“Leaders become great, not because of their power but because of their ability to empower others.” — John Maxwell

Yes, indeed. There is always a twinkle in my eyes when I read about Gandhiji and these words of John Maxwell ring in my ears as if they were tailor-made for the Mahatma. I believe in all honesty, that Gandhiji was a powerhouse which empowered millions of Indians to achieve what at one time seemed to be an impossible task, freedom from the British. And what a way to achieve it with ahimsa!

We have read about Gandhiji in different contexts, right from the time of his birth to the time he was assassinated. I have, in my article, humbly attempted to present a different Gandhiji, a perspective that I have wanted to explore since the time I have read on the great man.

Gandhiji was a multifaceted personality, from being the excessively shy boy in his childhood who wanted to run away straight home from school, lest he was confronted with somebody and had to “converse with” to being the massively loved leader for whom millions of Indians were ready to “Do or Die.”

Friends, are you aware how Gandhiji got the title, “Mahatma”? Once in 1915, Gandhiji went to Shanti Niketan to meet Rabindranath Tagore. He greeted Tagore with, “Namaste Gurudev”. Tagore was quick to reply, “If I am Gurudev, you are Mahatma,” thus the prefix of “Mahatma” became a regular feature of Gandhiji’s name.

“De di hamein aazaadi bina khadag bina dhal,
Saabaramati ke Sant toone kar diya kamaal,
Raghupati raaghav raaja raam, pateet paavan seta raam…”

Gandhi personified these words — “Humble living, high thinking”

Gandhi — The common man who could also be a failure

Erwin Raphael, once said, “The road to greatness is paved with failures.” Certainly, as is evident if you sift through the pages of Gandhiji’s life. Gandhiji was educated at London University and became an attorney. But the first time he attempted to make a sp eech in court, his knees trembled, and he was so frightened that he had to sit down in confusion and defeat. As a lawyer in London, he got nowhere at all. He was practically a failure there.

Years before, when he first came to England, his Irish teacher made him copy the Sermon on the Mount, over and over again, purely as an exercise in English. Hour after hour, Gandhi wrote “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. . . . Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God,” and these words made a profound impression on him.

This was also one of the reasons Gandhiji spoke English with an Irish accent.

Gandhiji as an Educationist

Gandhiji always advocated free and compulsory education for all-boys and girls between 7 and 14 years. He was of the view that education should be imparted at the primary level in the student’s mother tongue. His viewpoint was that a student should, without being bookish, adopt certain moral ethical codes like truth, nonviolence and charity which would go a long way in illuminating his character. Gandhi’s prime concern was that of building a strong character through education. Gandhi was a protagonist of women education. He advised that there should be no distinction in equality of status between men and women in society. Gandhi’s idea on education was a novel one, vocational education was extremely unique which even today is being promoted not only by the Indian Government but also many developing and developed countries.

When in South Africa, Gandhiji set up an ashram at Phoenix, where he started a school for children. He always made his displeasure known for the clichéd examination system. Just for your information, the examination system was started by the British Government!! In his school, he wanted to teach the children true knowledge — knowledge that would improve both, their minds and their hearts and prepare them for the rigours and grind of practical life.

Gandhiji believed in sowing the right seeds, seeds of honesty, hardwork, discipline, humility and above all love for humanity, believing that such a seedling would grow into a tree which would provide fruits not only to its near and dear ones but also shade and coolness to all around.

Gandhiji as a Disciplinarian

“Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishments.”

How unambiguously has Jim Rohn explained what discipline means! We all know of Gandhiji as a soft spoken, humble and very loving person with a glowing smile that could thaw the hardest of hearts. But few are aware that he was a strict disciplinarian and went to any lengths to fulfill not only his own words but also made sure that his near and dear ones stuck to their promises. Gandhiji was practising law in the city of Johannesburg in South Africa. His office was three miles away from his house. One day a colleague of his, Mr. Pollack, asked Gandhi’s thirteen-year old son, Manilal to fetch a book from the office. But Manilal completely forgot about it till Mr. Pollack reminded him that evening. Gandhiji heard about the incident and summoned Manilal. The time must have been late in the evening. He said, “Son, I know the night is dark and the way is long and lonely. You will have to walk nearly six miles but you gave your word to Mr. Pollack. You promised to fetch his book. Go and fetch it now.”

