The Light has Gone Out!

The very last photo of Mahatma Gandhi

On 30th January 1948, the light which had illumined this country had gone out! The nation was in utter darkness! The World saw a whole nation with no culture, no gratituide, no love, no traditions, almost becoming hostage to barbarians! The father of the nation, the apostle of peace, was shot dead within 6 months of independence, making us unworthy of the very freedom we have been fighting for years!

In a way history was being repeated! In Jerusalem, about 1910 years ago, another great person was disowned and sent to the cross by the very people for whom he was fighting for.

For India and Hindus it is a shame that it was a Hindu fanatic who pulled the trigger on Mahatma Gandhi. For the people around Gandhi it was their failure that they could not protect the pale old man; and for the Government of India and Congress Party, it was political failure which was going to manifest itself in a variety of forms in the next 50+ years!

The ingratitude and debacle continued over the years in the form of Congress and non-Congress leaders with Gandhi cap doing utter corruption in the Central and State Governments.

Today dishonesty is in its pinnacle - drug lords, smugglers and liquer mafia are ruling several states in India - Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra to name a few!

A True Tribute!

Parallels with Jesus Christ is enormous! In Israel and Rome, no one dared to follow Christ for almost 300 years! In India, we do not believe a single political figure understand or follow Gandhi today. It is a great solace to see that true followers are abundant abroad! Among them a young student thosuands of miles away in the United States stood out in the 50s!

"One Sunday afternoon I traveled to Philadelphia to hear a sermon by Dr. Mordecai Johnson, president of Howard University. Dr. Johnson had just returned from a trip to India, and, to my great interest, he spoke of the life and teachings of Mahatma Gandhi. His message was so profound and electrifying that I left the meeting and bought a half-dozen books on Gandhi's life and works.

Like most people, I had heard of Gandhi, but I had never studied him seriously. As I read I became deeply fascinated by his campaigns nonviolent resistance. I was particularly moved by his Salt March to the Sea and his numerous fasts. The whole concept of Satyagraha (Satya is truth which equals love, and agraha is force; Satyagraha, therefore, means truth force or love force) was profoundly significant to me. As I delved deeper into the philosophy of Gandhi, my skepticism concerning the power of love gradually diminished, and I came to see for the first time its potency in the area of social reform. Prior to reading Gandhi, I had about concluded that the ethics of Jesus were only effective in individual relationships. The "turn the other cheek" philosophy and the "love your enemies" philosophy were only valid, I felt, when individuals were in conflict with other individuals; when racial groups and nations were in conflict a more realistics approach seemed necessary. But after reading Gandhi, I saw how utterly mistaken I was." [Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr]