I visited the Gandhi memorial in the Birla House, a few weeks back. The garden outside the memorial is lined with photographs with captions that narrate Gandhiji's life's story. Walking through the exhibit was a moving experience, the nuggets from Gandhiji's life touched me deeply.
One such nugget recalls Gandhiji's interaction with the famed Russian philosopher and writer, Leo Tolstoy. Tolstoy's work, "The Kingdom of God is Within You", in which he advocates his views about non-violent resistance, left a lasting impression on young Gandhi's mind when he read it during his barrister days in South Africa. The ideas espoused in the book became Gandhiji's core guiding principles in the days to come. Gandhiji regarded Tolstoy to be his friend, guide and philosopher and wrote to him several times seeking advice and approval.
Tolstoy and Gandhiji offer an interesting study in contrast in terms of how they practised their life's beliefs. Tolstoy was a man who restricted his ideas to the realms of thought. This bred within him a deep sense of frustration and dejection at the general state of affairs in the world. He was pained to see his people suffer at the hands of the Tsar when there were so many better alternatives that he had preached in his books. This dejection led him to a deep state of depression from which he could never recover. His health deteriorated rapidly and he lost the will to survive. He writes about these things in his letters to Gandhi. In these letters, he also expresses his appreciation for Gandhiji's actions. He talks about the joy that he felt when he saw someone actually practise what he preached in his books. This leads us to the point that I want to make about Gandhiji's life.
Ghandiji was a "doer". He actually practised what he read in Tolstoy's works. He was a person who lived in the realm of action, not just thought. This is what made him such a great man. The principles of non-violence and passive resistance had been preached for ages, but for someone to actually practise them in the way that he did, took a lot of guts and courage. In fact, this is what helped a sensitive soul like Gandhiji keep his sanity intact as opposed to Tolstoy, who disintegrated beneath the burden of his conscience.
This story, shook me up like no other. In a simple way it explains the power of "doing". It explains why Gandhiji commands the respect that he has. It explains why the world celebrates Gandhiji the way it does. Due to over-exposure to Gandhi, we Indians tend to forget the reason for his greatness. Modern day spindoctors often tend to nitpick on the man's human failings in a bid to malign his memory and serve their personal agendas. Gandhiji was a "doer", if for nothing else, at least respect him for that.
Epilogue: A wonderful nugget from the Birla House exhibit.
Gandhiji never felt constrained by imprisonment. In fact he looked forward to it as a welcome vacation break from his hectic lifestyle. The walls of the prison actually sheltered him from the outside world and gave him time to read, write, pray and do things that he didn't find time for otherwise. Menial labour did not deter him, in fact he voluntarily enrolled for scavanging duty. I suspect that he actually looked forward to an imprisonment break once in every few years!
Learning: Relish every situation in life. There is something to learn from every experience.
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