The Seven Deadly Sins:

Wealth without work, pleasure without conscience, knowledge without character, commerce without morality, science without humanity, worship without sacrifice, and politics without principle.

The time has now come to bring these chapters to a close.

My life from this point onward has been so public that there is hardly anyting about it that people do not know.

Summary

It is 1856, the eve of the first Indian struggle for independence (The Mutiny of 1857). A British firm, "The East India Company" rules much of India; directly or indirectly through 'treaties of friendship.'The kingdom of Avadh is under such a treaty of friendship with the British Company. Its ruler, Nawab Wajid Ali Shah (Amjad Khan), is an indifferent ruler, who prefers arts to the matters of state or politics. He is a poet, composer, singer, dancer and a choreographer. In reality, he is merely a figurehead. The British Company has allowed the landlords to become fairly independent of the state. The Company, in addition to collecting the riches from the state, also takes a share of the taxes collected by the landlords.

The king's able Prime Minister, Ali Naqi Khan (Victor Banerjee), is pained at the situation. But he does not do anything drastic due to his respect and loyalty to the king. Mirza Sajjad Ali (Sanjeev Kumar) and Mir Roshan Ali (Saeed Jaffrey) are two landlords living in the capital city of Lucknow. They too are part of the same culture and live off ancestral wealth and taxes collected from people. They do nothing, and are addicted to the game of chess. They play as per the ancient Indian rules of the game, ignorant of a different kind of chess played by the British; both literally and metaphorically. Mirza's wife, Khurshid (Shabana Azmi), feels neglected. Mirza no longer responds to her feminine charms due to his obsession with chess. Mir's wife, Nafeesa (Farida Jalal) too faces a similar fate. But she has found solace in a wild love affair with a young nephew. On discovering the affair, Mir opts to ignore it rather than confront the situation and disturb his routine of playing chess.

The British are strengthening their grip on the country and are playing a bigger game of chess. Lord Dalhousie, the Governor General, sends General Outram (Sir Richard Attenborough), the British Resident of Lucknow, to take over Avadh under the pretext of Nawab's misrule.

The king, Wajid Ali Shah faces a political checkmate. He has only two options, either to give up his throne or to fight a battle. He has neither the will nor the means to fight the British, for he has a tiny and ill equipped army. The state has felt no need to maintain an army as the Avadh is under a 'treaty of friendship' with the British Company.

Mir and Mirza learn about the British Company's troops marching towards Lucknow. Scared that they may be called to fight the British forces, they run off to a remote village to continue playing chess.

Fearing blood shedding of his people in a hopelessly unequal battle, the king opts to hand over the kingdom to the British with out a fight, singing to himself a Thumari that he has composed -



(Roughly translated: As we leave our beloved city of Lucknow, see what we have to go through...)

For Mir and Mirza, the chess continues even as the British troops march into the city until they have a fight over the game. Mir, who has nearly shot Mirza and is ashamed of his behavior, says, "We cannot even cope with our wives, so how can we cope with the company's army?" . Comments Shatranj Ke Khilari was Ray's most expensive film boasting of stars from western and Hindi cinema of Bombay. It was reported to have cost about two million rupees in comparison of his earlier films that were made under half a million rupees. This, however, was still a shoestring budget when compared with the average budgets of the contemporary Hindi films of Bombay, ranging from 4 to 10 million rupees. It is also his one of the two non-Bengali films; other being Sadgati (Deliverance) also based on a short story by Munshi Premchand.

While Munshi Premchand's story focuses on the two chess players Mirza and Mir, Ray expanded the story by elaborating the characters of Wajid Ali Shah and General Outram and adding a few more characters. Ray was attracted to the story by the parallel that Munshi Premchand draws between chess games of Mir and Mirza, and the crafty moves by the British to capture the king.

The film has no heroes or villains. Like in most of his films, he sympathizes with better attributes of both the British and the King, Wajid Ali Shah. General Outram is troubled with the illegal means he must follow to take over Avadh despite a treaty of friendship with the kingdom. But he feels bound by his duty to the British Empire. The King, Wajid Ali Shah, is shown as an accomplished poet, musician and choreographer with no interest in political matters. He has relied on the treaty of friendship with the British to pursue the arts in stead of maintaining an army.

It is interesting to note that the film was made during the darkest period of modern Indian democracy when the Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi declared "Emergency" from 1975 to 1977, and suppressed the fundamental rights for her political survival. This was made possible by her crafty moves and initial noninvolvement by people; like Mir and Mirza in the film.

All the lead players, Sanjeev Kumar (Mirza Sajjad Ali), Saeed Jaffrey (Mir Roshan Ali), Amjad Khan (Wajid Ali Shah, Nawab), Victor Banerjee (Ali Naqi Khan, the Prime Minister) and Sir Richard Attenborough (General Outram) give their finest performances.