Ba, Gandhiji’s wife and the family were upset when they heard of his decision. The punishment seemed far too severe. Manilal was only a child, the night was dark and the way lonely. He had only forgotten a book after all. It could be brought the next day. This was what they all felt, but no one had the courage to say anything. They knew that once Gandhiji’s mind was made up, nobody could change it. At last Kalyan Bhai plucked up courage. “I’ll fetch the book,” he offered. Gandhiji was gentle but firm, “But the promise was made by Manilal.” Kalyan bhai then pleaded, “Very well, Manilal will go but let me go with him.” Gandhiji agreed to this and Manilal set off with Kalyan Bhai to fetch the book. The kind and gentle Gandhiji could be firm as a rock at times. He saw that Manilal kept his word and did as he had promised.

Gandhiji — The Altruist

There are numerous occasions when Gandhiji’s altruistic and considerate nature has been reflected. He was always very concerned about others. Once while boarding a train, one of his shoes slipped and fell on to the track. He instantly removed the other shoe and threw it near the first one, his intention being to help the person who found the pair to be able to use it.

Gandhiji — The Economist

Would you believe it if I said that there is an entire module in specialization of Economics curriculum with the title, ‘Gandhian Economics’? Yes, it’s true!

Gandhian economics is a term coined by J.C. Kumarappa, an eminent economist, for Gandhi’s approach to meeting material human needs.

Gandhi tried to reconstruct the crafts and self-reliance of village life that he felt had been destroyed by the colonial system. “I would say that if the village perishes, India will perish too”, he wrote, “India will be no more India. Her own mission in the world will get lost.

Here we see Gandhi not merely as a pioneer of nonviolence; but as an economist. Gandhi was of the opinion that since Indian economy was plagued with misery and sever unemployment which were in fact corollaries of mechanization, there were no remedies or cures to these chronic maladies except social goals taking precedence over blind market mechanisms. As per Gandhi, if machines were instrumental in causing unemployment, then we would have to resort to labour-intensive methods instead. With Gandhi, the free market is not sacred; we can do as we wish, and maximize human happiness, rather than maximizing production and profits.

I recollect another small incident where we can get a glimpse of his simple economical living. Someone once remarked on seeing his torn dhoti, ‘Bapu your dhoti is torn.’ On hearing this Gandhiji immediately went to the washroom and adjusted his dhoti a little bit. Then he politely asked the same person, ‘See now, do you see any tear? Actually there is a lot of it left to get torn!’

How simply and beautifully Gandhiji depicted his noble attribute of never advocating either wastage or being a consumerist.

Gandhiji — A Man of the Masses

Gandhiji was once collecting funds for the Charkha Sangh for which he was touring many cities and villages. During one of his tours he addressed a gathering in Orissa. A poor old woman, bent in age, greying hair and clothes in tatters got up. The volunteers tried to stop her, but she fought her way to the place where Gandhi was sitting. “I must see him,” she insisted and going up to Gandhi touched his feet. Then from the folds of her sari, she brought out a copper coin and placed it at his feet. Gandhi picked up the copper coin and put it away carefully.

The Charkha Sangh funds were under the charge of Jamnalal Bajaj. He asked Gandhi for the coin but Gandhi refused. “I keep cheque worth thousands of rupees for the Charkha Sangh,” Jamnalal Bajaj said laughingly “yet you won’t trust me with a copper coin.” “This copper coin is worth much more than those thousands,” Gandhi said. “If a man has several lakhs and he gives away a thousand or two, it doesn’t mean much. But this coin was perhaps all that the poor woman possessed! She gave me all she had! That was very generous of her. What a great sacrifice she made! That is why, I value this copper coin more than a crore of rupees.” What a pure thought that was! Which leader today, values anything the poor masses have to give or even say? This noble attribute that Gandhiji exhibited in indeed unheard of in present times!

