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GANDHI*: AN AWAKENER OF INDIA** SADHU VASWANI
The word “Gandhi” is a significant word. Its radical meaning is “fragrant”. Gandhi’s memory is fragrant: His life was fragrant. What was the secret of the fragrance of Gandhi? You call him Mahatma Gandhi. He was a Mahatma — a great soul. But there is one word which, to me, is dearer even than the word, Mahatma. I love to think of Gandhi as a brother — brother Gandhi. A brother was he — a brother, a burden-bearer of the millions of this ancient land. On one occasion, Gandhi spake the words which I cannot easily forget. Gandhi said: “I would rather be torn to pieces than disown my brothers and sisters in suffering and pain!”
He saw an image of God in every one, in the drunkard, in the gambler, in those who went astray. Gandhi saw God’s image in the sinner — an image of Divine Love. He forgot everything except the needs of his brothers and sisters. His brothers and sisters were all. To him, India was not a country apart, but a part of humanity. On one occasion, Gandhi spoke the following significant words. He said: “My idea of nationalism is that my country may become free and, if need be, the whole of my country may die, if only the human race may live.” To Gandhi, India was a part of humanity.
*October 2 is sacred as Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary. **Being notes of a talk delivered to the Gita Class, Poona.
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Gandhi was filled, through and through, with the Gita’s ideal of lokasangraha. “Sangraha” means “welfare,” “loka” means the “world” – “humanity.” The welfare of humanity Gandhi sought: the welfare of humanity is what Gandhi worked for. This concept Gandhi never forgot. On one occasion, Gandhi said: “I am wedded to India, because I believe that India has a mission for the world.” Himself a servant of all, he wanted India to be a servant of humanity. The idea of exploitation, of one nation dominating another, was alien to Gandhi’s nature. Gandhi stood for the great ideal of lokasangraha, of seva, service. When, in November 1948, I came from Karachi to Bombay, I saw so many sleeping on the roadside, at night, shivering in the cold of winter. I saw so many in tattered clothes, hungry and homeless. And I said to myself: “They, too, are my brothers and my sisters.” I visited, what you call “refugee camps”. I met so many of my people who had travelled to Bombay from Sindh. I saw how they were crowded, and my eyes were touched with tears. I saw so many whom you call “refugees,” but whom you should love and call your
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“brothers.” They, several lakhs of them, are homeless, shelterless. And I said to myself: “My people are your people, as your people are my people!” This thought will grow in the measure in which we believe in the brotherhood of man. The teaching of brotherhood, Gandhi illumined in his sacrificial life. In 1932, Gandhi went to London, as the leader of the Indian Delegation, to discuss with the British Government the problem of India’s freedom. He was a guest of the British Government: and they made arrangements for his stay in one of the best quarters of London. But Gandhi preferred to live in the East End of London — a quarter of the poor folk. How they loved him! They came to him, again and again. They had free access to him. Children of the poor folk became his friends in his morning walks. When he left London, he left behind, in the little room where he stayed, a spinning wheel and one of his sandals. A poor Londoner, seeing these two simple things of Gandhi, said: “O, we all liked Gandhi. He got along famous with us people here. Some folks couldn’t understand what he meant when he talked about praying and giving things to the poor. We could understand him, and we loved him!”
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Some of you may know, perhaps, that three times he was attacked by infuriated mobs. He pardoned all who attacked him. On one occasion, indeed, he was beaten so hard that he fell down unconscious. They thought Gandhi was dead: and they threw his body in a ditch. When he recovered consciousness, Gandhi said: “Go not in search of the men who struck me down. I forgive them all!”
were opened to him. He sat on the floor with the poor village people and had heart to heart talks with them. He saw the sad state of those who were called “outcasts” and “untouchables”. He saw how they were condemned to do menial work. Day after day, India went on living its conventional life, not thinking of the untouchables. Gandhi thought of them, and Gandhi served them, so well.
Gandhi was a brother to all. He never thought of the sins of the people who worked against him. A rich lawyer with an income of ten to twelve thousand rupees, he renounced everything to take up the cause of the poor. He became an advocate of the poor people. Gandhi became poor for the sake of the poor. Like Saint Francis of Assisi, he embraced poverty in order to serve the people.
Gandhi saw the village-folk, ill-fed, ill-clad, malaria-ridden, fear-ridden: he saw the villagefolk dying. They are dying at this hour, too. And thinking of how India’s villages are decaying, I sometimes think of another country. I am not a communist. But I think, again and again, of Russia. And I recall the words of an English visitor to that country. He said: “In all Russia, I saw not a single hungry person!”
