THE MAHATMA FROM A MILLION PERSPECTIVES ... 1

THE MAHATMA FROM A MILLION PERSPECTIVES ... 1

Gandhiji was one of the greatest figures in human history. Another like him will appear again when times are propitious and civilisation needs to be rescued. As of now, humanity must heed his path and traverse along the trajectory of his life for it to survive to see a new dawn. Arnold Toynbee, the great historian, reposes faith in the resurrection of an illumined way of living by following the path and the precepts of Emperor Asoka, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and Mahatma Gandhi. Else, he avers, humanity is bound to inevitably perish. Civilisation, I say, then will become an extinct feature of unrecorded history for there will be none left to record humanity's past misdeeds.

If we as a nation are so deluded today as to castigate Gandhiji at every bend and turn, I say, we are doomed as a nation. May better sense prevail and we revert to honouring this seminal spirit of peace and non-violence as embodied in the Mahatma ! It is a curious feature that soldiers and valorous men of the Sikh community who regularly give their lives along the border in defending India's territorial sovereignty, have a deep reverence for Gandhiji unlike the selfish patriot-in-words-only who keep casting aspersions on the preeminent soul of our times. May God bless them all !

Written by Sugata Bose

P.S. : 'In the Atomic Age the whole human race has a utilitarian motive for following this Indian way. No utilitarian motive could be stronger or more respectable in itself. The survival of the human race is at stake. Yet, even the strongest and the most respectable utilitarian motive is only a secondary reason for taking Ramakrishna's and Gandhi's and Asoka's teaching to heart and acting on it. The primary reason is that this teaching is right -- and is right because it flows from a true vision of spiritual reality.' ... Arnold J. Toynbee

1Brenda Arnold Mattox

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