Qualities to be inspired from Gandhi!

Every year on 2nd of October , we celebrate Gandhi Jayanthi, the birthday of Mahathma Gandhi. Gandhiji is widely known as the “Father of our Nation” , for the efforts he took to gain independence to our country. But he was no free from criticisms, in fact one of the most criticised leader we can say. And these controversies surrounding him, really makes him more special. I will explain why.

Humans with good heart are really appreciable but what more is important is to recognise and encourage a person who really makes a jet shift from bad qualities towards goodness and has enough courage to accept faults and tries to amend them. On that note, Gandhiji is a greatest inspiration and I would like to share few of his inspiring qualities which were milestones in the transformation of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi to Mahathma.

Breaking of the shackles of shyness

Gandhiji was not very social in his childhood. He was so shy-filled that he never sat back in school to chit chat with other fellow students. As Gandhiji went abroad for his barrister graduation, then also he was not fully opened up with his co-leagues or neighbours. As his ideologies changed towards fighting for the societal welfare, he broke all his shyness and mingled easily with every single commoner. It needs much effort to break the ice and that too for the sake of others is really incredible.

Staunch follower of truth

The most famous life incident of Gandhiji, during his childhood, showcases how practicing truth is inculcated in himself by birth. When an inspector who came for inspection in the school where Gandhiji was studying, asked the students to write spelling for five words. Out of five, Gandhiji wrote correct spelling for four words but did not knew the spelling for “kettle”. His teacher signalled him to copy from his neighbour which Gandhiji was not ready to agree with. Later he got scoldings from the teacher which shocked him but still was not ready to give up his honesty. And he followed this priceless quality for his entire life.

Strong willed and belief in faith

Gandhiji in his childhood used to be afraid of darkness, fearing for the assault by the ghosts. He cannot stay alone, especially in a dark room. Once his maid preached him about Lord Rama and how his blessing will stay with him always and protect him from any suffering. Gandhiji imbibed this faith all along his life, until his last breath. When Gandhiji was shot dead, “Hey Ram” were the last words uttered by him. This faith and strong will made him to take up the hardest path of Ahimsa to gain independence and also gave immense strength to stand bare body against the huge cannons of British.

Had sympathy along with empathy
Gandhiji was a man who gained respect not only from fellow Indians, but also from the British officials against whom he actually stood upon. Among many qualities of him which were admired by all, one of the most inspiring and jaw dropping feature is his simple attire of loin cloth along with a shawl. What is more inspiring is the story behind this avatar of him. It was at Madurai, on his way enroute to Madras, he found his co-passengers to be dressed up with foreign fabrics. He asked them to encourage Khadi instead but the reply shook him up and made him to take up this striking decision overnight. The reply made him realise how cheap foreign fabric has engulfed the market of expensive Khadi clothes,actually the swadeshi product. From then,he started wearing the loin cloth and shawl to represent the state of majority commoners and to insist the importance of every single person to own swadeshi products and boycott foreign goods. This showed the sympathy he had towards his fellow people and the empathy he had by placing himself in the position of the common folks.

National skill mission
Campaign for basic education Gandhiji proposed the scheme for basic education during the Wardha session of Congress, which is one of the practical and well suited for contemporary educational system. In basic education, Gandhiji advised to promote vocational training along with usual academic education because he believed in the quote “Train a person to fish instead of providing him with fish, because fishing will save him for entire life while providing fish will just satisfy his one time apetite”. This system is really found to be apt for the present day unemployment problem where India has the highest number of youth with unmatching skills for the available jobs. This shows the long term vision of Gandhiji and is reflected in the formation of National skill mission by the Indian government to train the youth in various skills thus creating employment opportunities.

Gandhiji was not a man of good books alone but what makes him more unique is the guts he shown in accepting his faults and the rigidity he had in following his principles, without fearing for criticisms. He never labelled himself as Mahathma, it was the title given to him, on appreciating his experiments on truth and his will power to practice them. He earned respect for being real and he never compromised whether it be a day-to-day activity or the historical struggle for independence. Keeping all controversies apart, let us pick up the inspiring goodness from him and that would be the best way to offer salute to this great personality.

WRITTEN  BY SOCIAL AUTHOR:  PRABHA KATHAMUTHU