Coming to India from South Africa, Gandhi travelled from place to place. He saw the cities and the villages of India: and he saw the tragedy of the poor. He found that the village-folk were reduced to skeletons. He saw the sad plight of the labourers. He stopped at the huts of thousands of poor people. He knocked at the doors of the poor, as one of them. Clad in simple, homespun, he knocked at the doors of the poor village-folk: and the doors
In India, once the land of plenty, what terrible poverty we have today! What pinched, starved faces I see around me! Suffering still covers the country, from one end to the other. In those early days, when I went, from town to town, from village to village, visiting many parts of the country, speaking to the people of swaraj, there was in my eyes a dream that when swaraj would arrive, the village people
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would be happy. When arrives swaraj, I said, India’s manhood will be rebuilt. Alas! The dream in my eyes remains a dream!
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The “partition” of India took place in a day which, I believe, many who come after us will regret. Mahatma Gandhi, at that time, was at Noakhali. He got the news of the sufferings of the people. He heard of the people being murdered: and he learnt of the mass migration of the people. And like a little child, Gandhi began to weep. He shed tears when he learnt of the suffering of the people.
different types of sympathy and culture. He had studied a little of the civilisation of the West. And he said to me that he had come to India, for he had been told that India was the cradle of a simple, spiritual civilisation. Coming to India, however, he was deeply disappointed. For in India, he saw how a number of women were in veil. He saw that women were dominated by men. He saw school masters beating their pupils — the little children who were under the protection of angels in heaven. He saw — and he was shocked! And he said to me: “What shocks me the most is the appalling poverty of the bulk of the people.” And he said further: “Is there not a single man to take up the cause of the poor, downtrodden people?” At that time Mahatma Gandhi was in South Africa. And the visitor from Holland did not know that one was coming to India, who would be a servant of the poor and who would bring a new awakening to the Indian nation. Gandhi — brother Gandhi — was destined to be the man of whom the visitor from Holland spoke.
Many years ago, there came to India a visitor from Holland. He came to Sindh and met me at Karachi. He had travelled much. He had visited Russia and Persia. He had come in contact with
Gandhi was a careful student of the Gita. The following words from the Gita — the words of Sri Krishna unto Arjuna — he tells us, went straight into his heart: “Surrendering all actions to Me,
Gandhi was a brother of the poor and lowly, of the outcast and the untouchable, not in words but in deeds of daily life. On one occasion, he said: “ If after death, I am to be reborn, I should wish to be of the untouchables, so that I may share their sorrows and serve them!” What love in the heart of this man of God, this servant of humanity, this mighty interpreter and exemplifier of India’s true spiritual culture, which most of us are forgetting, today!
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O Arjuna! with mind intent on the atman, put away thy weakness and arise to action!” And in these words of the Gita, Gandhi gave his great message to India: “Put away thy weakness! Away with fear! Arise to action!” Gandhi arises to action. He dedicates his action to the Lord. His work becomes lokasangraha: and his work becomes a yagna. In the life of Gandhi I see a blend of this two-fold truth of the Gita: karma, action, offered as (1) lokasangraha and (2) yagna. Mahatma Gandhi was, essentially, a man of faith. His movement was one of faith. From time to time, he came, face to face, with difficulties and disappointments: but Gandhi retained his faith in God. Periods of darkness came upon him: but he never gave up his faith in God. And he turned for inspiration to the Bhagavad Gita. He found his inspiration, also, in Tulsi’s Ramayana. Gandhi called it the greatest book in the devotional literature of the world. He found much in these two scriptures to strengthen him in his struggle against the British Empire. He did not exaggerate when he referred to the Gita as his “Mother”. Much he owed to the Gita, much more than many seem to be aware of. And he was
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influenced, also, by the “Sermon on the Mount”, which he read in South Africa. And Gandhi found his inspiration in Rama Nama, the Holy Name. May the inspiration of Rama Nama return to us, in these days! Alas! we are forgetting Gandhi, and we are forgetting the great ideals of India, and we are forgetting the inspiration of the Gita and the Inspiration of Rama Nama. And in my heart is a lonely cry: “When will the day return, when we shall think of Beloved Gandhi as a living reality in our life? When?”
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PRACTICE SILENCE, EVERY DAY DADA J. P. VASWANI
We live in a world of deafening noises. Particles of noise cling to our souls: They need to be washed in the waters of silence. Silence cleanses. Silence heals. Silence strengthens. And silence reveals. Silence will bring you face-to-face with yourself. Who are you? Other people have told you many things about yourself — some complimentary, some otherwise. But all that is not really you. You must now try to find who you are. This is the biggest challenge of life. You must discover yourself. It is not easy to do so — but it can be done! Mullah Nasruddin was out in the street searching for something. “What are you looking for?” they asked him.
“I have lost my keys,” he answered. “Where did you lose them?” he was asked. And he said, “I lost them in the house.” “Then how is it that you are looking for them here?” And the Mullah said, “Because in the house it is dark; out here it is so bright!” We have looked for ourselves out here, but we will not be able to find ourselves until we look within, until we turn inside where it is dark. Every day, preferably at the same time and in the same place — for this is our daily appointment with our own selves, our True Self, the Real Self, and the Self Supreme that, for want of a better word, we call God — let us practice silence.