The non Bengali audience also gets to appreciate Ray's dialogue writing skills in a few scene that are in English, though the Urdu dialogues that were written by collaborators do not rise to the same standards. A scene that takes place between General Outram (Sir Richard Attenborough) and Captain Weston (Tom Alter) prompted V. S. Naipaul to comment, "It's like a Shakespeare scene. Only three hundred words (actually over 500 words) are spoken but goodness! - terrific things happen." Here is an excerpt from 'The chess players : and other screenplays' :

Outram: Tell me, Weston, you know the language, you know the people here- I mean, what kind of a poet is the King? Is he any good, or is it simply because he's the king they say he's good?

Weston: I think he's rather good, Sir.

Outram: You do, eh?

Weston: Yes, Sir.

Outram: Do you know any of his stuff?

Weston: I know some, Sir.

Outram: Well, can you recite it? Do you know it by heart?

Weston: (taken aback): Recite it, Sir?

Outram: Yes, I'm not a poetry man. Many soldiers are. But I'm curious to know what it sounds like. I rather like the sound of Hindustani.

(Weston remains silent, slightly ill at ease.)

Outram: Are they long, these poems?

Weston: Not the ones I know, Sir.

Outram: Well, go on man, out with it!

(Weston recites a four-line poem.)

Outram: Is that all?

Weston: That's all, Sir.

Outram: Well, it certainly has the virtue of brevity. What the hell does it mean, if anything?

Weston: He's speaking about himself, Sir.

Outram: Well what's he saying? It's nothing obscene, I hope?

Weston: No, Sir.

Outram: Well, what's he saying?

Weston (coughing lightly):

Wound not my bleeding body. Throw flowers gently on my grave. Though mingled with the earth, I rose up to the skies. People mistook my rising dust for the heavens.

That's all, Sir.

Outram: H'm. Doesn't strike me as a great flight of fancy, I'm afraid.

(Outram rises from his chair slowly.)

Weston: It doesn't translate very well, Sir.

Outram: And what about his songs? He's something of a composer, I understand? Are they any good, these songs?

Weston: They keep running in your head, Sir. I find them quite attractive. Some of them.

Outram: I see.

Weston: He's really quite gifted, Sir.

(Outram glances briefly at Weston and begins to pace the room thoughtfully.)

Weston: He's also fond of dancing, Sir.

Outram: Yes, so I understand. With bells on his feet, like nautch girls. Also dresses up as a Hindu god, I'm told.

Weston: You're right, Sir. He also composes his own operas.

Outram: Doesn't leave him much time for his concubines, not to speak of the affairs of state. Does he really have 400 concubines?

Weston: I believe that's the count, Sir.

Outram: And 29 'muta' wives. What the hell are muta wives?

Weston: Muta wives, Sir. They're temporary wives.

Outram: Temporary wives?

Weston: Yes, Sir. A muta marriage can last for there days, or three months, or three years. Muta is an Arabic word.

Outram: And it means temporary?

Weston: No, Sir.

(Outram raises his eyebrows.)

Outram: No?

Weston: It means-er, enjoyment.

Outram: Oh. Oh yes I see. Most instructive. And what kind of a king do you think all this makes him, Weston? All these various accomplishments?

Weston (smiling): Rather a special kind, Sir, I should think.

(Outram stops pacing, stiffens, turns sharply to Weston.)

Outram: Special? I would've used a much stronger word than that,

Weston: I'd have said a bad king. A frivolous, effeminate, irresponsible, worthless king.

Weston: He's not the first eccentric in the line-

Outram (interrupting): Oh I know he's not the first, but he certainly deserves to be the last. We've put up with this nonsense long enough. Eunuchs, fiddlers, nautch-girls and 'muta' wives and God knows what else. He can't rule, he has no wish to rule, and therefore he has no business to rule.

Weston: There I would agree with you, Sir.

Outram: Good. I am glad to hear that. I have it in mind to recommend you for a higher position when we take over-

Weston: Take over, Sir?

Outram: Take over, Weston. And any suspicion that you hold a brief for the King would ruin your chances. You remember that.

©Ray Family. Ray, Satyajit. The chess players : and other screenplays. Edited by Andrew Robinson. London, Faber, 1989. ISBN 0571140742.\

What I want to achieve—what I have been striving and pining to achieve these thirty years—is self –realization, to see God face to face, to attain moksha (frredom from birth and death. The nearest English equivalent is 'salvation.'")

Spoiled from infancy by his adoring mother, sisters and aiya (nurse), Gandhi naturally assumed that all women, including his young and equally willful bride, would obey his merest wish as regal commands, doing exactly what he desired, without hesitation or argument. Kasturba, however, proved more than a match for his male chauvinism, petulance and egotism. Like him, she had been reared as a Vaishnava princess. Though she lacked formal education, she was braver than her young husband, who had never slept in the dark without nightmares, fearing attacks from demon ghosts or giant snakes. She could be just as stubborn and long-suffering as he was. In some ways, especially concerning the rearing of children, she was much wise and more compassionate.

