liberty.

Our debate mostly surrounds around principles of Ahimsa & Satyagraha, bapu's dedication and sacrifice in our freedom struggle. We also compare bapu's way with other great patriots like Bhagat Singh, Subash Chandra Bose etc. For me, Bapu is above all those great men, as he took vital initiative to teach people about self help. He wanted to ignite the passion of freedom from each and every soul of India. He wished the dream of independence to be dream of every Indian and that dream to achieve by an effort of each and every Indian and not by group of extremists who will fight on behalf of people. I can understand their views about bapu, as they meditate on history.

What really makes me uneasy on hearing those sick & absurd views, is that, by going against those Gandhi an way & principles, these young ones are indirectly going against divine principles of Almighty God, whose major attributes constitutes of satyagraha, non violence & love etc.

I could sense utter urgency of spreading peaceful scent of divine principles & righteousness. If these young ones kept going with such weak views, the days will not be far when there would be dominion of evil, slavery & unrighteousness in this world. For me, respect for bapu is from childhood, it was much established when i learn t that he followed the way of Non violence and Satyagraha which are also primal teachings of Lord Jesus Christ. Gandhi Ji, respected teachings of Christianity but he was wise enough to stay away from religious politics of formal Christianity. He valued teachings of Christ and preached them openly to everyone in his own divine way. His ways & adoption of such Godly principles declare him to be a Man of God or a great Indian Christian.

Whether it be Gandhi who led India in its glorious freedom or it be Jesus Christ who leads towards salvation in life & power over sin. Whether it be struggle for liberty & freedom of millions or it be struggle of a soul to find liberty in this life. This struggle is to be very well carried by great wisdom, strength, commitment & willingness to sacrifice. With these divine weapons sharpened with simplicity, righteousness, dedication & reverence of God is the only successive one to win liberty in life. Jesus Christ as stated by N.V Tilak, the great Marathi poet & patriot in Christian arena, as a "satyagrahi" as he strive d for truth & righteousness, even giving His life for this freedom; trying to makes us aware about bondage of sin & lack of knowledge in our lives & He also shows the divine power that God offers us to break and overcome that bondage in our lives. But it's depressing to see such warriors of truth laying their lives in this freedom struggle, whether it is Gandhi for India or Lord Jesus Christ laying His for kingdom of God. But the wonderful thing is that these eternal souls & principles never die. For humankind, God brought Christ came back from death just show that we too can overcome death: death of unrighteousness. We are just to follow those divine teachings in our lives. For me, i can very well see reflection of Christ's love in works of Gandhi and I hope God will reflect Him through many such mahatmas’.

As for in my struggle to make my friends understand Gandhi's work, clearing their views about him & telling them strength of Non violence & satyagraha; our debate always ends with a deep silence, as inner voice of truth from my soul tells them, " it takes great courage to put down respected coat of a barrister and put on hand woven cloth of 'khadi', it takes real dedication to walk barefoot for miles for the rights of ones own countrymen, it requires great discipline to remain hungry for days to invite peace among various religious background of one's country, it takes mighty heart to sacrifice for selfless service and more ever it requires strong chest of divine principles to take a bullet from a violent & lost blind world.