The Thoughts of A Gandhian Scholar - Prof. N. Radhakrishnan

Prof. Neelakanta Radhakrishnan is the Chairman of Indian Council of Gandhian Studies, Hon. Ambassador of Soka University of America and Founder of several other Institutions. He is the recipient of Gandhi-King-Ikeda Community Builders Award 2002.

(To view a video presentation of “Gandhi, King & Ikeda -- The Community Builders”, please click:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDUaz5Jeung&feature=related)

Prof. Radhakrishnan was actively associated with teaching and research for over 30 years. For about 22 years he taught at Gandhi Gram Rural Institute. Since then he remains as Director of Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti, New Delhi. He has been associated with the UNESCO on some of their projects as Resource Person. He is currently Professor at Jain Viswabharati Institute, Ladnun, Rajasthan, Chief Editor of Journal of Peace and Gandhian Studies. He is an expert on Education Planning, and Gandhian Studies.

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He has attended several workshops and seminars abroad and delivered lectures at several well-known Institutions abroad on invitation. As a social activist he has played important role in several conflict resolution activities. He has actively engaged himself in the Inter State Mass Education Campaign and has initiated activities to take Gandhian thoughts to the masses. He has published 48 books to this date in English and four books in Malayalam with Gandhian thought as the central theme. He edits five journals on Gandhian thought. He has written books in Hindi and some of his books have been translated to Tamil and Hindi. There are six publications on his creative activities.

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The following are random selection of extracts from his writings and speeches:

Faith is Battle

Dedication and selflessness cannot remain hidden or eclipsed. Like the rays of the sun they radiate and warm up the otherwise dark and cold fibre and texture of human life.
(Unesco Lecture, Paris, 1995)

All great visionaries who left their indelible impressions on the sands of time are those who worked on the positive aspect of human endeavor.
(The Sparks of Nonviolence, P. 56)

Can we say confidently that mere money could make a person happy? What about the dyspeptic, insomniac, unhappy millionaires? While they are able to buy many things with their wealth they fail to buy appetite, sleep or happiness with any amount of money at their disposal.
(Ikeda Sensei - The Triumph of Mentor - Disciple Spirit, P. 16)

The entire span of existence is spent searching for a purpose. Some people find it in wealth, in status, in relationships but ultimately they realize the illusory quality of these achievements.
(Ikeda Sensei - The Triumph of Mentor - Disciple Spirit, P. 43)

What is required is courage - undying courage to stand up and fight for what one considers just. In fact human history has quite a few instances of such heroic fight and the one great truth is that in the end, the victors are always those who stand for justice and truth.
(Gandhi, Human Security and Soka Renaissance, P. 7)

A spiritual void looms large and insecurity has gripped humanity and what one sees is the total absence of the will for the reformation of the inner life of man, otherwise a genuine human revolution.
(Gandhi, Human Security and Soka Renaissance, P, 27)

At a time humanity is cruising towards a new century of hope, what is required is consensus, not confrontation.
(Ikeda Sensei - The Triumph of Mentor - Disciple Spirit, P. 112)

Tolerance would be well assisted by religions and philosophies that emphasize oneness of all things, the respect for life, reverence for all beings, belief in truth, the importance of practising duties simultaneously with rights and practising nonviolence in conflict resolution and in all aspects of daily living.
(Ikeda Sensei - The Triumph of Mentor - Disciple Spirit, P. 120)

Every dawn is likened to a birth, always looked forward to with great expectation and promise. Even from a purely mundane point of view man is never tired of looking at the dawn. One the contrary, every dawn is an inspiring event.
(Ikeda Sensei - The Triumph of Mentor - Disciple Spirit, P. 144)

Gandhi and his thoughts

Gandhi’s assassination is the manifestation of the highest form of religious fanaticism, intolerance and hatred, but then as the later events proved, though the assassin succeeded in removing Gandhi physically with his bullets, he miserably failed in preventing the spread of the ideals and message his victim represented.
(Gandhian Perspectives on Education, P. 12)

