Bhavan Australia 65.Indd

Martin Luther King Jr Rosa Parks W.E.B Du Bois Our Tribute to Tribal People of Every Nation 6.6 / 6.7 January 2009 WWorldorld PeacePeace FFollowingollowing inin Gandhi’sGandhi’s Wake...Wake... Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi’s life was his testament and he would have liked us to follow in his footsteps. Revered and adored by millions in his own life time, Gandhiji rarely allowed arrogance and hubris to overwhelm him. Yet he acknowledged the constant effort it took to keep the baser aspects of human nature in check. I also believe he would have wished to be remembered as a simple man, and not as a demigod removed from reality. It is important to reflect on the profound effect Gandhiji’s message of universal brotherhood and peace had on India. To the un-informed and of Pakistan, even today India remains home to those unfamiliar with that great country, I must say the fourth largest community of Muslims after here that it is polyglot of cultures and beliefs. While Indonesia, Nigeria and Egypt. Given the choice, I a majority of its population are Hindus, but it is also do not believe they would emigrate to Pakistan, as composed of myriads of sects and worship a plethora India has kept faith with Gandhiji’s vision for the of deities. India is therefore not the monocultural Republic. His devout Hinduism did not restrict him and monoreligious society that many like to believe; from recognizing the virtues of other faiths. Together it is a rich and varied cocktail of cultures, religions, with Jawaharlal Nehru and the other architects of regions, languages, sects and beliefs. To this modern India, Gandhiji understood the desirability of establishing a secular state. This entity would ‘If Non-Violence is the law of our being, the future guarantee freedom is with women. - at an evening prayer in Simla, 1946 to all religions to practice as they pleased. Gandhiji knew that religion subcontinent, Gandhiji returned from South Africa was not a State concern but a personal choice that and proceeded to galvanize the country against the related to the manner in which people conducted British Raj by advocating nonviolence and peaceful their daily lives. In many ways this slight, stooped, protest. It engaged the people of India like nothing bespectacled and balding figure clad in dhoti is a had done before or since and reinforced a common paradox. He was the quintessential Indian who sense of destiny. That India remains united nearly appealed to the masses as one of them. At the same six decades on despite its differences and contrasts time, he was able to rise above his people and lead is an inspiration to us. Salman Rushdie in an essay them become a citizen of the world. It was because to commemorate modern India’s golden jubilee of the values he championed- freedom, equality, anniversary remarked as to how tolerant it was of justice, tolerance and nonviolence that leaders and difference. heroes of our time like Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and Aung Sang Sui have acknowledged the While Gandhiji could not prevent the creation influence Gandhiji has had on their perspectives. 6.6 / 6.7 January 2009 It is, I believe, one of the reasons why resistance to indenture and colonial rule in Fiji were not more violent. Happily, it appears to have imbued Indo-Fijian relations as well. From the mid 1930s to the early 1980s, the majority of our population was formed by Fijians of Indian origin. Throughout this period, the Indo- Fijian community was insistent but not strident about their rights. But at no stage did any this latter aspect, the rhetoric of exclusivity does Indo-Fijian leader advocate violence. In a country little for nation building. Both Islam and Christianity like ours with its different cultures, faiths and assert the absolutist nature of their respective creeds. people, the one virtue that is critical to our survival I have no problem with that. It is when it is pursued and well-being is tolerance and mutual respect. to distinguish, divide and separate that one has to That was what Gandhiji stood for, and it broke his question the motive. heart when the Muslim League under Mohammed Ali Jinnah refused to settle for anything less than The life of Gandhiji was one of discipline and an Islamic State carved out of India. Godse, the service. From the beginning of his public career man who assassinated Gandhiji, was a member of in South Africa to the end of his life, he remained a Hindu Nationalists group who considered he had close to ordinary people. It was one of his greatest compromised the interest of the Indians by agreeing strengths. It was as far removed from the style of the to the partition of the country. What they failed to British rulers, the Mughal Emperors and the Indian understand was that the Mahatma’s complete ease Maharajas as could be possible. Gandhiji’s greatest with his Indian heritage in general and Hindu faith virtue is that his life itself is a message. He could not in particular, allowed him to be so accommodating be at this gathering