Today when some of my friends back in India are on a trip to a beautiful place called Goa, I would like to remember some of the things related to a great man in the history of my country, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, have influenced my life.
Gandhiji, or Mahatma Gandhi - as he is popularly known as - is a big picture in the struggle for Indian independence. Probably the biggest. 'Never lie' he said. This reminds me of a story about him that I read quite a long time back. Gandhiji, when he was a child, stole a link of a gold chain belonging to his father to pay up for some money he lost in a bet. And his father came to know of it and gave a good bashing to him. He learned a big lesson from that incident - one that made his character. There is a difference between personality and character. Personality is something that people can see. But character is something that only you know you are. Gandhiji came to know that its easy to tell a lie but not a truth. And owning up something that you did wrong takes a whole lot of character that very few people possess.
I try not to lie to people. But I am not so strong as this great man whose birthday we celebrate every year on 2nd October. If I would have been that great, maybe my birthday would also have been celebrated by people who do not know me so well. I have lied to my parents, my friends, people I love. Not to hurt them, but to please them. But one must know, that, maybe it pleases them, but when they get to know the truth, it hurts even more. Maybe it would hurt them to know the truth in the first place, but not too much, and nevertheless, its pleasing to the self that I did not lie. There is no big rock of guilt on my mind, my conscience. Because when you have that rock on your heart, your mind, your soul, you cannot sleep in peace. And that is most important to every human.
My salute to the great man who walked the land and left his footprints on the sands of time and minds of millions... forever.
No comments:
Post a Comment