Gandhiji — A Man of the Classes

Gandhiji, we all know was loved and revered not only by the masses, but also by the elite classes. He was a highly popular figure not only in India, but world over. No wonder that Time Magazine, the famous U.S. publication, named Mahatma Gandhi ‘The Man of the Year’ in 1930.

Mahatma Gandhi inspired millions of people all over the world to take the path of non-violence and civil disobedience. 5 world leaders who got Nobel Peace prize, Martin Luther King Jr. (USA), Dalai Lama (Tibet), Aung San Suu Kyi (Myanmar), Nelson Mandela (S. Africa) and Adolfo Perez Esquivel (Argentina) have all acknowledged the fact that they were influenced by the philosophy of Gandhi. Yet, Mahatma Gandhi; the man who inspired these Nobel Peace Prize winners, never got a Nobel Prize! The irony is that Gandhiji was nominated for the Nobel Prize five times!!!

I think it was a loss for the Nobel — the prize; not for Gandhi — the man who was above all honours and awards. The committee, to this day, regrets not giving him the Nobel Peace Prize, as sadly the award is never given posthumously!

Gandhiji corresponded with a lot of people during his lifetime — Leo Tolstoy, Albert Einstein and Adolf Hitler were among many whom he knew.

Quotable quotes of famous people on Gandhiji

“Generations to come will scarcely believe that such a one as this (Gandhi) walked the earth in flesh and blood. I believe that Gandhi’s views were the most enlightened of all the political men in our time.” — Albert Einstein

“If humanity is to progress, Gandhi is inescapable. He lived, thought, and acted, inspired by the vision of humanity evolving toward a world of peace and harmony. We may ignore him at our own risk.”

— Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Mahatma Gandhi came and stood at the door of India’s destitute millions, clad as one of themselves, speaking to them in their own language.. who else has so unreservedly accepted the vast masses of the Indian people as his flesh and blood.. Truth awakened Truth.”

— Rabindranath Tagore

“I and many others may be revolutionaries but we are disciples of Mahatma Gandhi, directly or indirectly, nothing more nothing less.”

— Ho Chi Minh

I am sure all of us are aware of the train incident in Pretoria, South Africa that ignited his political consciousness. Today, there is a plaque at the station in Pietermaritzburg that reads: “‘In the vicinity of this plaque, MK Gandhi was evicted from a first-class compartment on the night of 7 June 1893. This incident changed the course of his life. He took up the fight against racial oppression. His active non-violence started from that date.”

Finally, I would put my pen down by saying that Gandhiji wanted us to imbibe peace in ourselves and others and adhere to the principle of non-violence but unfortunately, we have not only gone astray from his principles but have completely demolished the path that he had created for us.

It is not enough to celebrate Gandhi Jayanti by making elaborate speeches and declaring it a ‘dry day’, it is important for us to delve deeply into his philosophy of humanity and his teachings that will make us and our nation prosper in every respect of the word. The freedom that Gandhiji fought for was not only from the British, but it was freedom from ignorance, from male chauvinism and from corruption. Today we see and hear abhorable, unbelievable facts of women abuse. Were these the teachings of Gandhi? I am sure he would have hung his head in deathly shame on hearing of these deplorable acts. Friends, true homage can only be paid to Bapu’s soul, thereby keeping it alive, only by immortalizing his great principles in their truest sense! Jai Hind!

“Vaishnav jan toh tene kahiye, je peed paraayee jaane re, Par dukhkhe upkaar kare toye, Man abhimaan na aane re!”

Edited by Tanish Jain

About the Author
Fayzaan A. Sayed is a Junior Reporter for the Light House, currently studying in Grade 10 of the Indian High School.