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Begin with fifteen minutes, and then gradually increase the period to at least one hour. At first, the practice may appear to be meaningless, a sheer waste of time. But if you persist in it, silence will become alive and the Word of God will speak to you. And you will realise that practising silence is, perhaps, the most worthwhile activity of the day. In silence, let us pray, meditate, repeat the Name Divine, do our spiritual thinking, engage ourselves in a loving and intimate conversation with God. Prayer is not a complicated affair. It is a very simple matter. It is as simple as talking to a friend. Suppose a friend visited you; it would be natural for you to discuss with that person your ambitions and aspirations, your plans and programs, your failures and frustrations, and to ask that friend to help you. Do likewise with God. God is our one true, abiding Friend, the Friend of all friends. And God is available to us at all times. We do not have to go to a particular place to be able to contact God, for God is everywhere. All we have to do is to close our eyes, shut out the world, open our heart, call Him, and there He is in front of us. In the beginning, we will not be able to see Him. Let us be sure that He sees us. In the beginning, we will not be able to hear Him speak. Let us be sure that He hears us. A day will come when we, too, will see Him and hear Him speak.
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To be able to see God, we have to put in labour. This labour is cultivating deep longing for the Lord, deep yearning for the First and Only Fair. As Sri Ramakrishna said: “Long for the Lord even as a lover yearns for his beloved, as a miser yearns for gold, as a child yearns for his mother whom he has lost.” Yearn for the Lord. Say to Him with tear-touched eyes: “I need You, Lord! I need nothing else — neither pleasures, nor possessions, nor power! I need You and You alone!” When God gets the assurance that you truly need Him and nothing besides, He will reveal Himself to you. Think of God in any form that draws you. He is the Formless One, but for the sake of His devotees, He has worn many forms and visited the earth plane again and again. Call Him by any name that appeals to you. He is the Nameless One, though the sages have called Him by many Names. Do not quarrel over forms or names. You stick to the one that draws you: Let others stick to the ones that draw them. All forms and names ultimately lead to the One Who is beyond form and formlessness. “On whatever path men approach me,” says the Lord in the Gita, “on that I go to reach them — for all the paths are Mine, verily Mine!” So we need to cultivate love — and longing — of the heart. And, therefore, we pray again and again to develop this love for God. Offer set prayers, if you will: But let your prayers
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emerge out of the very depths of a love-filled heart. “I love You, God! I want to love You more and more! I want to love You more than anything in the world! I want to love You to distraction, intoxication. Grant me pure love and devotion for Your Lotus Feet, and so bless me that this world bewitching maya may not lead me astray. And so bless me, Blessed Master, that I may be an instrument of Your help and healing in this world of suffering and pain.” When a prayer emerges out of the very depths of a lovefilled heart, the eyes are touched with tears and the mind does not wander. So many, alas, pray with their lips but their mind is distracted! It has been truly said that God does not consider the arithmetic of our prayers (how many they are); or the rhetoric of our prayers (how elegant they are);
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or the music of our prayers (how melodious they are); or the logic of our prayers (how methodical they are); but the sincerity of our prayers — how heartfelt they are. The idea is to contact God who is the Source of health and happiness and success. Go to the Source if you wish to succeed in life. Make God real to yourself in daily life. Do not let Him be a far-off shadowy Being. Make Him a partner in your daily activities and you will find miracles happen in your life. And be assured that there is no problem that God and you cannot solve together. There is no situation that God and you cannot handle together. There is no burden that God and you cannot bear together.
LITTLE THINGS We have a beautiful river hymn in the Rigveda. In it the worshipper is represented as holding in his hands a little water and praying: ‘Oh! Ganga, Yamuna, Godavari, Saraswati, Narmada, Sindhu and Cauvery. Come ye, and enter into this little water of my offering.’ The Sapta Sindhu, the Seven Rivers of Hindusthan — it is poetically felt by the worshipper — enter into the little water of his offering to the Lord. And in the little service of your offering to the Nation, the Lord will enter to enrich it with His blessings. For believe me, the world is moved in the long run, not by machinery but by spirit: not by huge organisations; but by the power of aspiration. It is the Religion of Service in little things which is India’s need. — Sadhu Vaswani
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WORLD DAY FOR ANIMALS* SADHU VASWANI “You meet together on the Day sacred to St. Francis — to him who gave such beautiful love and understanding to animals and birds. You meet to protest against the wrongs inflicted on these innocent creatures who suffer and cannot speak for themselves. You meet to think of ways and means to end the wrongs. You meet with love and sympathy in your hearts. May the Angels of Mercy bless your noble efforts! History is a story of noble struggles for human rights: and I bow to the patriots and martyrs of humanity. Centuries have been spent in the mighty struggle for the rights of man. My heart has cried again and again: when will be heard the voice of the prophets of animal rights? The voice of the great saviours of birds and beasts? When? Sordid and blood smeared is this “civilisation”. For still we shoot the birds and still we enslave the beasts of burden and still we slay animals to eat their flesh.
