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Celebrating Gandhi's birthday and his message
by Rajiv Pandit
October 3, 2001

On Oct. 2, members of Hindu Students Council celebrated Mahatma Gandhi's birthday throughout America. When most people think of Gandhi, the first word that comes to mind is "nonviolence". True, Gandhi did inspire a nonviolent movement that eventually led to the peaceful overthrow of British colonial rule in India. But today, Gandhi's approach is considered by many to be overly idealistic.

Gandhi's doctrine of "ahimsa", or nonviolence, is often misinterpreted as a refusal to confront evil. When we understand its true meaning, "ahimsa" refers specifically to nonviolence in thought. Thus "ahimsa" refers to a state of being, and not necessarily to the actions that arise from that state of being.

It is this spiritual approach that allowed Gandhi to lead an effective resistive force against what was the most powerful empire of that era. Nonviolence-in-thought also allowed Gandhi to choose a course of action based on a vision of the future, and not on the emotions or rhetoric of the past. Gandhi believed that evil must be resisted, but with ill will towards none.

Now we can understand why Gandhi could follow the path of nonviolence and yet declare, "I would rather have India resort to arms in order to defend her honor than she should in a cowardly manner become a helpless witness of her own dishonor."

The events of Sept. 11 were cowardly, and the evil of global terrorism is now upon us. More than ever, we can rely on Gandhi's spiritual path of ahimsa to guide us towards victory. In the process we will create the world's most resistive force against terrorism, and yet prevent the rage that could engulf us all in a war with no winners. Mahatma Gandhi's path of ahimsa now serves as a path of hope.

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