The Gandhi Effect

“The Gandhi effect” by Rahul Singh (KT, April 4, 2013) caused a deep resonance in my mind. His association with the crew of the great film “Gandhi” by Richard Attenborough brought out some of the unknown anecdotes, which were inspiring. Gandhi always lived by setting examples for others. He would often say, “In order to transform others, you have first to transform yourself.” His life was an unending series of experimentation. No wonder his autobiography is titled, “My Experiments with Truth.” Evil, injustice, hatred, Gandhi argued, exist only insofar as we support them; they have no existence of their own. Without our cooperation, unintentional or intentional, injustice cannot continue.

I wish to share an incident from Gandhi’s life that I once read:

A skeptical crowd of Pathans with their guns slung over their shoulders gathered to watch the little figure in his loincloth get up before them in the North-west Frontier Province of India, among the rugged mountains near the Khyber Pass.

“Are you afraid?” he asked them gently. “Why else would you be carrying guns?” They just stared at him, stunned. No one had ever dared to speak to them like this before. “I have no fear,” Gandhi went on; “that is why I am unarmed. This is what Ahimsa means.” Abdul Ghaffar Khan (later came to be known as ‘Frontier Gandhi’) threw away his gun, and the Pathans, following his leadership, became some of the most courageous followers of Gandhi’s way of love.

Living by Experiences or Beliefs?

Do we live by our own experiences or beliefs? We seem to be carrying all sorts of beliefs throughout our lives. Perhaps, it is required to carry certain beliefs about certain things, which we don’t know for sure. But should they be allowed to influence our living?

Beliefs are what we hear from others and read from books and accept them as truths merely based on the authenticity of the source. Many troubles in our personal lives and in the world are created due to such beliefs. What we hear from others and read from books may have been others’ experiences. But to accept them as truths is turning them into mere superstitions, which we follow out of fear or reverence, not an inner conviction. Living by such beliefs is like riding a paper boat, which can sink at any time. We never get a totality view of the truth and hence are prone to falter in our actions. There is no inner growth following such beliefs. Even worse, following such beliefs may turn us into hypocrites.

Experiences, on the other hand, are what we get by living those moments. The knowledge and insight gained through experiences provide inner conviction and certainty about the fact. We never doubt what we know through our experiences. We can say that we ‘know’, not merely ‘believe’. This brings confidence and clarity in our thoughts and actions. If life is a river, experiences are its streams helping us to grow internally. We can realize our full potential in life only through experiences.

This does not mean we should stop believing in what we hear or read, especially from authentic sources, e.g. scriptures, famous writers, self-made successful personalities, etc. However, we should take them as hypotheses at first and then test in our own lives. What we get through testing these hypotheses would be our own truths, not borrowed ones. This is how we really benefit from others’ experiences. Isaac Newton once said, “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” Once a truth is internalized, it shapes our thoughts and actions effortlessly forever. Since truth is the same for all, it can never bring harm to any. May the living by our own experiences be the only way forward.

Resolutions are meant to be broken

All resolutions are meant to be broken – sooner or later. We make resolutions for those things we are not sure of. Deep down, we are not yet convinced about them. Driven by mere intellectual understanding of their benefits or some peer pressure, we resolve to do them. It is like forcing the mind to do something it doesn’t want to do. Who wants to get-up early and go for a jog? But, we make resolution to do it. And, we make it on a New Year day, so that we do not easily forget. However, it is only a question of time before the mind wins over our resolution and goes back to living its old habits. Ask any smoker or an alcoholic if their resolution to quit has ever worked.

The word ‘resolution’ itself has originated from the Latin root ‘solv’ or ‘solut’ – both meaning ‘to loosen or untie’. It was never meant to force an action upon oneself. Anything forced is not forceful. Sooner or later, one gets tired of such forced action and discards it. Also, having failed to keep one’s resolution, one suffers from a feeling of guilt. A better approach would be to develop deeper understanding of an action’s merits through study, discussion and contemplation. Life itself drives home such lessons through its knocks and shocks. People often quit smoking after having diagnosed with cancer. As the understanding gets deeper, the change becomes natural and permanent. Do we make any resolution to breathe? If I ever have to make any resolution, it would be: “I shall never make any resolution.”