This civilisation built in the blood of the animal and the poor must go! This civilisation must give place to something bigger than Secular socialism — to a new vision of the One life in all. Our urgent need is a Religion of Reverence for all Life.
*Oct. 4 is sacred as the birthday of St. Franicis Day. It is observed as World Animal Day.
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SEEK REFUGE IN THE LORD DADA J. P. VASWANI
He who seeks refuge in the Lord becomes a servant of the Will Divine. He welcomes not gain, he fears not loss. He desires not pleasure, he runs not away from pain. He seeks not success, nor does he avoid failure. He accepts all that comes to him as a gift from the Lord who loves him and whom he loves. And he finds that life is the great Guru. Life is the great teacher, the great initiator. Every experience enriches his interior life, leads him onward in the march to the True, the Good, the Beautiful and the Holy. Every pain makes him perfect, every suffering makes him strong. Wonderful are the words which Beloved Gurudev Sadhu Vaswani gave, the other day, to a brother who with tears in his eyes spoke of the struggles he had to face. “The greater the struggle,” Gurudev said, “the nobler the man!” Not long ago, a sister came to me. Her eyes were touched, with tears. She sobbed as she spoke. Her husband, whom she loved and who loved her, had decided to travel to a distant land for purposes of business. He did not lack money: God had given him several lacs of rupees. He does
not need to go so far leaving me here all alone, she said, “Pray that he may abandon this idea altogether.” My answer might have appeared cruel to her at that time. “I do not pray for this or that to happen,” I said to her. “I shall pray that you may grow into an understanding of what God Wills for you and that you may co-operate with His Will and let it work, uninterrupted, in and through you!” The day arrived when she bade her husband a tearful goodbye. “You did not do anything for me,” she said to me. “You could have helped me if only you had wished to do so!” I smiled and said to her: “Sister! do not despair! God fulfills Himself in many ways!” After a few months she met me again. Her face was wreathed in smiles. She laughed as a little child. “Now I know,” she said, “that there is the hand of divine love and wisdom in all that happens. When my husband left, I wept and wept. Then, gradually, it dawned on me that
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if God had willed my dear one to travel to a far country, it must all be for my good. Indeed, it has proved to be so. My husband’s going away has given me many spare hours. I utilise them in a study of the Gita and the Guru Granth Sahib and Gurudev Sadhu Vaswani’s beautiful books on the Sant-bani and the lives of saints. I pray and I meditate. I sit in Gurudev’s holy company. I sing God’s Name and I serve the children of the poor and the lowly. They love me: I love them. And I feel happy and blest!” This is perfectly true. Our journey through life has been perfectly planned by Infinite Love and Infinite Wisdom. There can be no mistake. Every experience that comes to us is just the right experience occurring at the right time to train us in the right way. So let us accept all that comes to us and not attempt to circumvent anything. Again and again, we try to run away from what appear to us as unpleasant experiences. We try to avoid what we regard as difficult situations. We may succeed in keeping them away for the time being but we can never avoid them all the time, for they are, indeed, essential to our growth. God means us to face them and so to develop our moral and spiritual muscles. If we avoid an unpleasant experience, it will return to us in due course with redoubled force and we shall be compelled to take up its challenge until we have learnt the lesson it has come to teach us. The best way, therefore, to face difficult situation is to
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accept them and co-operate with their inner purpose, all the while fixing our mind and heart on Him who has planned for each one of us the glorious liberty that belongs to the children of the Spirit. He whose refuge is the Lord lives in the constant awareness of God’s presence. Such a man is never alone: Another is always with him. By him, blessing him, guiding him, protecting him, and leading him on! He hears His gentle footfalls: he feels the warm pressure of His Hand on his: he hearkens to the voice of his Unseen Friend: and he always feels safe and secure even in the face of danger and death. I recall a most moving incident in the life of Muhammad, the great Prophet of Islam, whom the world has yet to understand aright. Information has reached him that his life is in danger, that people are out to kill him under cover of the night. It is a dark hour. With tear-touched eyes Muhammad leaves his home and the town of his birth: with him is his faithful friend and follower, Abu Bakr. In hot pursuit of these two devoted servants of God are those who wish to kill Muhammad. They are so many: and they are riding strong steeds and in their hands are drawn swords and sharp lances. Abu Bakr sees them from a distance and feels nervous. In the agony of terror, he says to Muhammad: “They are coming: soon will they slay us with their sharp swords. And our bodies will lie on the desert sands to be devoured by the wild animals.”
