A reporter was once interviewing Gandhi about one of his national fasts, and was very interested to know why he chose this way of life to cause change in the world.
R: People are interested to know what thoughts guide you, and how you keep going despite the fact that no one understands you.
Gandhi: Let me explain, using a metaphor, for the mind can only understand other people's thoughts by free association, a Freudian term in Psychology.
I am a stone, that God threw into the pond of the world. It's my fate, and the bottom of the pond is my destiny. I can not blame God for it, for I understand that he reserves his own judgment for his actions, and he must be trusted. Inevitably, I cause ripples on the surface of the pond. I can not control that either, for every person affects another in one way or another, if not through words, through actions and ideas. If the pond I fall into is small, the ripples will come back to me in no time, before I even sink below the surface, after they bounce off the edge of the pond. If I fall into a huge pond, the ripples will never come back to me, and I will have long before reached the bottom of the pond and died. The only choice God has given me is the size of the pond, and I chose the sum of all oceans, for I realize that the bottom is inevitably reached and I can not wait for every ripple of my own to come back. That would be selfishness. That is why I go on, without any desire for any ripple of my own generation. That is why I go on, without any desire to try to stay at the surface of the pond, for God will keep throwing stones, and I have to make way for more.
R: People are interested to know what thoughts guide you, and how you keep going despite the fact that no one understands you.
Gandhi: Let me explain, using a metaphor, for the mind can only understand other people's thoughts by free association, a Freudian term in Psychology.
I am a stone, that God threw into the pond of the world. It's my fate, and the bottom of the pond is my destiny. I can not blame God for it, for I understand that he reserves his own judgment for his actions, and he must be trusted. Inevitably, I cause ripples on the surface of the pond. I can not control that either, for every person affects another in one way or another, if not through words, through actions and ideas. If the pond I fall into is small, the ripples will come back to me in no time, before I even sink below the surface, after they bounce off the edge of the pond. If I fall into a huge pond, the ripples will never come back to me, and I will have long before reached the bottom of the pond and died. The only choice God has given me is the size of the pond, and I chose the sum of all oceans, for I realize that the bottom is inevitably reached and I can not wait for every ripple of my own to come back. That would be selfishness. That is why I go on, without any desire for any ripple of my own generation. That is why I go on, without any desire to try to stay at the surface of the pond, for God will keep throwing stones, and I have to make way for more.
A Gandhian way of dealing with things. Small incidents like these can explain why many spiritual giants held high respect for Mahatma Gandhi.
ReplyDeleteNice piece of thought. Thanks for sharing.