"This is the unmistakable teaching of the Gita. He who gives up action falls. He who gives up only the reward rises. But renunciation of fruit in no way means indifferent to the result. In regard to every action one must know the result that is expected to follow, the means thereto, and the capacity for it. He, who, being thus equipped, is without desire for the result, and is yet wholly engrossed in the due fulfillment of the task before him, is said to have renounced the fruits of his action."

I have spoken to Pandit Nehru. But he is adamant. He is firmly of the opinion that no change should be made until the weather has cleared. If it does, it may take two or three months." The "weather" was the havoc wrought by partition's hurricane and the chaos left strewn across north India by tornadoes of intolerance. That would take more than "three months" to "clear," but three months was now all that Gandhi had left.

"This is the unmistakable teaching of the Gita. He who gives up action falls. He who gives up only the reward rises. But renunciation of fruit in no way means indifferent to the result. In regard to every action one must know the result that is expected to follow, the means thereto, and the capacity for it. He, who, being thus equipped, is without desire for the result, and is yet wholly engrossed in the due fulfillment of the task before him, is said to have renounced the fruits of his action."

I love this passage which I had not seen until yesterday, because, to me, it has such delicious layers. I loved Anneo's take on do it not for the reward and her mentioning praise and thanks for a job well done, and, like Carolyn, I'm always thanking people, I've never wondered why, maybe I should.

But here Anneo and Carolyn, I ask, surely the reception of praise for a job well done is not the problem, but rather the problem is when a person does it only for the praise? And that in itself may be a temptation? In that when a person thanks you, you then become beholden to them? That's something I just noticed recently. Do you all agree? You find yourself working for THEM and/or your own glory, not for other principles?

But the difference, to me, is in the motivation. If you do something FOR the reward, then it would seem in Gandhi's eyes you would fail. This passage reminds me of the, was it Jain principle of renouncing attachments ? (OR, those of you who know more about Eastern Religion than I do, does it mirror another belief I don't know anything about??) It's said that many Jains had tons of attachments, and lived quite lavish lives, the theory was to renounce the desire for them and their importance. (You can see that some people spend a LOT of time on their personal development or WAY).

If you do something FOR the praise that results, Gandhi seems to be saying, you fail, but if you do it with a view to the possible end, acknowledging the purpose OF the action, but at the same time renouncing the result (this part here is very difficult for me: who, being thus equipped, is without desire for the result, and is yet wholly engrossed in the due fulfillment of the task before him, …well would you say the task is done FOR the result...but...but.... if you are not desirous of the result then why would you do the task in the FIRST PLACE??!!??

THEN are you saying that the journey is what's worth the time, not the end? Yet you undertake the journey FOR the end?

It's tricky, apparently.

(Can we see I am way down on yon wheel?) hahahaaha and speaking of yon wheel, here's a neato thing we can buy for $12.00, shall we give one away in memory of this discussion? (I'm thinking this wheel does not have enough spokes??)

Where are WE on this wheel?

The symbolic wheel of the teaching expounded by the Buddha. The eight spokes represent the Eight-fold path – the path leading to release from suffering. 1. Perfect View. 2. Perfect Resolve. 3. Perfect Speech. 4. Perfect conduct. 5. Perfect livelihood. 6. Perfect Effort. 7. Perfect Mindfulness. 8. Perfect Concentration. Can be hung in any area for added benefit.

Blessed at the Kuan Yin Temple of Universal Salvation – China.

I have no idea if those "steps" are correct? That's off a strange site http://www.fsdi.com/blessedproducts/wheelofdharma.htm which I thought was tacky but I feel drawn to it for some reason, and thought you might like to see it.

You read continually about "The Way." EF Benson had an entire English town following a "Guru" who turned out to be fake and a sous chef at an Indian restaurant, thus making fun of those who seek the Way, but there's no doubt that this is a strong movement today in the world.

Joan K, thank you so much for the information that Buddha did give up fasting and then do embrace Ahisma!! And I loved your haiku!!!

Now you mention "the middle way," what might that be?

Here's Joan's poem again: Japanese Buddhist poet Issa:

In a large room

one man,

one fly.

hahahaah Oh how I laughed, thank you so much. I have to tell you all that one really rang a bell with me, the first time my mother in law and I went to England together, you KNOW how tired you are after a transatlantic flight, and, having stayed up as long as we could stand it, we repaired to our hotel room to find, to our dismay, a tiny room with barely enough room for two beds, and what appeared to be a 40 foot ceiling with no screens on the windows (it was about the 5th floor and it was felt flies did not go up that high). We had turned out the lights and fallen into bed when I heard a voice coming out of the (non dark) "I can't sleep if there's a fly in the room!" hahahaah And there WAS and my 40 foot ladder was at home hahahahaha HAHAHAHAAA, needless to say not too much rest was gotten that night. Hahaahahah All this reminds me of the Dickenson poem:

Dying

I heard a fly buzz when I died;
The stillness round my form
Was like the stillness in the air
Between the heaves of storm.

