Gandhi showed humanity another way, it is relevant today

It is funny people keep reminding me to watch the 3 part series of Gandhi, as they know I love him and often quote him. Yet I keep forgetting. I even had a guy leave a note at the place I stayed at in Melbourne, my friend Bob reminded me, then my mother and I promptly forgot. Tonight I was sitting in front of the television, and then the promo came on. I laughed, of course I will watch it.

I feel a connection to Gandhi and have ever since I saw the movie called Gandhi by Richard Attenborough. I just felt a deep connection and cried as I related to him. Then I had a dream he came to me, he was on the long march and I saw just the rims of his glasses, he stopped and I felt very humble (lower than my feet) and he acknowledged me in the dream. It was dark all around. The dream was short and sweet, but for me it felt as a connection. I also felt his presence when I went to the Gandhi Ashram in Armedabad. The tears are there and it is the feeling I get when I feel spiritually touched. It is a very beautiful feeling.

Anyway I will share some poetry tonight with you that I felt inspired to write and will write a few blogs about him. I fully feel the way of truth and love is the lamp for humanity. The truth I have come to understand is transparency but also reality, it is what turns up. Gandhi also had a deep trust in God and for him truth was God or God was truth, his life was about that connection. It was stated by the end of his life he felt he failed, yet in truth, he never failed he showed the world a way out of madness. Under Nehru’s leadership India pursued industrialisation abandoning Gandhi’s visions of self reliance and a unified India, but that was the reality, India was not ready for Gandhi’s vision. People had to go through the experience of industrialisation to know if they felt true happiness from materialism. Today we are seeing more people in industrialised countries seeking the rural or simple life and those in third world moving into capitalist societies. It is an interesting juxtaposition. Yet true happiness is to know one self, for Gandhi his message was his life and his life was moved from within. His was a spiritual life. One can always tell if that is true, what is the message – unity and unconditional love.

MY DREAM OF GANDHI

Unchanged by space and time,
I watched the images of your story unwind,
Fragments of the whole,
Left their impression on my mind,
Like footsteps in the sands of time,
I am watching with a feeling so sublime.

In the age of confusion,
Your strength is drained,
Nonviolence is stained,
As ineffective and void,
In a world buoyed by the river of tension,
Conquest and might,
Where the hero is always right.

The light dims,
In the chamber of mirrors,
Fear breeds military pillars,
I hear an ancient voice,
Speaking in the softest tones,
Within myself I am not alone.

You came to me in a dream,
Where I was lower than my feet,
I felt great humility,
With every heart beat,
You were shrouded in darkness,
On the long march,
I raised my eyes and met your spirit,
A moment that is etched in my heart,
A resonance that sets me apart.

Why I know you I do not know,
Your message of service and self-suffering,
Brings me home,
Your mighty words of love,
And loving with second sight,
Elevated on the wings of freedom,
In the cave of darkness calls forth the light,
of en-lighten-ment.

Namaste Gandhi,
Truth is not your weapon,
For there is nothing to defend,
When the truth sets you free,
There is nothing to fear,
When you simply
Be one-Self.

Injustice on the scale of ignorance,
Is at a disadvantage,
When faced with the mirror of love,
For we escape the darkness of the self
and run,
Running from an ever diminishing reflection,
Protection, emotional deflection,
Brings us back to resistance,
On the ocean of material subsistence,
Empty and hungry for a safe haven,
But security comes from within,
In the stillness,
A distant friend,
Existing nowhere,
now here,
Everywhere is life,
Waiting to lift you high,
Just let go into total acceptance,
And you will find,
Your long lost inheritance,
and fly.