Gandhi grandson visits Hindu Temple

by Kalki

     In his recent visit to MahaKali Mandir, a Hindu Temple in Northeast Portland, Arun Gandhi, the 63 year-old grandson of the legendary Mahatma Gandhi of India said to the audience that his grandfather’s dream was not only for today but for the future.

     Mahatma Gandhi, like Buddha, awakened India.  He, like Mohammed, freed his people and like Jesus, forgave the one who killed him.  For the first time in history, he won victory against the mighty British Empire using a non-violence movement for a disarmed nation.  Gandhiji, the strongest man of India and wisest voice of the world, worshipped God by serving human beings according to Sanatan Dharma, the universal religion.  He lived like a  Yogi without a yellow robe, accepting and integrating into his life India’s primitive wisdom, natural medicine, environmentalism and village living close to nature.

     Before his assassination in 1948, the Mahatma (great soul) prophesied that from each drop of his blood a new Gandhi would be born on earth.  His dream came true when we witnessed present world leaders like Dr Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama, Lech Walesa, Corazon Aquino and Aung San Su Kyi, who successfully followed Gandhi’s model of non-violent movement as the solution of today’s socio-political and religious problems.

     Even though more than 400 biographies and eighty volumes of literature, each ranging from 500 to 600 pages, have been written on the life and work of Mahatma Gandhi, the light of the modern world, only he and his family members can best describe the Gandhi phenomenon.  It is important to know that twelve years ago, Arun Gandhi undertook to bring back his grandfather’s unfulfilled mission to America.  Today it has touched American lives in almost all major cities.

     This year, the Gandhi peace volunteers are celebrating “the season of non-violence” by commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of Gandhi’s assassination along with the thirtieth anniversary of the death of Martin Luther King Jr., the two great martyrs of the world’s non-violent movement.  The end of this historic occasion will be honored with a grand peace march in Portland, where thousands of participants will chant for world peace.  “I have slept only five or six days on my bed in the last 6 months” remarked Arun Gandhi, emphasizing his hard work to promote Mahatma Gandhi’s vision of nonviolence and peace in various parts of the world.

 

In Portland

     There are organizations including the Living Enrichment Center and MahaKali Mandir who promote Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violent movement through a series of regular seminars and workshops conducted by Arun Gandhi and other famous Gandhian scholars from India.  “I cannot change all lives” said Arun Gandhi, “but if I can change one person’s life with Mahatma Gandhi’s vision, my dream will be successful.”

     Arun remembers his grandfather as the most highly respected spiritual and political leader of our time.  “Simplicity and humility were the two most remarkable characteristics of my grandfather” recalled Arun Gandhi, who spent a year and a half of his young life with the Mahatma just before his assassination. “He was the dream of the future and the voice of human conscience.”  Mahatma Gandhi’s last word to humanity is, “No matter who you are or what you do, realize God here and now.”