Thought of the Week – 19th May 2025
mahatma gandhi
Thought for the Week – 4th October 2021
Book of the Month – August 2021 : Gandhi the Man by Eknath Easwaran
Gandhi’s life continues to inspire and baffle readers today. How did an unsuccessful young lawyer become the Mahatma, the “great soul” who led 400 million Indians in their struggle for independence from the British Empire? What is nonviolence, and how does it work?
Easwaran answers these questions and gives a vivid account of the turning points and choices in Gandhi’s life that made him an icon of nonviolence. Easwaran witnessed at firsthand how Gandhi inspired ordinary people to turn fear into fearlessness, and anger into love. He visited Gandhi in his ashram to find out more about this human alchemy, and during the prayer meeting watched the Mahatma absorbed in meditation on the Bhagavad Gita, the scripture that was the wellspring of his spiritual power.
Quotations highlight Gandhi’s teachings in his own words, and sidebar notes and a chronology, new to this updated edition, provide historical context.
This book conveys the spirit and soul of Gandhi – the only way he can be truly understood.
The fact is that the world is you, not in theory but in actuality.
You can see what is happening. There is violence even though religions have said not to kill, not to go to war, not to hurt another, to be kind, generous, tender, to open your heart to others.
Surrender – Stop Wanting It
That’s it. Want nothing. Choose what shows up instead.
This is the very essence of zen. It is what is meant by the “surrendered state“. Do this, and persist in it long enough, and you will find some incredible things unfolding in your reality, very likely including those that you formerly really, really wanted. The irony? It won’t matter, because you don’t want them anymore! You’ll surely enjoy them while they last, but the terrible need you had for them to give you fulfilment is gone, and you could honestly care less if they showed up or not.
Can you think of a more pure definition of freedom?
Quote by Sonia Ricotti via Google Images.
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Gandhi Sugar Story
There is a story of a woman in India who was upset that her son was eating too much sugar. No matter how much she chided him, he continued to satisfy his sweet tooth. Totally frustrated, she decided to take her son to see his great hero Mahatma Gandhi. Continue reading
Cultural Leadership : actions that midwives the future
“…. cultural leadership is distinct from political and administrative leadership. While political leaders primarily make rules and administrative leaders primarily enforce rules, cultural leaders like Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and Mother Theresa find principled and imaginative ways to transgress those rules that inhibit the emergence of cultural sovereignty and creativity.
my idea of nationalism….
We want freedom for our country but not at the expense or exploitation of others, not so as to degrade other countries. I do not want the freedom of India if it means the extinction of England or the disappearance of Englishmen. I want the freedom of my country so other countries may learn something from my free country, so the resources of my country might be utilized for the benefit of mankind.
Just as the cult of patriotism teaches us today that the individual has to die for the family, the family has to die for the village, the village for the district, the district for the province and the province for the country, even so a country has to be free in order that it may die if necessary for the benefit of the world. My love, therefore, of nationalism or my idea of nationalism is that my country may become free, that if need be the whole country may die so the human race may live. There is no room for race-hatred there. Let that be our nationalism.
– Mahatma Gandhi
Thought For the Week – 24th November 2014
“…even as we serve others we are working on ourselves; every act, every word, every gesture of genuine compassion naturally nourishes our own hearts as well. It is not a question of who is healed first. When we attend to ourselves with compassion and mercy, more healing is made available for others. And when we serve others with an open and generous heart, great healing comes to us.”
– Mahatma Gandhi
Mahatma Gandhi – put his truths and beliefs through tough tests of realities
The journey of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi to Mahatma Gandhi was highly challenging. During the course of his life, Gandhi sought to resolve the constant plaguing of self-doubt helped him put his truths and beliefs through tough tests of realities that helped him see an issue from different dimensions and perspectives.The ‘take away’ factors from his life are many. And the more one reads him, the lessons from his life increase with the number of interpretations you can make from the text. Read between the lines, if you must, when you read Gandhi and the essence of his life (and ours, too) increases by manifold to the reader.
ONE TUSK 