Long Live Rajesh Khanna

Rajesh Khanna, the person, may have died. But Rajesh Khanna, the Actor, will live forever in our hearts. I fail to understand why we have to tarnish an actor’s achievements by talking about his prsonal failures. Who does not have any weakness? An actor is also a human.

Besides being a style icon of his time, Rajesh Khanna touched millions of hearts through his glittering body of work. In Anand, he taught us how to face death with a smile. In Bawarchi, he persuaded us to treasure small pleasures of everyday life. In Aavishkar, he fathomed the root cause of discontent in married life. In Dushman, he showed a way forward for a hard-core criminal. In Aaradhana, he transformed love into a divine worship. In Amar Prem, he challenged social taboos. In Namakharam, he juxtaposed friendship with duty. The list is long. But the fact remains that he entertained us in the most meaningful ways.

We should remember him only through his touching screen roles, just as we remember Shakespeare through his writings, Picasso through his paintings and Mozart through his music. This alone would stand the test of time.

God, Tusi Great Ho

Yesterday, I saw Salman Khan starrer movie, “God, Tusi Great Ho”. I found the main storyline quite inspiring.

The protagonist, Salman, lived a humble life full of problems. His father was retired, he was fired from his job, his sister was not getting married due to spots on her face, his fiancé was attracted to his colleague who was more successful, etc. He kept cursing God for such injustice, which he also saw in the lives of many others around him. One day, God called him to a hotel for a heart-to-heart discussion. Salman told God that He was unable to manage the world, as there was so much misery in everyone’s life. God, then, agreed to give all His powers to Salman for a period of 10 days to manage the world as he wishes.

Salman spent first 9 days fixing his own problems. God, then, reminded him that he was left with only 1 day and he had not yet done anything for the world. He then started listening to the prayers of other people. Soon, his ears were bursting with a cacophony of sound, as he found everyone in the world praying for something or the other. He realised that even if he were to give 1 sec per person, he would not complete listening to everyone’s prayer in the remaining one day. So he granted everyone’s prayer en-mass without listening. He slept well that night with the thought that he had made the whole world happy.

But, shocks greeted him the very next morning. His sister, who was transformed into a beautiful woman, married an undeserving person who had prayed for her. His fiancé, who had decided to marry him, changed her mind as his friend had prayed for her. A beggar became dog-like, as he always used to pray for the life of a dog, whom he often saw living in luxury. His friend, who prayed for a motorbike, ran over a pedestrian after getting a motorbike. All criminals were released from the jail, as they had prayed for their release. Chaos and anarchy prevailed in the world. Seeing all this, he again cried for help from God.

God reappeared before him. He confessed that he didn’t anticipate the consequences of granting every prayer. He pleaded God to correct all the wrongs that he had caused. God said it was not possible, as whatever had happened was now past and the past could not be changed. But, when he persisted with his request, God offered to reverse everything as they were ten days before. That meant he would again be job-less, his sister with facial problem, and his fiancé abandoning him. He readily accepted saying, “Everyone’s real welfare is in whatever they have got. Asking for other than that is asking for trouble.” While parting, he asked how he can meet Him again. God replied, “You can see me in everyone.” The protagonist went on to make peace with everyone and everything around him. He even won back his fiancé by exposing the cunning ways of his colleague at work. When his fiancé commented how mean his colleague was, he saw God in him and said he was an angel who caused their reunion.

How little we humans know about our welfare? Everybody and everything in the world are interconnected. Misfortune of one can be a fortune for the other. Good and bad are two sides of the same coin. What we consider ‘bad’ today may turn out to be a stepping stone for some long term ‘good’. Indeed, it is impossible to know what lies ahead. In the absence of ‘Big Picture’, it is best to pass on the responsibility of controlling the future to that almighty God who has created this Big Picture and knows what’s good for whom.

Living - An Inside Job

Khalil Gibran tells a story: “Once, a humble man from a small village was visiting a foreign land. He didn’t know the language or culture of that land. He passed by a gate through which many people were passing. Filled with curiosity, he also entered. It was a famous restaurant. People were eating at different tables. He thought it was a place where visitors are welcome and treated at state cost. He also sat on a table and had a hearty meal. When someone came with the bill, he thought he was being honoured with a certificate for visiting that place. He thanked the person and started to leave. When he was taken to the owner for not paying the bill, he thought the owner was personally thanking him for the visit. He was taken to the court, whereupon he thought he was receiving state honour. He was asked to be taken on a donkey with a placard saying, “I am a thief.” While on the march through the streets, he was filled with unparallel joy of being accorded such a great honour by this country. The only thing that pinched him was that there was no body from his own country to witness this celebration. At this moment, he spotted his country man in the crowd. But, he soon disappeared in the crowd, fearing any association with this man, who was being ridiculed and humiliated. However, this man thought that his country man was jealous of his achievement.”