But I digress!!

Tom thank you for that achievement of Gandhi's, I will add it to the heading here and here's my own submission for that this morning:

In the chapter called His Global Legacy, Wolpert says, Martin Luther King was "deeply fascinated" by the life and teachings of Gandhi, having studied him in his senior year at seminary. King found the power of Gandhi's passion "profoundly significant." King never met Gandhi but was so inspired by his life and work that he visited India in 1959, eager to meet Gandhi's disciples. "To other countries I may go as a tourist," the thirty year old King told Indian friends, "but to India I come as a pilgrim. This is because India means to me Mahatma Gandhi, a truly great man of the age."

In 1964 when King accepted the Nobel Peace Prize, he spoke, as he later would in every great city of America, saying, "This approach to the problem of racial justice…was used in magnificent way by Mohandas K. Gandhi to challenge the might of the British Empire and free his people from the political domination and economic exploitation inflicted upon them for centuries." King's speech shamed the Nobel Prize Committee who felt "ashamed at having never so honored Gandhi himself."

And you may find THIS tidbit amazing,

The head of the Nobel committee after WWII, Gunnar Jahn, blocked Gandhi from getting the prize when two other members of the committee proposed his name. In his recently published diary, Jahn wrote that Gandhi "is obviously the greatest personality proposed…But we must remember that he is not only an apostle of peace, he is also a nationalist."

Interesting. You have to wonder why Pope John Paul II did not get it, either, maybe there are more things at stake. ANYWAY…. I'm going to say that one thing he did, one legacy, was to influence Marin Luther King, who then brought about tremendous social change in a completely different country.

YiLi, you mention the Tao and here again, I'm out of my depth, will you explain what that is and how it relates to what Gandhi did? You said, Ghandi’s influence. His childhood as shared let’s us know he too was a flawed persona—but I wonder overall if Ghandi’s adult motivations were for his self-development spiritually- was his fasting to achieve personal realms of spirituality or was it done a gesture of connection and compassion for others.</ I think this is a super question and must also go up in the heading, the heading (do you find it too long?) is getting quite long but I want your stuff up there so we'll be redesigning it, hold on.

I am wondering, when I read about the minutiae of Gandhi's life here IF in fact, we are looking at an example of "he that is faithful in a little is faithful in much, " IF in fact, we are looking at a person who wishes to let NO thing be beyond his control in his search for TRUTH?

So every little bit counts, what's that old expression about that?

Oh I found my copy of the Panchatantra? The Panchatantra, Sanskrit for Book of 5 Chapters, supposedly dates from the 5th century, it's certainly something we want to know about, and I wonder if we might find any of those stories interesting? They are fables, told to children to instruct, you might say somewhat like Christ used parables. Like the Monkey and the Cat models I introduced yesterday, they serve to inform us of deeper principles, here is a super site with quite a few of the parables, do you think that it would be instructive if we read a couple and commented on them? The Panchatantra

Penny for your thoughts this morning? What do you think about any or all of the issues raised here or do you have issues of your own to contribute or questions to ask?

I love spending at least part of my day learning something new, especially about such a rich, and pretty much unknown culture and set of beliefs!

Oh I did learn yesterday that Mahatma is actually two words, meaning Great Soul, but I can't find the actual words, they seemed to be spelled differently, do any of you know them?

ginny

Thirty richly caparisoned elephants carrying ceremonial umbrellas and fanned by whisks stride out through the temple gate. The elephant in the center carries the processional image of the temple deity Vadakkumnathan and, with the sound of trumpets and pipes, the elephants go around the temple. A spectacular display of fireworks soon after midnight continues until dawn.

"You may not need them," said my wife. "Your children may not need them. Cajoled they will dance to your tune. I can understand your not permitting me to wear them. But what about my daughters-in-law? They will be sure to need them. And who knows what will happen tomorrow? I would be the last person to part with a gift so lovingly given."

And thus the torrent of argument went on, reinforced, in the end, by tears. But the children were adamant. (!) And I was unmoved.

…..[Gandhi here reasons with his wife about the children, their future wives and ends…] And if after all, we need to provide them with ornaments, I am there. You will ask me then."

"Ask you? I know you by this time. You deprived me of my ornaments, you would not leave me in peace with them. Fancy you offering to get ornaments for the daughters-in-law! You who are trying to make sadhus of my boys from today! No, the ornaments will not be returned. And pray what right have you to my necklace?"

"But, " I rejoined, "is the necklace given you for your service or for my service?"

I agree. But service rendered by you is as good as rendered by me. I have toiled and moiled for you day and night. Is that no service? You forced all and sundry on me, making me weep bitter tears, and I slaved for them!"