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Muhammad is silent: he speaks not a word. In his heart he feels sure that God is with him and no harm can come his way. Nearby is a cave. Muhammad and Abu Bakr hide themselves in its depths. The party of persecutors halts at the mouth of the cave: their leader suspects that Muhammad is hidden inside the cave. Abu Bakr begins to tremble and whispers to Muhammad: “What shall we do now? We are only two and they are so many!” Quietly, answers Muhammad: “Not so, friend! We are not two but three. The third is Allah. And when He is near, we need not fear!” A miracle has happened. Just after the two fugitives entered the cave and a little before the party of persecutors arrives, a huge spider crawled to the entrance of the cave and wove its web across it. Seeing the web, unbroken and whole, some of the persecutors exclaim: “Muhammad cannot have got into the cave. Don’t you see the spider’s web covering the entrance? Had anyone got in, the web would have been torn. Let us not waste precious time: let us move on!” Muhammad is saved! The man who seeks refuge in the Lord is untouched by troubles and tribulations of the world, its wants and woes, its cares and anxieties. He feels light as the smoke of incense which rises higher and higher. He is not earth-bound. His only quest is God. He yearns for God: he talks to God and to God he offers every thought, every word, and every little deed of his daily life.
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He abides in God. And he feels like a child resting in the loving arms of its mother. Dropping all his burdens at the Lotus Feet of the Lord, he is freed from the fever and fret of the world. He moves through life, singing as he goes, singing the deathless song of the Beloved. Of such as he the Gita says: He lives each day, Looking at the world with quiet eyes. Living in perfect with all,
harmony
Undisturbed, his mind ever at rest! He neither loveth nor hateth: He
neither desireth.
grieveth
nor
Renouncing both good and evil, He accepts all that comes As the Will of the Lord! Alike is he in cold and heat, In pleasure, pain, In censure, praise. Devoid of all attachment, His mind is firm in faith, His heart is full of devotion. In the shifting scenes Of this changing world, He clings to the Lord alone — And in Him finds his shelter true!
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They Who Are Blessed SADHU VASWANI Beneath the trees he sat as he reached the hills: and the sun was sinking. And in the dim twilight of the setting sun we asked him: “Master! Teach us to pray!� And the Master said: Blessed are they who bring to Him no fruit: nor flower nor leaf: for they who come with empty hands shall be filled! Blessed are they who sing their songs to the little ones: for they shall grow in the beauty and the wonder of life! Blessed are they who extinguish desire: for they shall abide in Peace! Blessed are they who live in open houses: for they have broken their chains and the wind of the spirit bloweth upon them carrying to far-off corners their song and their speech! Blessed are they who wander homeless in the world, with a
voice in the heart and a vision in the eyes: for they shall reach the Homeland safe! Blessed are they who sail the perilous seas in search for they shall find! Blessed are they who tread, step by step, the steepest mountain: for they shall reach the Hill of Vision! Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after the Lord: for they shall sit at the feasts of His servants and saints! Blessed are they who are stripped and become naked for His sake: for they shall be clothed with the garments of Light! Blessed are they who go upon their way with singing: for the song of the Search liveth forever in the gains of eternity. Blessed are they who are deaf to the scoffer and the cynic: for they have opened their ears to the song of the Flute!
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Blessed are they who are blind to the pomp and power of the world: for they shall get the vision of a new heaven and a new earth! Blessed are they who walk the way of love: for they shall see the lions and the lambs and the sheep and wolves sit together at peace. Blessed are they who learn to sit in silence: for they shall hear a song of the Overself! Blessed are they who give in abundance of the heart: for they shall receive in the infinity of Love! Blessed are they who deny themselves the things of this earth: for they shall fulfill themselves in the Life Eternal! Blessed are they who yield to life for they shall grow in the understanding of the spirit! Blessed are they who weep with the lowly for they shall
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wake in the Hereafter with smiles on their lips! Blessed are the serene in spirit: for they shall be mirrors of the Eternal Self! Blessed are they who for Dharma — eternal righteousness — are persecuted, for they shall find the Kingdom of God within! Blessed are they who suffer, resisting not: for they shall grow wings and soar to the Supreme! Blessed are the Compassionate: for they shall be One with humanity. Blessed are they whose hearts are cleansed of passion and greed of gold: for they shall be free! Blessed are they who suffer for the sake of the Lord: for their suffering will be turned to joy! Blessed are they who strive for peace: for they shall dwell above the battle-line in this world of tragedy and tears!
CONVERT ENEMIES INTO FRIENDS Saturate yourself in.... any of Gandhi’s own writings. It is like stepping out of a hurricane into gentle healing rains. Ahimsa, he says, means never wishing ill to the enemy, the desire to serve the enemy equally with the friend, and not wanting the enemy out of the way, even by divine agency. Gandhi’s aim was not to conquer except by love, not to coerce, but to convert. “The acid test of nonviolence is that, in a nonviolent conflict, no rancour is left behind and enemies are converted into friends.” And this in fact was what did happen in India between Indians and British.
