Dr. Vijay Kumar Mehta
When there is turbulent and howling sea in the dead of night, the mariner looks at the Pole Star to navigate his ship in the right direction and find the right path to reach the shore peacefully. Whenever humanity is passing through such dark phases on this earth, we look at the angel of peace to seek hope and relief. And during British regime in India, Mahatma Gandhi appears before humanity as the saviour with the weapon of non-violence, truth and the ray of hope for world peace.
“The world is torn, today, between hope and despair resulting in the dark clouds of war in various parts of this globe- The Wars between Russia and Ukraine, between Israel and Palestine, its allies Lebanon, Iran, etc. Every day, peace-loving citizens of the world look towards such a Pole Star who can save suffering humanity from such disaster.”
This situation is almost the same disastrous and tragic event what Indians faced in August 1947. India got freedom with the weapon of Non-violence, Truth and Peace, but had to pay the price of freedom through violence, massacre bathed in communal butchery. Mahatma Gandhi came forward with non-violence to counter violence &underwent fast to trouble himself for the betterment of the nation.
Mahatma Gandhi appeared on the political horizon during the World War I, when the country was sick of British slavery and the great Indian leaders were fighting for Indian Independence to shake shackles of British slavery. This was the need of the hour to fight out slavery and gain independence from the British. Here Gandhi appeared as the supreme disciple of peace the world has seen after Buddha and Christ. His idea of peace is centered on non-violence, soul force and forgiveness.
According to him, Mankind has to get out of violence only through non-violence. Hatred can be overcome only by love. The bomb will not be destroyed by counter-bombs even as violence cannot be destroyed by counter violence. Counter-hatred only increases the depth of hatred.Here, Gandhi believed, and tried to display in his whole life that the power of the human spirit is mightier than the power of any weapon. The right use of both reason and assurance can turn the world from suicide to a new era of fruitful support. If we have faith that in the hearts of all peoples everywhere, whether they are Russians or Chinese or Pakistanis or Americans, whether they are statesmen or financiers or ordinary men and women, there is an vital element of goodness, which can be released if they see that their neighbors have confidence in them, only then there is still hope that mankind can find the way to paths of peace and goodwill.
World peace is defined as a model of freedom, peace, and happiness among and within all nations and/or people. It generally includes an idea of global nonviolence by which nations willingly lend a hand, either voluntarily or by virtue of a system of governance that prevents fighting. In facing this crisis, it is necessary to get down to its roots, and the first fact to say is that war is an expression of evil human dealings, whereas peace expresses the stillness of good human relationships. Hence the difference between war and peace is the difference between information and a lack of information of the art of living and the conditions of personal and social wholeness, a lack of knowledge of the power of nonviolence, of physical, moral and spiritual health. The art of living includes firm discipline in obeying the commands of Truth. This is the vital thought of Mahatma Gandhi.
Gandhi said, “If we have no charity, and no acceptance, we shall never settle our differences harmoniously and must therefore always submit to the negotiation of a third party.” Many of today’s conflict management techniques and decision process have a clear outline of what and how Gandhi had seen inter-national issues in his times. A nation endangering peace in the world has no safety for itself. Peace can never be achieved by one-dimensional and one-sided talks or efforts. It has many facets of social, ethnical, religious and political rudiments and various ways to deal with them to bring and stabilize bad situations under control. The true character of a conflict must be identified. Gandhi’s insight of bringing peace and resolving conflict was different, to bring hostile situation under control. Mahatma Gandhi stimulated the world with his faith in truth and non-violence. He was a great soul who loved even those who fought against his principles to bring about peace with non-violence.
He may be a humble and fragile person of small physical stature but inspired millions to bring about a profound change in a way the mightiest had never achieved before? His achievements were nothing less than miracles – his faith was to bring peace to not only those who suffered inequality and sorrow but to promote a new way of life for Mankind, with peace and harmony with the policy of non-violence. His life was a communication, a message of peace over power, a message of love and non-violence over hatred and violence, of finding ways to resolve our differences, and of living in harmony with respect and love even for our adversary.
He said that, we must bring the necessary change in the world. A great leader always leads with an excellent life that echoes his ideals. Mahatma Gandhi adopted a simple life to live among the millions who lived in poor quality during his freedom struggle. One cannot bring world peace to all unless a leader demonstrates peaceful acts of kindness daily. Mahatma Gandhi believed that, we should not discriminate amongst ourselves which is based on faith, caste, creed or any other differences.
An outstanding example of Mahatma Gandhi’s leadership was his famous Salt March, which brought about a profound change. He inspired millions to fight for this righteous cause and eventually forced the British to leave India without inflicting harm to any Englishman. Such were the typical qualities of justice and peace that made Mahatma Gandhi the man who changed our world for the better with his ideals of faith, love, non-violence and tolerance.
Mahatma Gandhi has always spoken about structuring peace throughout his life. Gandhi showed the world not only the goal of peace but the method of achieving world peace. Structuring peace and tolerance, for Gandhi, were the supreme means for the realization of Truth, nonviolence and Love which were identical to the Ultimate End of man. Gandhi developed his world-view against the background of a world of violence. Paying tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on his 75th birthday, Albert Einstein wrote: “Generations to come, it may well be, will scarcely believe that such a man as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth.” Now in such a world, to take option to violent defense under the plea that we are not yet prepared for non-violence is unacceptable. If you are not prepared today, you are not going to be prepared tomorrow. You must take risks in this venture of faith here and now. Gandhi was willing to take the risk. You may say there is no Gandhi in India today. I know there is no Gandhi. But the roots of Gandhi are still with us. No man is too small, no man is too confused, no man is too weak to put his faith in God and in himself and to say, “I believe in non-violence and will take a risk here and now”. All the countries will accept non-violence for self-protection.
Peace and non-violence are the two pillars of any peace process that upholds the human race’s very livelihood. These two are in-separable. Peace must be the fruit of any non-violent action to settle a dispute. Only such a resolved state of dispute will be full of peace and harmony. When the conflict between two individuals or groups or nations comes to an end, both the winner and the loser will have to be peaceful upon agreeing wholeheartedly to the terms of the winning conditions. And, this is also the fundamental spirit of humanity. They shall not build up their conflict on top of the outcome of the peace process. To achieve a peaceful treaty is not that simple. Global peace has been hindered by many challenges that include both natural and human-made causes. The rationale behind achieving peace is in the positive understanding of “give and take”, humanity, forgiveness and non-violence. The right understanding will take the world in the right path. As an exemplary figure in politics, spirituality and nation building, Gandhi must also be understood rightly.
In Gandhian concept,If mankind is to live and wish to live in peace and harmony with nature, it has to eschew materialistic culture and has to develop a way of life anchored in the philosophy of simplicity and integrated life style based on four Purusharths- Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha. We should be cautious to those who want to reach heaven by creating hell on this earth. It is high times for the individual to change the chemistry of thought and action by adopting ecological values in our daily life. We have to start from somewhere to come to overcome the hurdle coming in the way of promoting sustainable consumption. We must translate theory into real life keeping seven sins of Mahatma Gandhi which he wrote in young India of 22nd October 1925-
Politics without principles
Wealth without work
Pleasure without conscience
Knowledge without character
Commerce without morality
Science without morality
Worship without sacrifice.
Above all, the life and achievements of Mahatma Gandhi inspired certain luminaries to hold faith in non-violence to counter violence, to defeat lies by truth with the power of good thought-process. Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr. and the Dalai Lama followed the footprints of Mahatma Gandhi to exercise non-violence to eradicate violence and restore peace in the society.
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