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International Day of Peace Message from Arun Gandhi, Grandson of Mahatma Gandhi

GANDHI DAY MESSAGE from Arun Gandhi, Grandson of Mahatma Gandhi

Way back before the 1942 Quit India movement in India that got Gandhi arrested and imprisoned some women from a Women's Center in Wardha, near Sevagram Ashram, in Central India, requested permission to come to the Ashram on October 2 to celebrate Gandhi's birthday in his presence. Typically, Gandhi wrote back and said: ‘There will be no celebration but you may come here and perform service of the poor and the destitute and don't forget to bring your own food because I cannot afford to feed you.’

It was not that Gandhi was inconsiderate or a penny-pincher but he used every occasion to instil in people the idea of change. We have become victims of tradition and materialism so that we look for opportunities to party and have a good time all of which means spending money on unnecessary things. Gandhi was always concerned about those less fortunate who, because of circumstances, are forced to live in poverty and destitution and tried to teach people the value of compassion.

On this day I am reminded of Grandfather’s TALISMAN: "Whenever you are in doubt or the self becomes too much with you, apply the following test: "Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest person whom you may have seen and ask yourself if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to that person. Will that person gain anything by it? Will it restore the person control over his/her own life and destiny? In other words, will it lead to Swaraj (self-rule) for the hungry and spiritually starving millions? "Then you will find your doubts and yourself melting away."

International Day of Peace Message from Arun Gandhi

I believe we must now move beyond symbolism to doing something constructive and meaningful if we really want to build peace in the world. Peace is not the absence of war or violence. Peace means replacing the present culture of violence with a culture of nonviolence. It means understanding what nonviolence is: briefly, nonviolence is allowing compassion, love, respect, understanding and appreciation to guide human behaviour; it means building better relationships between individuals and nations that are not based on greed and self-interest but on love and understanding.

Most of all we need to understand that the security and stability of any nation in the world is dependent on the security and stability of the whole world. No nation can live in isolation nor be the most powerful in the world. Peace can flourish only when compassion and humility guide humankind in every aspect of human life. If we are not willing to make this qualitative change in our lives then we can go on celebrating one day of peace and 364 days of violence and war.

An Amazing Moment !

Arun Gandhi. His Holiness The Dalai Lama and Martin Luther King Jr III on the same platform at the same time for the first time .... what a memorable moment for these three amazing men and for the 10,000+ Washington DC audience! A suprise trio even to His Holiness to celebrate the Nobel Laureate's 76th birthday.

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