This man in the story was clearly living in his own world. We may laugh at him, but the fact remains that each one of us lives in his/her own respective world and considers it real. The world is what we perceive through our five senses.

If our senses are so critical in defining the world, then let’s scientifically investigate how these senses work. Light from an object enters our eyes, subject to their inherent limitations, and projects an image inside the dark chamber of our brain after processing millions of bits of information in a blink. This image is then subjected to cognition based on past impressions, values, expectations, interest, understanding, etc. Thus, a visual perception of the object is formed in our minds. Can everyone, looking at the same object, claim to have perceived the same object? Thus, no one can say for sure what, in reality, is that object. Similar phenomenon takes place with each of the other senses. What we hear is not what everyone else hears. What we smell is not what everyone else smells. What we taste is not what everyone else tastes. And, what we feel on touching is not what everyone else feels. Therefore, in reality, everyone perceives a world of one’s own inside one’s own brain.

Our senses can never tell us what the real thing is. It is absurd to fight, compete, feel jealous or get angry over things that are not real and mere creation of our own minds in our own little worlds. But, since we co-exist with others and have to perform certain duties in this so called world, we have to use whatever our senses bring to us. The first thing that we must do with our perceptions is not to take them seriously, as they never give the real picture. With this attitude, we can live in this world lightheartedly, as if playing a game. No doubt, we play to win. But, we must play a fair game. Those who cheat spoil the very fun in the game and add stress for themselves. Further, we should maintain a deep understanding that both winning and losing have no meaning in the end. After all it is only a game, and the real thing is to enjoy playing this game. Don’t we applaud the opponent for a nice shot, even if missed by us?

Living, essentially, is an inside job. We, no doubt, exist together, but live alone in our own worlds. The more we focus on the perceptions and consider them real, the less we live. Those, who spend their lives fighting for supremacy in such a world, miss the opportunity to live. The real fight is within, where great transformation can take place for every individual. The real yardstick is our internal growth based on our own internal benchmark. All external benchmarks are mere illusions, which ultimately result in frustrations. No one has ever achieved them, nor will anyone ever achieve. We are shrouded by layers of dark mysteries. Where did we come from and where will we go? What exactly happens in death, which will take away everything that we fear of losing now? Who, essentially, are we and why are we born? However hard we may try to avoid such questions by indulging in the world, they would continue to haunt us in our private moments. The answers are so subjective that no book or person can share. They can, at best, give powerful indications. We have to find on our own by contemplating upon these questions within, while playing a fair game in the outside world. We shall intuitively know when the right answers appear.  Like an onion, we have to peel layer-by-layer each veil of secrecy. With the fall of every veil, we will be filled with unparallel joy, which will culminate in the everlasting bliss when the real identity or source reveals itself. Such, I believe, is the meaningful living. 

Green with Envy

Someone once said, “The reason we are unhappy is because our neighbour seems to be happier than us.” The article (“Do You Shrivel when your friends succeed?”Wknd. 18May 2012) expertly uncovered the green-eyed monster within all of us. However, I am not prepared to take comfort in the fact that we’re wired to react this way. I am reminded of an incident when my kids were very small. Once they returned from school and, while showing their work, they proudly said so and so got an ‘A’ for his work. “How come?” I enquired. They simply said, “He is better.” I didn’t see any hint of envy in their words or on their faces. At that age, we were all like that. Surely then, this green-eyed monster entered our psyche much later when we lost our innocence and joined the rat-race. 

We now measure our success by comparing with others’ possessions. This is a never-ending chase. We may sometimes get momentary happiness by defeating our compatriot, but soon thereafter gloom will return as we train our eyes on other high achievers. Nature didn’t want us to live like this. In her garden, a lily is never envious of a rose. They both enjoy blooming to their own unique potentials. Likewise, each one of us is special and carries at least one unique talent, which no one else has. Our real success should be in uncovering this uniqueness within, which is incomparable and hence free from any envy whatsoever.