E-Book - Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi – His Life & Timesstood close to the wall in a corner of Gandhi's room; Gandhi was writing. Whenhe lifted his head, Amiya stepped forward and told him of his cousin's passing.Gandhi made a friendly remark and invited him to the prayer meeting thatevening. When Amiya arrived in the evening, Gandhi handed him a slip of paperand whispered, 'It came straight from the heart so it may have some value'. Thenote read:Dear Amiya, I am sorry for your loss which in reality is no loss. 'Death is but asleep and a forgetting-' This is such a sweet sleep that the body has not to wakeagain and the dead load of memory is thrown overboard. So far as I know,happily there is no meeting in the beyond as we have it today. When theisolated drops melt, they share the majesty of the ocean to which they belong.In isolation they die but to meet the ocean again. I do not know whether I havebeen clear enough to give you any comfort.Love,Bapu.The fact that he cared would have been comfort enough. e cared for one littleperson in the midst of his cares for e whole nation. He was convinced thatpolitics is worth, GSS than zero unless it is an integral part of the everyday 1 eof human beings. Gandhi's unwalled existence was directed to the welfare ofmankind through concern for green vegetables in village diet, the aching heartof a bereaved relative, the choice of a girl's husband, a mud pack for a sickpeasant and an author's spelling. Nobody rises above such little things; theyconstitute life; nobody lives in the rarefied air of isms and theologicalprinciples.Over a long period of years, Gandhi's daily post averaged a hundred letters,often with enclosures. He answered about ten of them himself by hand,dictated the replies to some, and instructed his secretaries how to answerothers. No communication remained without a response. In numerousinstances, where the correspondent did not object, Gandhi replied in Harijan.His weekly contributions to that magazine invariably took him two days of solidwork. These too he wrote by hand; very rarely he dictated them.www.mkgandhi.org Page 383