Endurance of Gandhi’s Message
Re “50 Years Have Taken Toll on Gandhi’s Influence in India,” Jan. 30: Mohandas K. Gandhi preached and practiced that when one is at peace with himself or herself, no external force or power can disturb it. Nonviolence and self-sufficiency were the vehicles to attain that goal of peace.
His underlying message was that one cannot be happy by breeding hatred against anyone, and no amount of money can fulfill a person’s greed if one chooses that course. These principles have proven the test of time. Gandhi set an example by practicing them and led others to follow in those footsteps. The association of Gandhi with these principles may fade, but these principles do not lose their value.
It is unfortunate that your article chose to devalue those principles based on responses from 19- and 21-year-old young adults from a wide a spectrum of the Indian populace. Just because some choose to feed on greed and hatred does not mean they are pursuing or even getting closer to being at peace with themselves. On the contrary, when they depend on others to make them happy, they are setting themselves up for a major disappointment.
DHIREN MEHTA
Cypress
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