[On the sacrifice of lambs] I hold that, the more helpless a creature, the more entitles it is to protection by may from the cruelty of man. But he who has not qualified himself for such service is unable to afford to it any protection. I must go through more self-purification and sacrifice, before I can hope to save these lambs from this unholy sacrifice. Today I think I must die pining for this self-purification and sacrifice. It is my constant prayer that there may be born on earth some great spirit, man or woman, fired with divine pity, who will deliver us from this heinous sin, save the lives of the innocent creatures. How is it that Bengal with all its knowledge, intelligence sacrifice and emotion tolerates this slaughter?"

In its traditional form the chief distinguishing features of Hinduism are the doctrine of the transmigration of souls, with its corollary that all living beings are the same in essence; a complex polytheism, subsumed in a fundamental monotheism by the doctrine that all lesser divinities are subsidiary aspects of the one God; a deep-rooted tendency to mysticism and monastic philosophy; a stratified system of social classes, generally called castes, which is given religions sanction; and a propensity to assimilate rather than to exclude.

Undoubtedly the greatest contribution has been that of Mahatma Gandhi, whose unique synthesis of religion and politics provided an ideology for the civil disobedience movement, which was instrumental in gaining India's independence. Appreciably influenced by Christian ideas, which he assimilated to the Hindu outlook, Gandhi gave a new sense of purpose to many Hindus of all classes, and taught them to respect their traditional beliefs and practices, but to adapt them to the needs of the time. Continuing the work of early reformers, he encouraged the emancipation of Hinduism from the system of class and caste, and fostered a sprit of social service.

We formed a sort of Seekers Club…So on the wall opposite [as he was brushing his teeth, Western style] I stuck slips of paper on which were written the Gita verses and referred to them now and then to help my memory. This time was found sufficient for memorizing the daily portion and recalling the verses already learnt. I remember having thus committed to memory thirteen chapters….What effect this reading of the Gita had on my friends only they can say, but to me the Gita became an infallible guide of conduct. It became y dictionary of daily reference."

"ARJUNA: Tell me of those who live established in wisdom, ever aware of the Self, O Krishna. How do they talk? how sit? How move about?

SRI KRISHNA: They live in wisdom who see themselves in all and all in them, who have renounced every selfish desire and sense craving tormenting the heart,

Neither agitated by grief nor hankering after pleasure, they live free from lust and fear and anger .Established in meditation, they are truly wise. Fettered no more by selfish attachments ,they are neither elated by good fortune nor depressed by bad. Such are the seers.

Even as a tortoise draws in its limbs, the wise can draw in their senses at will. Aspirants abstain from sense pleasures, but they still crave for them. These cravings disappear when they see the highest goal. Even of those who tread the path, the stormy senses can sweep off the mind. They live in wisdom who subdue their senses and keep their minds ever absorbed in me.

When you keep thinking about sense objects, attachment comes, Attachment breeds desire, the lust of possession that burns to anger. Anger clouds the judgment; you can no longer learn from past mistakes. Lost is the power to choose between what is wise and what is unwise, and your life is utter waste, But when you move amidst the world of sense, free from attachment and aversion alike, there comes the peace in which all sorrows end, and you live in the wisdom of the Self".

Jeepers what a mind that man must have had!

This is a good one: "They live in wisdom who see themselves in all and all in them, who have renounced every selfish desire and sense craving tormenting the heart (Ch 2 p. 55)

And it would seem that was what he was trying to do.

On the subject of Gandhi's children, which we have raised here, his oldest son apparently chose to be a bad one, which caused him a lot of pain, as far as I know the others followed him, certainly his grandson is in charge of the Gandhi/ MLK Institute, maybe we should write and ask them how the children turned out?

The eldest son of a famous or powerful father often comes to grief, how many times have we seen it? George VI's eldest son plops to mind immediately and there have been countless others, you see it everywhere. I'm not sure we can blame Gandhi for that one.

Joan thank you for that first hand look at the home schooled in a public school! You are the first home schooled person I have met, would you recommend that for others today? I agree with you that something in Gandhi's education turned him off from it for his children. And the question of did he experience discrimination in London I think has to be answered yes, the first three parts if you look are quite subtle in gratitude toward Lady XX who was not ashamed to be seen with "colored," I mean he's quite clear here, or so I thought.

This is an excellent point, Joan, and may be his Achilles heel: "As a western woman, it boggles my mind that he assumes that these were his decisions, and not his and his wife's, jointly."

Tom thank you for those insights on the character of "ornaments and the Indian." I'm not sure I agree that Gandhi was being selfish, he gave them in trust to the greater community.<br.
Good point on Jinnah's tastes, as I said I have never heard a scholar praise Jinnah so am interested to learn more in your own discussion.

Ella, I don't know if Gandhi's claims on diet and earth remedies are ridiculous or not, they've just gone back to the medieval leech as the best way to clean wounds, I don't know what to think!