The Gandhian concept of reverence for all life has not been found to be a mere statement of what is true, but a useful guide to being truthful, for the Gandhian concept of truth is not a virtue or principle but a process.
(Gandhian Perspectives on Education, P. 77)

It was the genius of Gandhi, which stands between violence and orderly development. Though change is painfully slow, there is change. What one has to do is to quicken the process of change by lighting lamps of hope, lamps of dedicated efforts and someday, these small sparks might assume the shape of bright flames.
(Dr. G. Ramachandran - The Golden Bridge Between Sabarmati and Shanti Niketan, P. 55)

Gandhi held the view that every religion was an unending quest, not a body of dogmas but a science of the spirit. And he saw the scriptures, as scientific texts containing profound but corrigible wisdom. Thus his religion was a rational and ethical one. He would not accept any belief blindly if it did not appeal to his reason or satisfy his very questioning conscience.
(Gandhian Perspectives on Education, P. 78)

Mahatma Gandhi opened up a new chapter in human history by offering a new set of thoughts and strategies steeped in human dignity. He also taught that any attempt to violate human rights is abominable and against natural justice, hence should be fought tooth and nail.
(From Presidential Address at the International Community’s Homage to the Mahatma, 31-1-1998)

Gandhi demonstrated through his novel methods that what the weak and the suppressed need is courage of conviction to stand up and fight any unjust system. He clarified with telling effect that the weapon of the weak in this noble fight for social justice and equal rights is not any weapon but soul-force, which is powerful than atom bomb.
(From key-note address at UN Dialogue on youth at UN Plaza, 1997)

War and Nuclear Bombs

It is said that the intensity of heat is known only to those who get burnt. Similarly the tragedy, the war brings into human lives is best understood by only those who become victims of war.
(Ikeda Sensei - The Triumph of Mentor-Disciple Spirit, P. 73)

Many might not realize that while the nations of the world spend $2 billion per day on military, thousands of people are starving to death; millions more are living on the verge of starvation. Every second, somewhere in the world, a child dies or is permanently scarred by the diseases poverty; in the same second we spend $23,000 on our militaries.
(From keynote address at the Fourth International Conference on Nonviolent Action, New Delhi, 10 November, 1999)

The big and mind-boggling question starting at humanity even after five decades of the most diabolical act perpetrated on humanity, namely the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is: Are the bombs over Nagasaki and Hiroshima the last in human history? There are other questions as well: How is humanity going to tackle the monsters of war, violence, injustice of various types, the grinding poverty widely prevalent in large segments of human population and what is humanity doing to arrest the all-time high and alarming environmental degradation?
(From the Lecture at Nagasaki, 8-8-1998)

Human Rights

There is no bigger crime against humanity and denial of human rights to fellow citizens than treating them as subhuman beings for whatever reason. Denial of reality itself was an act of violation of what constitutes the core and the mirror of the universal life.
(From lecture on Gandhian Perspectives on Human Rights, New Delhi, 28-12-2000)

And with Gandhi the fight against Human Rights took a new turn. From violent methods the movement turned to non-violent tactics, which Gandhi believed would be the weapon of the strong and not that of the weak.
(From lecture on Gandhian Perspective on Human Rights, New Delhi 28-1-2000)

Nonviolence

Force and greed - two of the pillars of the emerging socio-economic and political scene – that keep company with violence cannot countenance nonviolence as a regulatory strategy.
(Glenn D. Paige and Nonviolence Political Science, P. 2)

The Bible upheld the role of nonviolence for the edification of mankind. In Plato, it became a vague sort of advice to overcome evil by good deed. But with Gandhi and later Martin Luther King (Jr.) nonviolence became a creative, challenging and eloquent force symbolizing man’s inalienable right to live in peace and harmony and to help himself and his fellow human beings reach out to their maker.
(Glenn D. Paige and Nonviolence Political Science, P. 4)

Violence

Where there is hatred, violence naturally creeps in. Suspicion also plays foul roles. So man should be free from hatred, violence and suspicion. The only way to purify one’s mind is the way of truth. This is the essence of all religions and the prophets and the avatars have also taught the same lesson, though in different languages.
(Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan -- The Apostle of Nonviolence, P. 16)

