Mahatma Gandhi through Shri Krishna's Words

October 2, 2012

Today, October 2, is Mahatma Gandhi's birthday. mkgandhi.org is an excellent resource for all manner of information on this great man. They publish an online magazine on Gandhiji, his life and his philosophy. The October 2012 contains the text of a speech by Shri Arun Bhat in which Shri Arunbhai says:

Prayer was Gandhi’s strength and his shelter. A friend had given me a picture of Bapu, that of Gandhi sitting in prayer. It looks as if prayer itself is sitting in the form of Gandhi. A one liner captions the picture, “I can live without food for many days but cannot survive a second without prayer.” His life itself was a prayer.

On this day, it is best to let Śrī Kṛṣṇa himself describe this remarkable politician sage (rājaṛṣi) who considered the Geeta to be like "a mother".

अहिंसा सत्यमक्रोधस्त्यागः शान्तिरपैशुनम् |
दया भूतेष्वलोलुप्त्वं मार्दवं ह्रीरचापलम् ||१६-२||
तेजः क्षमा धृतिः शौचमद्रोहो नातिमानिता |
भवन्ति सम्पदं दैवीमभिजातस्य भारत ||१६-३||
ahi.nsaa satyamakrodhastyaagaH shaantirapaishunam.h .
dayaa bhuuteshhvaloluptvaM maardavaM hriirachaapalam.h .. 16\-2..
tejaH kShamaa dhR^itiH shauchamadroho naatimaanitaa .
bhavanti sampadaM daiviimabhijaatasya bhaarata .. 16\-3..
Harmlessness (Ahimsa-non-violence), truth, absence of anger, renunciation, peacefulness, absence of crookedness, compassion to beings, non-covetousness, gentleness, modesty, absence of fickle-ness, vigour, forgiveness, fortitude, purity, absence of hatred, absence of pride --- these belong to the one born for the Divine Estate, O Bharata (Arjuna)

Click on the link for my previous posts on Gandhiji.

Hari Om and Namaskaar until the next post

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