—Marie B. Byles
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THOUGHTS AND ASPIRATIONS DADA J. P. VASWANI Grow from more to more, in the spirit of surrender to God: “Not my will, but Thy Will be done, O Lord!” *** That man is truly great who can show sympathy even to an enemy. *** Love and fault-finding never go together. The more you love, the less you judge. *** If you would walk the way of love, never hurt nor yield to anger, but accept pain as a part of life. *** In quest of happiness, man chases the shadow shapes of pleasures, possessions, power. Happiness is in loving and being loved. *** “Life has no meaning,” said a young woman to me. I said to her: “Let your heart be filled with love — and meaning will flow into your life!” *** All passion is darkness. The true light is love. *** If you were given a rupee for every sweet, loving word you spoke and were asked to pay half the amount for every harsh, unkind word you uttered, what would be your net earnings for the day? *** It’s alright to be disappointed, but we must never be bitter. Bitterness is a mark of emotional imbalance. ***
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Children’s Corner PUZZLERS What Am I? I greet the day With yawns and stretches, shaking and wiggling without fail. When I see you, I leap in circles, barking and wagging my fuzzy tail. With a few sloppy kisses I can mend Your sad trend, Because I’m everyone’s faithful friend.
WORD SCRAMBLE If a story’s rather funny Or it makes your day quite sunny, Then you might do one of these That’s here below. Rearrange the letters: 1. nirg
___ ___ ___ ___
2. msiel
___ ___ ___ ___
3. gglegi
___ ___ ___ ___
4. laghu
___ ___ ___ ___
5. ckchule
___ ___ ___ ___
ANSWERS: What Am I? : A dog. Word Scramble: grin, smile, giggle, laugh, chuckle.
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WORD-SEARCH PUZZLE:
Look up and down, across and back, and diagonally in all directions to find the words: monkey, bunny, snail, horse, dog, cat, mice, turtle, parakeet, canary, fish, lamb, and hamster.
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RECIPES FOR THE MONTH MISAL PAAV Ingredients: For The Misal Masala: Oil..................................................................1 tbsp Thinly sliced onions........................................¼ cup Grated dry coconut (copra).......................... 1/4 cup Coriander (dhania) seeds.................................2 tsp Cumin seeds (jeera).........................................1 tsp Cloves (laung / lavang)......................................... 3 Peppercorns (kali mirch)....................................... 3 Cinnamon (dalchini)............................. 25 mm stick Dry kashmiri red chillies..............................2 whole Garlic (lahsun) cloves............................................ 3 For The Misal: Oil...................................................................3 tbsp Cumin seeds (jeera)..........................................1 tsp Finely chopped onions....................................¼ cup Finely chopped tomatoes................................1 cup Turmeric powder (haldi)................................. ¼ tsp Sprouted matki (moath beans)......................½ cup Sprouted safed vatana (dried white peas).....½ cup Sprouted moong (whole green gram)............½ cup Sprouted chawli (cow pea / lobhia)................2 tbsp Chilli powder................................................ 1½ tsp Finely chopped coriander (dhania)................2 tbsp Salt to taste For Serving With Misal Pav Mixed farsan................................................ 1/2 cup Potatoes..........................................................8 tbsp Finely chopped onions................................. 1/2 cup Finely chopped coriander (dhania)................4 tbsp Laddi pavs............................................................. 8 Lemon wedges....................................................... 4 Method: For the misal masala 1. Heat the oil in a broad non-stick pan, add the onions and coconut and dry roast on a medium flame for 2 to 3 minutes. 2. Add all the remaining ingredients and saute on a medium flame for 3 to 4 minutes. 3. Remove from the flame and allow it to cool completely.
4. Once cooled, blend in a mixer to a smooth powder without using any water. Keep aside. For the misal 1. Heat the oil in a pressure cooker and add the cumin seeds. 2. When the seeds crackle, add the onions and saute on a medium flame for 1 to 2 minutes. 3. Add the prepared misal masala and saute on a medium flame for 1 more minute. 4. Add the tomatoes, turmeric powder and a little water (approx. 1 tbsp), mix well and cook on a medium flame for 2 to 3 minutes, while stirring occasionally. 5. Add the matki, safed vatana, moong and chawli sprouts and mix well. 6. Add 2 cups of hot water and salt, mix well and pressure cook for 3 whistles. 7. Allow the steam to escape before opening the lid. 8. Add the chilli powder, ½ cup of water and coriander, mix well and simmer for 3 to 4 minutes, while stirring occasionally. How to proceed to make misal pav 1. Just before serving pour ¼ of the misal in a serving bowl, sprinkle 2 tbsp of mixed farsaan, 2 tbsp of batata poha, 2 tbsp of onions and 1 tbsp of coriander over it. 2. Repeat with the remaining ingredients to make 3 more servings of misal. 3. Serve misal immediately with laddi pavs and lemon wedges.
