In the book Indian Summer: The Secret History of the End of an Empire the author Alex Von Tunzelmann added a bit about the death of Gandhi's wife, in 1944.
I was very troubled by Gandhi's actions at first.
She pleaded with him to be given Castor oil to relieve her symptoms but was not granted.
He refused to let her get any medication that could potentially cure her. On her final days, when one of their sons came in with medicine, learning that it had to be injected, Gandhi refused under the religious belief that is was going to show a weakness of his faith.
He stopped another son to see her on death bed because he was drunk. Instead, he filled her room with his followers and sang praise to God until she passed.
For such an icon of non-violence, I found his actions very imposing, violating her simple wishes for relief and family.
After all, he was Gandhi, right???
Well, maybe not. I had t stop myself and try to find another point of view.
How many people do we put in altars and proliferate their words we find nice, but in truth, we know very little about them?
Gandhi himself said that we should not have a sect after him since he was just learning according to truths that are as old as the world.
Once we realize that we are all humans, all learning, we will see that in truth, we are also gods in a path of self-discovery.
No comments:
Post a Comment