Malryn a good point on our sedentary society, and I recall that Gandhi walked everywhere which he also espoused for long life. I don't know why, Ella, so many today are on so many medications, it seems that we all have high blood pressure now, I wonder how any of our ancestors lived at all (and some did) I guess more of us live today!

Ella, I missed the operation without chloroform entirely!

Thank you Carolyn for that information on the eating after sundown, seems like that would keep you up all night, it always does me! Hahaha

OK lots of great thoughts, nothing yet on the Zulu uprising or the Boer Wars, hopefully some of you know something about that, let's look today more at some of Gandhi's statements here in this Part IV, a lot of stuff here today!

more… Here is The Ganges River, where those who had touched someone or something unclean might purify themselves, does anybody understand the sacred nature of the Ganges? I know in my class they said it was now polluted and so people no longer thought they might purify themselves there, what do you know about the Ganges?

We my not look forward to any reward for our labours, but it is my firm conviction that all good action is bound to bear fruit in the end Let us forget the past and think of the task before us."

Principles of Theosophy

reincarnation,

karma (or moral justice),

the existence of worlds of experience beyond the physical,

the presence of life and consciousness in all matter,

the evolution of spirit and intelligence as well as of physical matter,

the possibility of our conscious participation in evolution,

the power of thought to affect one's self and surroundings,

the reality of free will and self-responsibility,

the duty of altruism, a concern for the welfare of others, and

the ultimate perfection of human nature, society, and life.

”"Later, descendants of General Dyer came here. They actually knelt before the people and asked for forgiveness, shedding tears of repentance. Their photographs and letters are preserved here to this day. We put them up on display often. The eternal flame, the Flame of Liberty, burns there today, a befitting memorial to perpetuate the memory of the martyrs. Jallianwalabagh has been accorded the status of a national pilgrimage”

”Children take in much more and with less labour through their ears than through their eyes. I do not remember having read any book from cover to cover with my boys. But I gave them, in my own language, all that I had digested from my reading of various books, and I dare say they are still carrying a recollection of it in their minds. It was laborious for them to remember what they learnt from books, but what I imparted to them by word of mouth, they could repeat with the greatest ease. Reading was a task for them, but listening to me was a pleasure, when I did not bore them by failure to make my subject interesting….”

We gave three periods at the most to literary training. Hindi, Tamil, Gujarati and Urdu were all taught , and tuition was given through the vernaculars of the boys. English was taught as well. It was also necessary to acquaint the Gujarati Hindu children with a little Sanskrit, and to teach all the children elementary history, geography and arithmetic.

When two nations are fighting, the duty of a votary of ahimsa is to stop the war. He who is not equal to that duty, he who has no power of resisting war, he who is not qualified to resist war, may take part in war, and yet whole-heartedly try to free himself, his nation and the world from war.

Lou2 "Am I being dense here??? How can you take part in a war and yet try to free yourself, etc. from it??? If he's not talking about non-combatants????">

... one of three courses was open to me: I could declare open resistance to the war... or I could seek imprisonment by civil disobedience of such of its laws as were fit to be disobeyed; or I could participate in the war on the side of the EMpire and thereby acquire the capacity and fitness for resisting the violence of war. I lacked this capacity and fitness, so I thought there was nothing for it but to serve in the war.

In Gujarati also we used the English phrase "passive resistance" to describe it. When in a meeting of 'Europeans I found that the term "passive resistance" was too narrowly construed, that is was supposed to be a weapon of the weak, that it could be characterized by hatred, and that it would finally manifest itself as violence, I had to demur to all these statements and explain the real nature of the Indian movement. It was clear that a new word must be coined by the Indians to designate their struggle.

But I could not for the life of me find out a new name, and therefore offered a nominal prize through ,Indian Opinion to the reader who made the best suggestion on the subject. As a result Maganila Gandhi coined the word "Sadgagraha" (Sat=truth, Agraha=firmness) and won the prize. But in order to make it clear I changed the word to "Satyagraha" which has since become current in Gujarati and as a designation for the struggle.

I felt the only way the guilty parties could be made to realize my distress and the depth of their down fall would be for me to do some penance. So I imposed upon myself a fast for seven days…"

Community of the Future

By Arun Gandhi As a budding teenager in the 1940s I was intrigued by grandfather’s version of "family," not at all like a conventional family that I was accustomed to. Grandfather was Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and his "family" was the human race.

In 1946 my father, Manilal, Gandhi’s second son, decided it was time to visit the family in India. I was 12 years old then and all of us needed relief from the hate, prejudice and humiliation of apartheid in South Africa. While I had visited India earlier this was the first time I would be old enough to experience the difference between a conventional "family" and a "Gandhi family" living in an ashram in India.

In 1946 there were close to 150 families living in Sevagram Ashram in Wardha, Central India. Although they retained their family names in all other respects they were part of one ashram family.

