“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.
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