Monday, October 02, 2006

Mahatma Gandhi's talisman



Mahatma Gandhi

2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948


“I will give you a talisman. Whenever you are in doubt, or when the self becomes too much with you, apply the following test. Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man whom you may have seen, and ask yourself, if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him. Will he gain anything by it? Will it restore him to a control over his own life and destiny ? In other words, will it lead to Swaraj (i.e. self-rule) for the hungry and spiritually starving millions ?

Then you will find your doubts and your self melting away.”

5 comments:

Vincent said...

Or to quote from that comment: "I measure human life against the extreme benchmark of certain congenitally brain-damaged children I encountered at the Mustardseed community in Jamaica . . . "

Raghu said...

I am moved by the words and i appreciate the collection of photographs on ur blog.

Bonita said...

I'm thinking of Mahatma Gandhi today, and listening to this song in tribute to him, in Hindi: Anju Bhatt: Hey Ram! Kaha aur chale gaye…

Kozi Wolf said...

wonderful quote!

Amen Gandhi!

rama said...

Hullo Dr Gopinath, many thanks for sharing this. You are right of course. Reacting angrily - needs to be controlled. And that's the lesson I trust you carried away, and I'm sure in a similar situation you would react differently. But you did what you did, and perhaps were a means for that boorish person to learn somethin about sensitivity and being better-informed.