760. Mahatma Gandhiji

Einstein said we were all fortunate to have lived on earth at a time when Mahatma Gandhiji walked on mother earth. India has produced a procession of saints over the years. Asoka was a king and a saint. Gandhiji was a saint and a politician. The saint in him always got the better of the politician. At the hour of Independence, he was a towering figure in the world, not only in India. He should have been the first President and the first Prime Minister combined. That never was an issue at that time. He had all the power in his hand. The Freedom Movement was his, the Congress Party was his, the government of India was his. It never occurred to him to sit in the seat of power. He gave it away happily. In recorded history, this has happened in no other country. It cannot happen in any other country for the simple reason no other country has the spiritual tradition India has enjoyed over thousands of years.

Mother says inheritance will go in a hundred years. She was against marriage. What does She say about power?  What Gandhiji did carries the stamp of the Spirit. The Spirit cannot take, it can only give. It is so constituted that energy continuously issues out of it and flows outward. There is no ingoing route. Whatever the Spirit produces is for others, not for itself. It is the holiest of spiritual traditions. In a sense, Gandhiji did not inherit the power of the Congress party which he had accumulated. This is a principle of Mother too. Gandhiji promoted khadi, non-violence, no industrialisation and many other things. Untouchability was close to his heart. He relentlessly advocated all of them. But this - not enjoying power - he did not specifically advocate. He lived it.

Are we capable of it? Can we start an organisation and not occupy the seat of power? Can we create great knowledge and not seek recognition, if not reward? That is spiritual. Power, knowledge, wealth, comfort, convenience are vastly produced by the spiritual power for the enjoyment of others. I wrote earlier that we are like Rajiv who preferred a pilot's job to that of the Prime Ministership. One may ask what should we do. To create power or wealth and refuse to enjoy it is spiritual. Not to seek rewards or awards for our knowledge when we have originally created is to be in our spiritual tradition. India is a land of yogis, Rishis, munis, tapasvins, sannyasis, sadhus, mahatmas, etc. We do not have the prosperity of the West or the scientific eminence of Europe. Nor do we enjoy the atmosphere of scientific technology. We have Spirit and its values. Let us LIVE the Spirit in our daily lives and make India worthy of her hoary past. India is a land of the Spirit.