Tag Archives: Non-violence
Life on earth, possible but not safe!
Click here to read in Gujarati
Today my heart, paining with the burning issue of violence now-a-days spread over one or the other country of the world, stimulates me to write something still more over and above some of my previous articles in this regard. Wars and conflicts, both military and civilian, can never bring permanent solutions of the issues. The world has experienced the failure of experiments of violence and still we are not prepared to give a serious thought over the philosophy of non-violence successfully experimented by Mahatma Gandhi. The world is now weary of hate and violence. Far past and recent massacres made through Atomic Bombs and Bomb Blasts have destroyed the lives of such a number of people with whom, if they were alive, we could have started a new world on any planet of the universe.
Let me very frankly put a new equation as “World = Rulers + Ruled”. The Rulers are at top, the Ruled are at bottom. The Rulers are few and the Ruled are countless. Out of both the divisions, the oppressors are few, the oppressed are many. From top to bottom, those some very few are engaged in how to destroy the earth, its innocent population, its balanced environment, its natural resources, its social law and order, its peace and comforts, its primary needs for survival of all creatures, its ideology and spirituality and its many more physical and abstract concerns. A great number of the oppressed have to judge who use Atomic Bombs and alike destroying weapons as the Rulers and who use Bomb Blasts and similar practices damaging and disturbing civilian lives as the Ruled. A neutral observer will not generalize them in particular group of East or West and Caste or Religion. They will classify them as a single group of known as the enemies of humanity and rebellious against the God and His Divinity.
The Birthday (2nd October) of Mahatma Gandhi has been declared as International Non-violence Day by the UNO. But, what of that if the purpose of the day is not served! All the member nations of the UNO should at least introduce the study of Non-violence minimum at Primary Education level and see we can create a new generation throughout the world that can change the face of the world with a new concept of Non-violence. Revolutionary education to present growing up generation may bring good results flourished fully after 100 years if we start today. I recall an ancient system of erecting walls with bricks and stones around the capital cities of a particular kingdom to protect it from the attacks of the enemies. In that context, I remember a quote somewhere read as “Just to prevent the wars, walls should be built in the minds of the people.” The lessons of Non-violence will surely build the castles in the minds of the new generation and thus the future of the world will be very bright and the earth will be worth living for all.
I am not an expert of National and/or International Politics as well as not a scholar of World History. But, with my simple logic and understanding, I have come to a conclusion that due to some political mistakes, the powerful nations opted wars instead of some alternative solutions of the issues and as a result millions of human lives have been destroyed. Some political critics have openly blamed those powerful nations that they have imposed wars upon the world under the pretext of saving all from destructive weapons and that also with a good name of war for peace. But, the outcomes of those so called wars for peace are before our eyes and we have no any option but to believe in that all these misfortunes are the side products of those wars.
It is the irony of the fate of the world that the scientists try to know whether life is possible on other planets like Mars; but here on this Earth, we see that life is possible but not safe. Human is not safe in transportations, on roads, in hospitals, in their business premises, in religious places, in schools or colleges, in their farms or even at its home.
Just for some moments meanwhile, I’ll go to a personal matter of mine just to co-relate it with my following point of the Article. My Friend Dr. K. M. Patel’s daughter, Urmila is preparing for her Ph.D. in the subject of “Saul Bellow – an American Novelist”. I chatted on internet to feed some contents if useful to her. I chanced to collect a dialogue from Saul Bellow’s novel “Ravelsterin” (Frankly speaking, I have not read the full novel) which is very important for me to advocate humanity. The dialogue is as “There are times when I need to ride in the subway at rush hour or sit in a crowded movie house-that’s what I mean by a humanity bath. As cattle must have salt to lick, I sometimes crave physical contact.”
I pick up only two words ‘humanity bath’ from above text and join my Readers with me to imagine a ‘blood bath’ resulted from a bomb blast and victims would have been travelers of any transport or spectators of any movie in a theatre. Those enemies of humanity take away the lives of many in a second and on the other hand some Surgeons try to save a single life with some major operations for hours. A mother sacrifices her whole life to bring up her child and make him a young man and in no moments he becomes the victim of such man-made disasters. A doctor who studies up to the age of about 25 years and has been capable to save the lives of many patients and he loses his valuable life in a very cheap manner. Many blood donors worldwide donate their blood willingly to save the lives of unknown people and here the sacred blood of many innocents is spilt and wasted.
Mahatma Gandhi has rightly said, “We see that this song of hate has not benefited humanity.” I repeat my words placed in my previous Article “International Non-violence Day” and say that to walk on the way of Non-violence is rather difficult and perhaps the result may be disappointing. Gandhiji has explained this issue of doubt in his words as “My faith is as strong as ever. There is no hope for the aching world except through the narrow and straight path of Non-violence. Millions like me may fail to prove the truth in their lives; that would be their failure, never of the eternal law.”