Violence is such a thing that after one act of violence, there will be another of even greater violence. Each of the wars was more fierce than the preceding one. The next war may well be most destructive.
(Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan -- The Apostle of Nonviolence, P. 45)

Let us remember, violence begets greater violence and the only way to control the raging violence is by continuing the unfinished work of the Mahatma in the field of communal harmony, removal of untouchability, ensuring social justice and by launching a massive national campaign against political one-upmanship. A national reconciliation is the need of the hour.
(Gandhian Perspectives on Education, P. 22)

Women

Gandhi’s view on women has drawn unfortunately flak than what he did to women in their struggle for bettering their position in society, family and elsewhere. As Gandhi himself said he was best understood by the illiterate rural women much more than the sophisticated, urban women.

Women, who form about half of the population, must cast off the shackles of social taboos, superstition and ignorance and become equal partners with men in shaping the future of the country. Educated women have to make full use of all the social privilege and set a new trend for the masses to follow.
(Gandhian Perspectives on Education, P. 61)

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Children

The world of the child is certainly not a world of cares, worries, anxieties or frustrations of the kind a grown-up man experiences in his day-to-day life but it is the world of unbounded happiness, imagination, creativity, frolic, playfulness and the like. Imaginative faculty of the child recognizes no limit and there is nothing impossible in the dictionary of the child. Music, dance, creative drama, poetry, puppet making, child games, story telling, crafts, riddles, constitute an important domain of the world of the child.

The kind of exposure a child gets at the moment from mostly electronic and print media, has been causing an alarm because of the heavy content of violence in most of the programmes.

To see a child behaves like an adult or a teenager is something that would hurt any normal human beings.

One of the questions that haunts all those who are involved in what is known as children’s education is: are we offering the right kind of education to our children who besides anything else should grow into fearless, confident and honest human beings?

Are the various inputs and the opportunities we offer the children in the schools, in the curricula, in the community and at home, sufficient enough for the personality development of the child?

While we assiduously foster knowledge and advanced information (little matters even if these are beyond the reach and levels of the child) do we try to understand the child in the child? Perhaps, the most disturbing thing one can imagine is the steady erosion of what is called the childhood innocence in children.

(Forward of “Preparing Children for a Nonviolent Future”)

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Education

The ultimate object behind any sound system of education is building up of an integrated personality, a personality which perceives and receives joy and sorrow, victory and defeat, pleasure and pain with detachment and equanimity, one which does not swing backward and forward like a pendulum, or like an untrained self between pairs of opposites.
(B.N. Pane - Messenger of Harmony, P. 90)

The role of dialogue is very important in character development. This is one thing that does not take place in today’s education system. The atmosphere in the class room is mostly teacher-centred and seldom learner-centred. The over-awing presence of the teacher inhibits discussion and debate and the mode of assessment also offers very little opportunity for the learner to express freely and fearlessly.
(Gandhian Perspectives on Education, P, 16)

It is wrong to say that the standard of education has come down. What has come down is our tolerance level. Let us remember that it is not what we preach but what we practise that makes us strong. It is not what we eat but what we digest that makes us strong. It is not what we read but how we follow what we read that makes us strong. What we need is a mental jolt, a revolutionary change of our mindset.
(Gandhian Perspectives on Education, P. 24)

Experiments require courage, conviction and great application of mind on the part of those who undertake them, and if any they are related particularly to children’s education, they should be characterized by child’s sensitivity and imagination.
(Gandhian Perspectives on Education, P. 40)

It is time that the nation took serious view on its priorities and requirements. Do we want peace and stability or do we want chaos and violence? If what we want is peace, the centres of learning should offer the tool for it. Only from a nonviolent social system can the spring of harmony come up, let us remember.
(Gandhian Perspectives on Education, Preface)

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Democracy

Liberty is the watchword of democracy and justice, its guide.
(Ikeda Sensei - The Triumph of Mentor - Disciple Spirit P. 103)