were he alive today. He would towards everyone else. His approach bespoke of a say we could do better by doing something concrete sense of security that was thoroughly grounded in for the values he stood for. That too is how I would the precepts of his own culture. Only then can one like Gandhiji to be remembered. His message in fact perceive the world around us and beyond without is too important to be confined and remembered threat or fear. The values Godse and his like espoused only on one day (October 2) of the year; we need to were of a narrow and parochial India that defied its remember it every single day. history - one that had absorbed the Aiyans, Mughals and many other invaders down the several millennia - Excerpted from a lecture by Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi, of its existence. former Vice-President of Fiji Islands. How relevant is that to us in the Republic of the India Perspectives January - March 2008 Fiji Islands? We continue to struggle with partisan views. Ethnic identity persists and is reinforced by religious differences following similar patterns. In 6.6 / 6.7 January 2009 EEditorialditorial PagePage CCurrenturrent BoardBoard ofof DirectorsDirectors Publisher & General Editor: CCurrenturrent BBoardoard ofof DirectorsDirectors ofof Gambhir Watts BBharatiyaharatiya VVidyaidya BBhavanhavan AustraliaAustralia [email protected] Editorial Committee: J Rao Palagummi OOfficeffice BBearersearers : Catherine Knox Rajesh Katakdhond [email protected] President Gambhir Watts Designing Team: Treasurer Catherine Knox Utkarsh Doshi J Rao Palagummi Surendralal Mehta- Chairman Emeritus Advertising: President Bhavan Worldwide [email protected] Company Secretary Sridhar Kumar Kondepudi Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Australia Suite 100 / 515 Kent Street, Sydney NSW 2000 OOtherther ddirectorsirectors aarere * The views of contributors to Bhavan Australia are not necessarily the views Abbas Raza Alvi; Moksha Watts of Bhavan Australia or the editor. *Bhavan Australia reserves the right to edit any contributed articles and NNomineesominees ooff BBharatiyaharatiya VVidyaidya BBhavanhavan Worldwide:Worldwide: letters submitted for publication. Copyright: all advertisements and Homi Navroji Dastur, Executive Secretary and Director General original editorial material appearing remain the property of Bhavan Jagannathan Veeraraghavan, Executive Director, Delhi Australia and may not be reproduced except with the written consent of the Mathoor Krishnamurti, Executive Director, Bangalore owner of the copyright. Palladam Narayana Sathanagopal, Joint Director Bhavan Australia - ISSN 1449 – 3551 AArticlesrticles & FocusFocus ThemesThemes World Peace - Following in Gandhi’s 2 Guru Gobind Singh 21 Wake.... Gandhi’s Impact on American Civil 6 Origin of Vedanta Society in America 25 Rights Movement Messages from Her Excellency Unity Through Religious Teachings 28 Sujatha Singh, Hon John Aquilina MP, Leader of the House (NSW), Education without Failure 31 Stepan Kerkyasharian, Chair, CRC, 14 - 18 Pravrajika Ajayaprana Mataji, Greg Yoga to Help Overcome Depression 36 Johns, GD Soka Gakkai International Speech by Pratibha Patil, President of 37 Australia India Dr Martin Luther King Address to First Woman Governor General of 19 41 India (All India Radio - 1959) Australia 6.6 / 6.7 January 2009 President’s Page At the heart of Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolence, was his belief that strength comes from righteousness, not force. Power comes from truth, not might. Victory comes from moral courage, not imposed submission. He held that means and ends are inseparable and that in fact means themselves shape ends. He believed unworthy means can never produce worthy ends. History, both past and contemporary confirms that violence only begets violence in unending spiral, fostering hatred and revenge. Violence seeks to impose and overwhelm, which why its victories are transitory. Nonviolence seeks to engage and persuade, which is why its results are enduring. The Gandhian practice of nonviolence took many forms, but it always required an intense engagement with the opponent. The victory that Mahatma Gandhi strove for was to win over the adversary, not to vanquish him. The dialogue that he fostered was founded on a spirit of genuine tolerance i.e. the appreciation and understanding of the “other” or “others”. He asked us to introspect, to reach out and ask to what extent are we ourselves responsible. It is often said that Mahatma Gandhi’s times were radically removed from those we live in today. Some question the relevance of his methods in today’s fast-paced and globally interlinked world, where threats to peace, security and social harmony abound. But the essential validity of Mahatma Gandhi’s truth has not changed, because human nature itself has not changed. Looking back if the twentieth century was the most bloody in human history, it was also the century where nonviolence saw its greatest triumphs, cutting across the boundaries of continents and faiths.

Load more