While summing up, I would suggest to my Gujarati Readers to read a poem of Zaverchand Meghani titled as “Ghan re bole!” (ઘણ રે બોલે!). A sledge (big hammer) and an anvil (એરણ)are the instruments of a blacksmith. In personification flower of speech (સજીવારોપણ અલંકાર), the hammer and the anvil have been imagined as brother and sister respectively. Here, the brother speaks and the sister hears. The sledge declares its (his) wish before the anvil to make some creative equipments useful to mankind rather than destructive weapons used in wars. It is a wonderful poem that can be sung in tune of a singing prayer (ભજન).
Let us pray to God for prosperity and happiness of the world.
Regards,
– Valibhai Musa
Dtd.: Aug 15, 2008
International Non-violence Day
Click here to read in Gujarati.
Today is the 2nd October, the 138th Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, a super human of the era. He was born on this day in 1869. After six decades of his martyrdom, the world has now realized the value of Ghandhian philosophy and particularly his thoughts on Non-violence especially when the world is passing through the threats of terrorism and many more alike –isms. The UNO has rightly declared this day as the International Non-violence Day and it is really the greatest tribute to him.
Let us remember his words as “The world is weary of hate. We see the fatigue overcoming the Western nations. We see that this song of hate has not benefited humanity. Let it be the privilege of India to turn a new leaf and set a lesson to the world.” How appropriate his words are in the prevailing situation and circumstances of the world! He had compared the world as the human body. The pain in any organ is bound to be felt in the whole body. His words were like the divine words but he was so humble and honest that he never claimed to be a prophet or a philosopher.
On this day, the medias of the world have said much more about Mahatma Gandhi. My attempt to touch the heavy subject may seem to be weightless to my Readers; and that I know because I am restricted to the size of the Article. In spite of my limitations, I would like to discuss the only subject of Non-violence with some other quotes in support of the same.
The Prophet of Islam (SAW) in a Hadith said, “Human blood is sacred and in any case it cannot be spilled without justification. And if anyone violates this sanctity of human blood by killing a soul without justification, the Holy Quran equates it to the killing of entire mankind.” There are many forms of violence, but they can be divided in two categories; physical and mental. The violence can be done by tongue also. If anybody’s feelings are hurt by your speech, that also can be named as the violence. Peer Mashayakh Rehmatullah, in one of his verses, has written “A true Believer cannot hurt anybody using own hand or tongue.” He further narrates; “To write an unfair letter to hurt the feelings of the addressee is the double sin” He explains that while using this weapon of unfair writing, the writer uses his hand and tongue also. The tongue in the sense that the reader while reading feels that he is hearing the speech of the writer.
Electronic and print material is like a speech and any imbalance, from the side of the orator or author, may bring man-made disasters to the world. Only the celebration of this day cannot make the world peaceful, but many more precautions and self disciplines are also necessary for result orientation. Wherever any sensitive issue in the world arises, it becomes the prime and pious duty of media not to encourage the people towards violence. It is the established ethical truth that bigotry and hatred are inhuman and unjustified.
Just to prevent the mass violence, it should be noted that the actions of an individual or a small group do not necessarily represent the beliefs of a particular religion, nor is that religion is responsible for such actions. The media’s labeling such unfair events as Islamic, Christian, Judaist or Hindus is incorrect. Media should try to discourage the mass mind going towards the path of violence and encourage them to be initiative to support the authorities to bring peace and order. The people should be counseled by highlighting the ideology that there is neither bravery nor sacrifice in destroying life or property for any cause of either offence or defense.
To walk on the way of Non-violence is rather difficult and perhaps the result may be disappointing. Gandhiji has explained this issue in his words as “My faith is as strong as ever. There is no hope for the aching world except through the narrow and straight path of Non-violence. Millions like me may fail to prove the truth in their lives; that would be their failure, never of the eternal law.”
Gandhiji didn’t leave any subject untouched related to human life. The scholars and even the common people can have what they may need from the volumes of “Gandhiji – no – Akshardeh”- not only his entire work of literature, but also his whole creative and active life. The Readers will be surprised to know that within the normal human life generally people live, he had done a lot for the welfare of the human kind. He was an open minded man and also a revolutionary activist fighting against unfair practices of the society with the means of Non-violence and Truth. What he thought, what he said and what he did were always in harmony.
Summing up, I join you with me to give our sincere but meaningful tribute to Mahatma Gandhi, not only in words but also in action by trying to walk on the path of humanity he pointed to the world.
May God bless us to fill our hearts with love to develop global humanity.
With best regards,
– Valibhai Musa
Dtd: 2nd October, 2007
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