Albert Einstein famously said of him that “Generations to come will scarce believe that such a one as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth.” And it is to reduce the distance of disbelief that I write this article today, to remind myself of Gandhi and his way of life.
To unify and galvanize people across geography that would eventually make 3 different countries, religions, castes, age and different economic backgrounds was a mammoth task. And Gandhi almost did it effortlessly. In a world that was already exposed to warfare between countries, adopting, staying and keeping a whole country on a path of non-violence during its freedom struggle was a massive achievement.
Just to put it in a perspective, think about how often you successfully influence the opinions and behavior of members of your team at work, or your friends or family members!
A lot of things come to mind when one tries to analyze what all Gandhi did to gain such an unparalleled influence over people of India at that time. He focused on doing small things right, was honest in his dealings with others as well as with himself, he thought about those at the very bottom of society – antyodaya – his idea of rule of law was that it should benefit those at the bottom of the pyramid first. He led through examples and action, not just words, and always put himself behind the people.
While all of this and more may be true of his leadership and political abilities – the most important aspect of Gandhi’s leadership was that he connected enlightenment to the common man’s life.
Gandhi was a unique confluence of progressive ideology and spiritual enlightenment. Before Gandhi, India had many spiritual leaders, characters and teachers – however their message and methods were hard for a common man to even understand – let alone follow. Many things were left open to interpretation, while leaving things open to interpretation is important in its own way, a major drawback of that approach is that it suffers from being elitist and esoteric.
Gandhi identified tools for enlightenment. These tools were inexpensive, required no special skills to use, were available to everyone and were verifiable instantly!
These tools were “Truth and Non-Violence”, to me – identifying the root of spiritual progress in these two elements is almost as great a thought as the one from Buddha in which he identified root of unhappiness in desires.
