WHEN MEN REJOICE OVER THE SLAUGHTER OF MAN AND ANIMAL ALIKE, O MAHATMA, THOU ART THE BEACON FOR US ALL !

WHEN MEN REJOICE OVER THE SLAUGHTER OF MAN AND ANIMAL ALIKE, O MAHATMA, THOU ART THE BEACON FOR US ALL !

Gandhiji, for all the criticism that may be levelled against him by his fanatical detractors, stands out luminous as the exemplar of the deepest respect for all life. Generations hence will revere him as the greatest human being of his Age, one who stood on the threshold of universal unification and attempted to usher in a new understanding of life and its fundamental dignity, not merely in written or articulated theoretical terms but in living practice, in precepts made flesh through application in real life under the most trying of circumstances. No wonder has the great geniuses of the world and men of seminal eminence paid him such tributes. In the Nuclear Age with its cataclysmic possibilities Gandhiji stands out as the beacon of humanity and hope, the early apostle of a future world peace and harmonious coexistence of the diverse peoples of the world. We must brood deep on Gandhiji's life and times, his precepts and practices, even his follies and foibles, so that we may find a luminous track to traverse in this darkened and darkening world of ours. 

Written by Sugata Bose