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PAV BHAJI Ingredients: For The Pav: Ladi pav............................................................... 10 Butter..............................................................5 tbsp For The Bhaji Chopped cauliflower.......................................1 cup Green peas.....................................................½ cup Chopped carrot...............................................½ cup Butter..............................................................2 tbsp Finely chopped onions....................................1 cup Finely chopped capsicum................................½ cup Red chilli-garlic paste ....................................2 tbsp Chopped tomatoes...........................................1 cup Chilli powder................................................ 1½ tsp Pav Bhaji masala........................................ 1½ tbsp Turmeric powder (haldi)................................. ¼ tsp Boiled and mashed potatoes...................... 1½ cups Salt ..............................................................to taste Lemon juice......................................................2 tsp Finely chopped coriander (dhania)................¼ cup For Serving Pav Bhaji Finely chopped onions....................................½ cup Lemon wedges......................................................½ Method: For the bhaji: 1. Combine the cauliflower, green peas, carrot and 1 cup of water in a pressure cooker and pressure cook for 2 whistles. 2. Allow the steam to escape before opening the lid. Keep aside. 3. Heat the butter in a deep non-stick pan, add the onions and saute on a medium flame for 2 minutes. 4. Add the capsicum and chilli-garlic paste and saute on a medium flame for 2 minutes. 5. Add the tomatoes, chilli powder, turmeric powder and ½ cup of water, mix well and cook on a medium flame for 3 minutes, while stirring occasionally. 6. Add the potatoes, cauliflower mixture along with the water and salt, mix well and cook on a medium flame for 4 minutes, while stirring occasionally and mashing it. 7. Add the lemon juice and coriander and mix well. Keep aside. For the pav: 1. Slit pavs vertically and keep aside.
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2. Heat a non-stick tava (griddle), add 1 tbsp of butter and slit open the pavs and place on it. 3. Cook on a medium flame till they turn light brown and crisp on both the sides. 4. Repeat steps 1 to 3 to cook more pavs. Keep aside.
DAHI BHALLA Ingredients: For The Vadas: Urad dal (split black lentils)...........................½ cup Soaked for 2 hours and drained Roughly chopped green chillies........................2 tsp Roughly chopped ginger (adrak).....................2 tsp Salt...............................................................to taste For The Topping: Whisked curds (dahi).................................. 1½ cups Powdered sugar.......................................... 1½ tbsp Chilli powder......................................for sprinkling Khajur imli ki chutney....................................2 tbsp Roasted cumin seeds powder..............for sprinkling Black salt (sanchal)............................for sprinkling For The Garnish: Finely chopped coriander (dhania)................1 tbsp Method: For the Vadas: 1. Combine the urad dal, green chillies, ginger and salt in a mixer and grind to a smooth paste using approx. ¼ cup of water. 2. Divide the batter into 6 equal portions and keep aside. 3. Heat the oil in a deep non-stick pan and deepfry 3 vadas at a time till they turn light golden brown in colour from all the sides. 4. Drain on absorbent paper. Keep aside How to proceed: 1. Combine the curd and the sugar in a bowl, mix well and keep the sweetened curd aside. 2. Take enough water in a deep bowl and soak the vadas in it for 15 minutes. 3. Squeeze out all the excess water from the vadas and flatten lightly between your palms. 4. Arrange 3 vadas on a serving dish and top with half the sweetened curd mixture. 5. Top with a little chilli powder, 1 tbsp of khajur imli ki chutney, a little cumin seeds powder and black salt.
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SIMPLE RULES OF HEALTH 1. EAT IN MODERATION Up to the age of twentyone wholesome food in large quantities does no harm. The body is then building and repairing waste at the same time. When the body is fully grown the function of food is merely to repair wastage. Many ailments come from autointoxication, or self poisoning and this condition is frequently brought about by the inability of the body to cope with excessive diet. It is a wise rule never to eat to repletion, late at night, when in a hurry or when worrying. An occasional fast does no harm. To abstain from food for one day in the month, if your work is not manual, is wise.
2. ELIMINATE WASTE: Autointoxication or selfpoisoning occurs when the body cannot rid itself of poison producing waste matter. Regular habits are essential and personal hygiene is imperative. One of the most neglected means of excretion is that provided by the pores of the skin. Every pore is a minute drain that, properly working, casts out the body’s waste. The clogged system
invites and produces disease. A bloodstream laden with poisons cannot cope with bacteriological infections as can the pure bloodstream. In observing this law, do not neglect the skin. Air and towel friction keep the skin functioning efficiently.
3. SLEEP OFF FATIGUE Sleep is Nature’s method of restoring energy. When we sleep the heart eases off, also the lungs, while our blood system works upon the repairing of cell wastage. No rule can be laid down as to quantity. The test is: Does the hours of sleep result in restored vitality? Sleep at least ninety minutes before midnight, with open window.
