THE MAHATMA IN RETROSPECT
His follies and foibles notwithstanding, his admission of such fallibility bespeaks eloquently of his greatness in a world of petty men. This also proves how difficult absolute continence is and clearly highlights the psycho-physical limitations of the otherwise acclaimed greatness of seminal beings.
Gandhiji's open admission of his forays into prohibited territory was unknown in those days of far greater conservatism and stemmed from his sterling qualities of character which made him the iconic leader that he became. The efflorescence of his personality in the nursery of his fantastic experiments, however reprehensible they may seem to the casual observer, to the observant eye, though, will bear the tidings of a rudderless spiritual aspirant seeking safe anchorage and fumbling his way through the alleyways of labour and lust but triumphantly ever onto the ever-shifting goal which he failed to find when his life was cut short by the arms of an assassin. His failings highlight the glory of his striving even as they put his 'Mahatma' epithet into perspective and reduce its intended glory in spiritual terms.
Gandhiji, thus self-revealed, stands shorn of undue spiritual elevation and shines as a real political personality of magnificent attributes of honesty, honour, rectitude and rectification in the crucible of his life's renunciation which, though, for his obvious character failings, fell short of the spiritual high-water mark that is incumbent upon a Mahatma to attain. But the personality gleams still with its undimmed lustre, with its undiminished effulgence that can yet inspire men into leading lives of simplicity and wisdom in an age that has lost its ancient moorings in the higher attributes and divorced itself from the principles of preservation and purity.
Written by Sugata Bose
His follies and foibles notwithstanding, his admission of such fallibility bespeaks eloquently of his greatness in a world of petty men. This also proves how difficult absolute continence is and clearly highlights the psycho-physical limitations of the otherwise acclaimed greatness of seminal beings.
Gandhiji's open admission of his forays into prohibited territory was unknown in those days of far greater conservatism and stemmed from his sterling qualities of character which made him the iconic leader that he became. The efflorescence of his personality in the nursery of his fantastic experiments, however reprehensible they may seem to the casual observer, to the observant eye, though, will bear the tidings of a rudderless spiritual aspirant seeking safe anchorage and fumbling his way through the alleyways of labour and lust but triumphantly ever onto the ever-shifting goal which he failed to find when his life was cut short by the arms of an assassin. His failings highlight the glory of his striving even as they put his 'Mahatma' epithet into perspective and reduce its intended glory in spiritual terms.
Gandhiji, thus self-revealed, stands shorn of undue spiritual elevation and shines as a real political personality of magnificent attributes of honesty, honour, rectitude and rectification in the crucible of his life's renunciation which, though, for his obvious character failings, fell short of the spiritual high-water mark that is incumbent upon a Mahatma to attain. But the personality gleams still with its undimmed lustre, with its undiminished effulgence that can yet inspire men into leading lives of simplicity and wisdom in an age that has lost its ancient moorings in the higher attributes and divorced itself from the principles of preservation and purity.
Written by Sugata Bose
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