Abuse of religion or abuse of political power does not lie with the system but in the hands of those who shape it.
(Ikeda Sensei - The Triumph of Mentor - Disciple Spirit P. 110)

The greatest challenge to democracy in recent times is the emergence of terrorists and such subversive elements in many countries. In many cases, these unscrupulous elements perpetrate violence and acts of sabotage under the guise of religion.
(Ikeda Sensei - The Triumph of Mentor - Disciple Spirit P. 110)

Literature

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Even after the assassination of Mahatma, he is the biggest source of inspiration to writers in varying degree. Gandhi appears to be the biggest influence, in one way or other on every Indian since the Buddha.

Great masterpieces like War and Peace, Red Badge or Courage, A Tale of Two Cities, All Quiet on the Western Front, A Farewell to Arms - are all about the soul - stirring movements their respective societies experienced.

Many writers were active participants in Gandhiji’s programmes and even those who had kept themselves away in the earlier part of the struggle found themselves involved in it not long afterwards. Such was the overwhelming nature of the struggle initiated by Gandhiji.

The Gandhian ideals whether they made profound impact on all sections or not, did attract the attention of almost all writers in some way or other. While the Gandhian vision of a new society based on justice and freedom inspired several thousand in different parts of India to join the movement without any reservation, the remaining adopted a cautious attitude. It is a fact that few remained unaffected by the Gandhian hurricane.

(Forward of ‘Mahatma Gandhi and Indian Writers’)

Poetry

It is one of the undeniable facts of human history that poetry contains the most powerful articulations and endeavours of man. It has been, more than any other form of human expression, "the breath and finer spirit of all human knowledge."
(Ikeda Sensei - The Triumph of Mentor - Disciple Spirit P. 168)

Great poets have always something of the seer. In their lives we not only read the meaning of the life but also discover its real issues. It gives expression to the inner-most feelings of mankind.
(Ikeda Sensei - The Triumph of Mentor - Disciple Spirit P. 168)

In fact the hearts and minds of the people in each age in history have always been best reflected in its poetry. Great poets have always grappled seriously with the concerns of human life and positioned themselves as philosophers.
(Ikeda Sensei - The Triumph of Mentor - Disciple Spirit P. 168)

Photography is an art and when a poet takes to photography, the art is imbued with poetic sensibilities and the nature of composition acquires lyrical proportions. Like good poetry, photographic compositions can move people to tears and awareness take them to the heights of enjoyment.
(Ikeda Sensei - The Triumph of Mentor - Disciple Spirit P. 180)

Art

The essential difference, if one can say so is that while the scientist is immersed in the creation of things or objects that may help the ‘outer man’, the artist daringly attempts to fuse into a unity, the sublime and the grotesque aspects of life, nature or anything that appeals to him.
(Drama for communication, P.1)

Theatre

It has been argued that the theatre of the soil can come out only of a careful fusion of the modern method of play production and the native tradition which is lying dormant or slowly disappearing due to neglect or lack of encouragement and proper appreciation.
(Drama for communication, P.37)

Science

An analogy is provided by the contemporary achievement of placing a human being on the man. Long considered an impossible dream, it rapidly became a vision, will, skill, science, technology, human organisation, training resources and public support were combined to make it possible.
(Gandhi, Human Security and the Global Renaissance P.16)

With the development of science and technology, humanity has achieved breath-taking success but the question remains: to what extent have we succeeded in promoting the development and growth of man?
(Gandhi, Appropriate Technology and Rural Development P.11)

For your information, Prof. N. Radhakrishnan is coming to Malaysia and delivering a Lecture entitled “Leadership Lessons from Gandhi, King and Ikeda” on 27 July 2008 (Sunday) at 7.30pm at the Auditorium, 4th Floor Wisma Kebudayaan SGM, Kuala Lumpur. Details can be obtained from http://www.sgm.org.my/events_kl05.html. Admission is free. I am looking forward to attending and I hope you can be there too.

LET'S GIVE HUMANITY A CHANCE!!