4. EXERCISE YOUR BODY The amount of exercise you need depends upon your age and physique, but everybody needs a certain amount. Exercise tones up muscles, enables them to clear off impurities, stimulates the heart and blood circulation, and clears the brain. Lack of exercise results in a general lowering of bodily tone. Flesh becomes flaccid and the mind inert.
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Too strenuous exercise, however, brings its evils. The test is in its effect — and in this every man is his own physician.
5. AVOID OVERWORK The body has just so much energy, distributed between the physical body and the working brain. Exceed it and lassitude results to the body and depression descends on the mind. The body’s powers of recuperation are enormous. Napoleon could snatch twenty minutes’ sleep after dictating orders to his marshals, wake up, and continue where he left off. He knew the value of sleep and the supreme importance of a clear head and fit body. Work done while you are fatigued is never well done, and takes longer. When you work in a tired condition your efficiency suffers. Tests made in factories prove that tired workers have more accidents, make more mistakes,work more slowly.
6. PRACTICE ORAL HYGIENE The mouth is a central focus for infection of the body. Hence the necessity for oral hygiene, or the preservation of the mouth in a state of absolute cleanliness. Neglect of teeth or gums results in far-reaching bodily ills. Oral hygiene is so simple that few practise it correctly. All that it requires are a hard brush, gritfree paste or powder, and elbow
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grease to keep the mouth clean. Coupled with this, a gargle of salt and water in the morning and at night.
7. DRINK WATER The best time to drink water is first thing in the morning and the last thing at night. Lack of sufficient water to flush the system is the cause of a widespread variety of painful complaints.
8. BE CLEAN The function of the bath is not to remove external dirt because it offends the eye: it is to clear the doorsteps of the thousands of pores. Washing and bathing tone up the skin by stimulating the circulation. That is why most people feel well on emerging from a bath. Cleanliness of the body must be part of general cleanliness that includes wearing well washed clothes. Our city air is full of floating dust and dirt which descends on outer garments. Women wear light clothes and wash and change them often. Men wear serges, tweeds, and other cloth materials and may use them months without washing. Clothes cleanliness is part of general cleanliness. Dirty clothes are germ-laden: you spread them as you go home.
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Laugh Your Way To Health A husband was telling his friend, “There is no charm in living now. I want to commit suicide.” From the inner room, wife shouted, “Then who will pay installments for the car, T.V. fridge etc.?” *** A case was being heard in a court and some people were making noise. The Judge shouted: “Order, Order.” The convict who was feeling very hungry said, “I need sandwiches and coffee.” *** Two small boys were crossing a road followed by a big FAT woman. The boys stopped. The policeman asked, “Why have you stopped here?” The boys said, “The notice board says, let the heavy weight vehicle pass first!” *** A patient, feeling weak asked his doctor to give him something to gain strength. The doctor gave him 2-3 medicines. After a couple of days he came to the doctor, with bandages all over his head and face. The doctor
said, “What happened?” He said, “By mistake, the medicines were taken by my wife.” *** A patient fell in love with a nurse who was attending on him. He caught hold of her hand and expressed his love. The nurse said, “The doctor who is going to operate on you is my husband!” The patient apologised and did not bother her again. *** Aaron: What do you like about your job at the hot-air balloon company? Noah: I get a raise every day.
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*** What do you get when you put a kitten in a Xerox machine? A copycat. *** A traveller with back problems made it a habit to lie on the floor each night and do his exercises, no matter where he was. One night at a motel, as he began his exercise routine, something under the bed caught his eye. There was a small card with a message that read, YES, WE DO CLEAN UNDER HERE, TOO. *** A traffic cop in a small town stopped a motorist for speeding. “But officer,” said the driver, “I can explain…..” “Save your excuses,” said the cop.”You can cool your heels in jail till the chief gets back.” “But officer….” “Quiet!” snapped the cop. “You’re going to jail. The chief will deal with you when he gets back.” A few hours later the officer looked in at the prisoner. “Lucky for you that the chief is at his daughter’s wedding. It means he’ll be in a good mood when he gets back.” “Don’t count on it,” said the prisoner. “I’m the groom.”
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*** One afternoon, a woman was in the backyard hanging laundry when an old, tired looking dog wandered into the yard. She could tell from his collar and wellfed stomach that he had an owner. But when she walked into the house, he followed her, sauntered down the hall, and fell asleep in the corner. Almost an hour later, he went to the door, and she let him out. The next day he was back. He resumed his position in the hallway and slept for a hour. This continued for a couple of weeks. Curious, the woman pinned a note to his collar: “Every afternoon your dog has been coming to my house and taking a nap.” The next day he arrived with a different note pinned to his collar: “Duke lives in a home with sick children – he’s trying to catch up on his sleep.” *** The telephone rang. Hari picked up the receiver and said, “Hari here.” “Mr. Hari, Dr. Swaroop at this end.” “How are you, doctor?” “Not quite pleased. Your cheque bounced back.” “So did my stomach pain.” ***