Yesterday, 2nd of October was Gandhi Jayanti.
I was one of the speakers at the MRA. The other speakers were Julio Ribeiro, Uzma Naheed, Aarif. It was a wonderful evening filled with Shairis friendship, song. My talk was 'Living Gandhiji's Dream' I elaborated on Gandhiji's quotes:
Some of them:






First, a story
1) During Hindu Muslim riots
When a Hindu lost a child and was inconsolable
Gandhiji told him to look after a Muslim orphan, one who had lost his parents in the senseless rioting.

The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong
Not forgiving is like carrying rotten potatoes constantly on your back...
Whenever you are confronted with an opponent, conquer him with love.



2) An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind.
Let us look into the mind of Gandhiji
3) His slipper dropped as he was riding a train.
He threw the other slipper. He felt that for the finder it would be useful to have both slippers.
a) We fail because we do not persevere
b) Failing does not mean we are failures
c) People without conviction take the middle of the road, they get run over
(They sit on the fence)
d) Losers have a book full of excuses
Eg wrong stars, wrong parents
e) Wise people learn from their mistakes
These mistakes are called experience




I was listening to a taped discourse of Shri Morari Bapu who states that we could live in a perfect world if we were to imbibe the following salient qualities from the various religious Giants:
The wisdom of Shri Krishna.
The service and love of Christ.
The brotherhood of Islam.
The compassion of Buddha
The non-violence quality of Mahavira…
If one looks close enough, each religion embraces all the above qualities...

DO NOT FORCE THE UNWILLING
In the Bhagavad Geeta, Krishna says to Arjuna: "This secret gospel of the Geeta should never be imparted to a man who lacks penance nor to him who is wanting in devotion, nor even to him who lends not a willing ear...
The Holy Quran says: Lakum Deenokum Walia Deen"_ Your religion and belief is for you and my religion and belief is for me.

The following is one of the faourite bhajans of Gandhiji.
Hv taken the english translation from the Internet:

Vaishnav jan to tene kahiye je
PeeD paraayi jaaNe re
Par-dukhkhe upkaar kare toye
Man abhimaan na aaNe re (Vaishnava)

SakaL lok maan sahune vande
Nindaa na kare keni re
Vaach kaachh man nishchaL raakhe
Dhan-dhan janani teni re (Vaishnava)

Sam-drishti ne trishna tyaagi
Par-stree jene maat re
Jivha thaki asatya na bole
Par-dhan nav jhaalee haath re (Vaishnava)

Moh-maaya vyaape nahi jene
DriDh vairaagya jena man maan re
Ram naam shoon taaLi laagi
SakaL tirath tena tan maan re (Vaishnava)

VaN-lobhi ne kapaT-rahit chhe
Kaam-krodh nivaarya re
BhaNe Narsaiyyo tenun darshan karta
KuL ekoter taarya re (Vaishnava)


English Translation

One who is a Vaishnav (Devotee of Vishnu)
Knows the pain of others
Does good to others
without letting pride enter his mind.

A Vaishnav, Tolerates and praises the the entire world.
Does not speak ill of others
Keeps his promises, actions and thoughts pure
your mother is blessed indeed.

A Vaishnav sees everything equally, rejects greed and avarice
respects women as he respects his own mother
though his tongue may tire he will utter no untruth
Never touches the property of others.

A Vaishnav does not succumb to worldly attachments
he has renounced lust of all types and anger
The poet Narsi will like to see such a person By who's virtue,
the entire family gets salvation
Notes
This is not a perfect translation of the poem, the first stanza has the words A Vaishnav in the susequent stanzas it is used only to make grammatical sense. It is not a poetic translation but the meanings of the lines have been explained simply and the integrity of the poem has been completely maintained.