This was, in a microcosm, Gandhi’s vision of a future human family. Inclusiveness, he was certain, was the only way humanity could be saved from self-destruction. Humanity must breakdown barriers and build bridges to create peace and harmony in this world. A community, he said, is only as strong as the family. If there is love and harmony in a family there will be love and harmony in a community. What happens to one must happen to all.

Love and harmony in a family can only be achieved through strong bonds of relationship built on respect, understanding, acceptance and appreciation. Respect leads to understanding who we are; followed by acceptance and appreciation of our differences.

Teaching tolerance was anathema to Gandhi. People, he felt, should not tolerate each other and their differences, but learn to respect, understand, accept and appreciate each other. Only through a strong and respectful relationship can we have peace and harmony within ourselves and in our society.

Rugged individualism, selfishness, self-centeredness, greed, anger, materialism etc. that dominate our lives today do not contribute to building a community of peace and harmony. What we have today is anything but a community. It is more of a neighborhood or a collection of people living in an area because it is convenient and/or because circumstances have thrown us together. Unless there is "something in it for me," we prefer not to have anything to do with our neighbors.

One day Gandhi’s wife, Kasturba, was seen in the ashram kitchen cooking. This was unusual and so Gandhi stopped to inquire. "What are you cooking?" he asked.

"Ramdas," she explained referring to their married son, "is going home to his family this afternoon and I thought I would make some sweets that his children like so much."

"Do you make sweets for the children of all those who visit the ashram and then leave?" Gandhi asked.

Surprised and bewildered by the question Kasturba turned to face Gandhi and said: "No, of course, not."

"Why not?" Gandhi asked. "Are they not, like Ramdas, also your children? Should we not learn to treat everyone equally?"

Kasturba thought she knew what Gandhi was leading to by creating the ashram but this was a dimension she had not considered. She quickly saw the wisdom in what he said and decided to make amends by not giving Ramdas the sweets but making more of them and distributing them to all the children in the ashram.

There must never be, Gandhi said, any double standards in our relationships and our attitude towards each other, our families and humanity in general. What applies to one, must apply to all, he said. For most people this may be totally unacceptable. Perhaps, too high a standard to attain. But Gandhi believed this was the only way to understand and respect each other.

I personally experienced Gandhi’s determination to treat everyone equally while I was with him in 1947. To raise funds for the many programs that he had launched -- to emancipate women and the "low caste" and educate children -- he decided to sell his autographs for five rupees which, in terms of monetary value, was almost the equivalent of $5.

Every morning and evening hundreds would attend his multi-faith prayers and later seek his autograph. I was assigned the task of collecting and bringing to grandfather the autograph books and money for his signature. If so many people were willing to pay so much money for his autograph it must be valuable, I realized, so one day I made myself an autograph book and put it in the pile that I took to him for his signature.

"Why is there no money for this autograph," he asked.

"Because it is my book," I said sheepishly.

"Ah ha! So you think you are going to get a free autograph?" he laughed.

"Yes," I said. "After all I am your grandson."

"So are all the people out there," he said. "They are all related to me. If I have a rule for them that rule must apply to you also."

"In fact," he continued, "For you the rule will be more stringent. You will not only have to pay me for the autograph but you will have to earn the money yourself. Don’t ask your parents for the money."

It was clear that Gandhi would not make an exception for his grandson. I pursued him adamantly, disturbing him during important meetings hoping he would relent and sign my book just to get rid of me, but he wouldn’t. He not only did not give me the autograph but he never got angry with me.....

Then he sought an excuse. "I hold a doctorate from the London School of Economics," he argued. "I am capable of doing great things. Why do you waste my time and talents on cleaning toilets?"

Gandhi replied: "I know of your capacity to do great things but I have yet to discover your capacity to do little things. So, if you wish to seek my guidance and blessings you will have to observe all the rules of the ashram."

Renunciation simply means that one is not owned by their possessions as so many of today's people are. In my Convent days, we were required by our rule to give up anything to which we felt a strong attachment, anything that was material, that we felt we couldn't do without. It is one of the tenets I still try to live by, because there is a wonderful peace in not needing to "own" objects. I know that they are part of my life, but not my life .All that matters is that which I can take with me, and all I get to keep as I go is what is in my head. Hopefully it is filled with valuable thoughts and beliefs.

A satyagrahi gives no thought to his body. Fear cannot touch him at all. That is why he does not arm himself with any material weapons. In his constant pursuit of truth, a satyagrahi must be indifferent to wealth, Gandhi argued, though this does not mean that a satyagrahi can have no wealth. Money is welcome if one can have it consistently with one's pursuit of truth. A satyagrahi would be obliged , moreover, to break free of family attachments, walking alone on the edge of truth's sharp sword, indifferent to any temptations, fear, or tyranny, single-pointedly focused on his faith in God. If we learn the use of the weapon of stayagraha, we can employ it to overcome all hardships originating from injustice….not here alone…more so in our home country.

