The 'Seven Blunders of the World' is a list that Mahatma Gandhi gave to his grandson Arun Gandhi, written on a piece of paper, on their last day together, before his assassination. In his final years, Mahatama Gandhi kept his grandson close to him and set aside an hour every day to be alone with the boy.
The seven blunders are known to the world as acts of passive violence. Gandhiji wanted his grandson and others to avoid these seven blunders if they wanted to prevent violence in this world. These are Wealth without work, Pleasure without conscience, Knowledge without character,
Commerce without morality, Science without humanity, Worship without sacrifice
Politics without principle. Arun Gandhi later added the eighth blunder, "Rights without responsibilities".
Mahatma Gandhi was an extremely dynamic personality. He was interested in everything that concerned the individual or society. He is best known as the matchless political leader who evolved the new technique of "Satyagraha". His fight against untouchability and the ideas of superiority and inferiority by birth are also reasonably well known. For India, his greatest service was, perhaps, the emancipation of Indian women.
It is commonly known that he lived a stringent life, practised strict vegetarianism and abstained from alcoholic drinks, tobacco and even the milder stimulants like coffee and tea. His attachment to simple natural remedies against illness and disease and his fundamental ideas on education are not so well known to the outside world though.
His principles that guided all his thoughts and activities represent the complete unity and integrity of body, mind and soul in the individual human being. He was never tired of saying that the body should be controlled by the mind and the mind by the soul. But this control is not to be achieved by deriding or neglecting either the body or the mind or in the spiritualist rapture of the soul by itself. He attached to physical health and well-being as much importance as to plain and logical thinking or moral responsibility.
His philosophy, ethics, beliefs, morals and ideas fit right into the world till today. It is very unfortunate that we the Indians pay very little attention to the way of life shown to us by our Father of Nation.
*Wealth without Work: This refers to the practice of getting something for nothing, manipulating markets and assets so you don't have to work or produce added value, just manipulate people and things. Today people are in constant scurry for money and more money without paying taxes, getting duped by the different schemes put up every day thus increasing consumerism, falling prey to the fraudulent get-rich-quick schemes or speculations promising practitioners, "You don't even have to work for it".
My perspective is that most of us merely suffer from a lack of a clear view on the proper use of money, debt and credit. The great problem today is that our whole debt-based money system is strangling us because we have not learned the historical mandate to own "honest money" and shun debt.
*Pleasure without Conscience: The uncertainty with the immature, covetous, selfish, and sumptuous has always been, "What's in it for me? Will this delight me? Will it benefit me?" Lately many people seem to want these pleasures without conscience or sense of responsibility. To learn to give and take, to live selflessly, to be sensitive, to be considerate is our challenge. Otherwise there is no sense of social responsibility or accountability in our pleasurable activities.
*Knowledge without Character: As dangerous as a little knowledge is, even more dangerous is much knowledge without a strong, principled character. Yet all too often in the academic world, that's exactly what is being done by not focusing on the character development of young people.
*Commerce (Business) Without Morality (Ethics): In his book 'Moral Sentiment', Adam Smith explained how foundational to the success of our systems the moral foundation is: how we treat each other, the spirit of benevolence, of service and of contribution. Fairness and munificence in business are the underpinnings of the free enterprise system called capitalism.
*Science without Humanity: The modern age is the age of science. The inventions of science govern our life. At every stage we are dependent on the inventions and discoveries of science. But when scientific inventions are used without conscience they are likely to send the humanity to its doom.
*Religion without Sacrifice: It takes sacrifice to serve the needs of other people, the sacrifice of our own pride and prejudice, among other things. The world runs on interdependency, empathy, and synergy and all of them require tremendous sacrifice. Sacrifice does not mean offering a human head, an animal or money at the altar. The Lord says in the Gitaji that sacrifice, or yajna, means selfless services to mankind, to all creatures and even to all the elements (Sky, Air, Fire, Water and Earth) that exist in nature. Any action contradictory to this definition becomes bondage, a self created and self sustained prison.
Nature as the sun, air, water, earth, etc. is to be properly respected, maintained, and used for the advantage of all.
*Politics without Principle: Real politics hinges on real leadership principles. What we need today in this domain is greater honesty, compassion, cooperation and concern for the people.
**Rights without responsibilities [Arun Gandhi]: Rights must be realized, learned, experienced, believed in and granted to us by ourselves and others with the same beliefs in order for them to exist. In order for us to assume we have any rights, we have to be educated about our duties and responsibilities.
This day is also the Birth Anniversary of our great leader Lal Bahadur Shastri, the second Prime Minister of India, born on October 2, 1904 at Mughalsarai, a railway colony located at seven miles away from Varanasi. Shastriji imbibed boldness, courage, selflessness, self-respect and other virtues from his parents Shradha Prasad and Ramdulari Devi. He was an ardent follower of Gandhiji and joined the freedom struggle at the age of 17.
Lal Bahadur Shastri married Lalita Devi in 1927. Being a true follower of Gandhi Ji, he took a spinning wheel and few yards of khadi in dowry. In response to the call of Gandhi Ji, he actively participated in the Civil Disobedience Movement, Salt Stayagraha and Quit India Movement for which he was sentenced to imprisonment several times. Finally, in 1947 Britishers were forced to quit India. Thereafter, in 1947, he was appointed as Minister of Police and Transport in Pant's Cabinet and in 1964 as Prime Minister of India.
In 1965, war started between India and Pakistan. During this war, Shastri played a key role in maintaining internal security of the country. He coined a slogan 'Jai Jawan Jai Kisan' to bring unity within the country and finally led India to victory. He died on January 10, 1966 at Tashkent after he had signed the Joint Declaration with President Agha Khan of Pakistan.
I believe that the influence of Gandhi in future shall depend more on the realisation that these fundamental principles represent the basis of his teachings and that all his actions were merely illustrations of their application. He considered his life as a series of experiments with truth. Therefore, it is his conception of truth that is central to his life and work.
Let us look upon this day to pay Tribute to our two great leaders and try to imbibe something from their altruistic life styles. |