The universal efficacy of Gandhi's spiritually inspired method of non-violent struggle against any form of injustice was thus for the first time clearly articulated by its remarkable author. He had not only transformed himself through the soul-tempering fires of suffering and hardship but had turned his particular grievance of the "Black Act" from a struggle launched on behalf of his tiny community in the Transvaal and Natal into a mighty message. It became a torch destined to light countless paths to freedom of millions suffering from discrimination and oppression, whether perpetuated by imperial or provincial tyrannies, in every dark corner of the earth.

” the British never tried to be buddies with the Indians, never treated them as equals and always backed an Englishman when there was a disupute between a Brit and an Indian. The Americans carried things too far, it is all right to be friendly, and to respect the Indians, try to be fair. But Americans tried to be Pals, buddies, and lost the respect of the Indians.”

” I don’t feel that a doctor, in India, gives himself the mission and the responsibility to absolutely save lives. First he doesn't’t have the financial means and the PERCEPTION OF DEATH IS SO DIFFERENT from us. It is reality, fatality and nobody can do anything about it. It costs a lot to keep people alive as long as possible”

"If the shudras may not wear it [the scared thread], I argued, what right have the other varnas to do so....I had no objection to the thread as such, but the reasons for wearing it were lacking (Chapter VIII).

"I wonder what Gandhi would have thought about all the fuss that's been made of what he did and said with so little example in this world that his teachings have been learned and followed or even listened to?"

I think there's a very strong tendency in human beings to fall in love with and worship the messenger and ignore and forget what the message is. And I think that's the last thing Gandhi wanted.

He had all the fame ( and notoriety in some circles ) that a Hollywood star might have. He needed that national and worldwide fame to accomplish the reforms he was trying to make, but it was not for personal gain and adulation that he made sure he won this kind of recognition.

Not everybody knows that.

You say "Gandhi" to some people, and they say, "Who's that?" Then, "Oh, yeah, he was the weird yogi who went around in that Indian underwear all the time, wasn't he?" They don't say, "He was the one who fought the British Empire non-violently and achieved independence for Indians through peaceful means." They don't say it because they don't know it. They recognize the messenger, but they don't know the message. The same is true for Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela.

In a way, that billboard campaign with Gandhi's picture so prominently displayed with a quote from him is a very good thing. I wonder if the message would mean more, though, if it were on a blank, black billboard without Gandhi's picture on it?

Gandhi became an icon in his own time. What that icon stands for all too often isn't remembered or known. That's the pity of it, and that's what Gandhi, if he were able to know what's going on today, would bemoan. He was selling something else; something far better and different from the imperfect human he tried so hard to improve all his life through self-discipline and self-denial, the human being who was himself.

Yet for India Armistice was followed by more dreadful repression, triggered by more martial "law." The Rowlatt Acts, which Gandhi labeled "Black Acts," extended wartime suspension of civil liberties and Common Law safeguards, as the very first post war legislation introduced by the Government of India.

"The fundamental principles of justice have been uprooted and the constitution rights of the people have been violated at a time where there is no real danger to the State, " Jinnah wrote Chelmsford in resigning from the Legislative council, "by an over fretful and incompetent bureaucracy which is nether responsible for the people nor in touch with real public opinion."

Gandhi called upon Indians to pray and vow never to obey such heinous laws. Satyagraha protest marches and strikes spread from Bombay to Delhi, from Bengal to Punjab.

The battle was joined in Amritsar in April 1919, where a walled "garden "(bagh)less than half a mile from the Skikh Golden Temple became the anguished birthplace of India's revolutionary Nationalism . Reginald Dyer, the deranged British brigadier who ordered his Gurkha and Baluchi troops to open fire, without warning at thousands of unarmed people trapped at close range while celebrating a Hindu festival, later testified that he had acted to "produce the necessary moral and widespread effect."

He murdered some 400 innocents, wounded at least 1,200, then hurried his troops out of Jallinawala Bagh without offering any medical assistance to the poor groaning, dying human beings shattered inside. Lord Chelmsford labeled such actions merely, "an error of judgment, transitory in it consequences." Montague at less insisted on Dyer's immediate recall, and early "retirement."

But the British House of Lords amassed a small fortune to express their appreciation for Dyer's "valiant services" to the Crown, presenting the purse to him with a bejeweled sword on which was inscribed "Savior of the Punjab."

The Jallinawala Bagh massacre did have a widespread moral effect throughout India, convincing many moderate leaders of Congress that gradual constitutional devolution of power was no longer enough. Through out the war, after all, Indians had been told that Britain and her allies were fighting against Prussian "barbarism" and "frightfulness." Now the British had behaved as badly; worse, from India's point of view.

Gandhi launched his first nationwide Stayagraha in August 1920.

from, India by Stanley Wolpert

But the Hardvar experiences prove for me to be of inestimable value. they helped me in no small way to decide where i was to live and what I was to do.