Leadership and Legacy of King and Gandhi:



Leadership and Legacy of King and Gandhi:

Rethinking Non-Violence in Race Relations

Dr. R. Ray Gehani

The University of Akron

College of Business Administration

Management #358.

RESOURCES AND READINGS

1. Gehani, R. Ray. Gandhi for Barack Obama: Back to School Speech, Sep. 2009

2. Congressman Dennis Kucinich and Non-Violence

3. Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge and Non-Violence in Public Service

4. Reverend Otis Moss, Jr. and Non-Violence

5. Maurice Small on Non-Violent Actions for a Harmonious Community

6. Gehani, R. Ray. America’s Deep Rooted Ties with Global Gandhi.

7. Gehani, R. Ray. Montgomery Miracle: How The King Was Led by the Mahatma?

8. Gehani, R. Ray. Gandhi’s Immortal Luminous Leadership Spirit

9. Gehani, R. Ray. Fearlessness, Freedom and Faith for Spirit-driven Leaders

10. Gehani, R. Ray. How Gandhi Mentored Legions of Indian Women Leaders

Gandhi for Barack Obama: Back to School Speech

R. Ray Gehani

In September 2009, in an unprecedented “back to school” speech made by any U.S. president, the students at Wakefield High School were inspired by President Barack Obama to work hard and do their best because America’s future depended on them (The White House Press Office). The Wakefield High School in Arlington County is a highly diverse school. Almost 40% graduating students pass an Advanced Placement Test, twice as much as the national average. The school is filled with many potential future leaders.

In the question–answer session at the end of the President’s speech, a 9th grade student Lilly asked,

“…if you could have dinner with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be?”

President Obama paused for a moment and noted that “dead or alive’ was a pretty long list. But then he added,

“I think that it might be Gandhi, who is a real hero of mine.”

He added to the students’ great amusement that,

“…it would probably be a really small meal because he (Gandhi) didn’t eat a lot. But he’s somebody who I find a lot of inspiration in.”

President Obama elaborated his selection by reminding that,

“He (Gandhi) inspired Dr. King, so if it hadn’t been for the (Gandhi’s leadership of) non-violent movement in India, you might not have seen the same non-violent movement for civil rights here in the United States. He inspired Cesar Chavez, and what was interesting was that he (Gandhi) ended doing so much and changing the world just by the power of his ethics, by his ability to change how people saw each other and saw themselves – and help people who thought they had no power realize that they had power, and then help people who had a lot of power realize that if all they’re doing is oppressing people, then that’s not really a good exercise of power.”

What a profound and yet simple and easy to understand way to summarize Gandhi’s power of inspiring leadership in today’s times.

President Barack Obama revealed that, he was “always interested in people who are able to bring about change, not through violence, not through money, but through the force of their personality and their ethical and moral stances. And that’s somebody (Gandhi) that I’d love to sit down and talk to.”

President Obama’s preference for dinner with Gandhi is as interesting as his predecessor President John Kennedy’s answer to a similar question. President Kennedy and Jackie were well-known for hosting many star-studded parties. President Kennedy shared that he would like to dine with the Founding President Thomas Jefferson. President Kennedy then elaborated that since Jefferson dined alone in the White House there had not been such a gathering of renaissance-minded brilliance and talent at a White House dinner party.

President Barack Obama has drawn inspiration for many years from Gandhi’s life and his message. As the junior senator from Illinois, senator Obama hung a portrait in his Senate office to express his love for this undisputed apostle of peace and justice. Obama has shared that he hanged Gandhi’s portrait in his office “to remind me that real results will not just come from Washington, they will come from the people.” He was proud to recall that his mother did rural development work in India.

Election Victory Speech, Nov. 2008

President-elect Obama in his victory speech in November 2008, reiterated that,

“Through the power of his example and his own unshakable spirit, Gandhi inspired a people to resist oppression, sparking a revolution that freed a nation from colonial rule.”

President Obama has noted that while formulating his strategy to free India from the clutches of the then British rulers, Gandhi had a choice. “He (Gandhi) chose courage over fear.”

Gandhi’s Birthday, October 2008

Prior to his victory as President in 2008 election, on Gandhi’s birthday, October 2, Senator Obama noted that,

“It’s a pleasure for me to join today in commemorating Mahatma Gandhi’s day of birth, celebrated across America and around the world by service to our neighbors and other good works.

“Gandhi’s commitment to creating positive change, by bringing people together peacefully to demand it, resonates as strongly today as they did during his lifetime. Through the power of his example and his own unshakable spirit, he inspired a people to resist oppression, sparking a revolution that freed a nation from colonial rule. In formulating his strategy to achieve freedom, Gandhi had a choice, and he chose courage over fear…”

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“Gandhi’s significance is universal. Countless people around the world have been touched by his spirit and example. His victory in turn inspired a generation of young Americans to peacefully wipe out a system of overt oppression that had endured for a century. And more recently led to velvet revolutions in Eastern Europe and extinguished apartheid in South Africa. Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke of their great debt to Gandhi…”

Barack Obama, the candidate, urged his fellow Americans that this was a pivotal election, and that,

“This is our time to change. For far too long, we’ve watched as ordinary Americans work harder and harder for less and less… I need you to stand up and work for change. Let us all rededicate ourselves, every day from now until November 4th, and beyond, to living Gandhi’s call to be the change we want to see in the world.”

Primary Elections, Feb. 2008

In February 2008, just as Senator Barak Obama extended his lead over rival Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton, he spent weeks writing an article to comprehensively articulate his policies on the various strategic issues facing the United States.

He opened by explaining the perilous state of America and the world,

“This is a defining moment. Our nation is at war. Our planet is in peril. Our American Dream is slipping away. …I am running for President of the United States to offer the American people fundamental change – change that they can believe in. …we need leadership that inspires, energizes, and mobilizes the American people behind a common purpose.

“This kind of change will require the active participation of the American people. And as President, I will reach out to encourage the active engagement and partnership of the vibrant Indian-American community in making the change we seek. Already, in communities across the country, Indian Americans are lifting up our economy and creating jobs. Leading entrepreneurs, innovators, lawyers, doctors, engineers, and hard-working professionals are adding to the richness and success of the American story…”

As a United States senator, Barak Obama co-sponsored legislation that expanded federal jurisdiction to reach violent hate crimes motivated by race, color, religion, or national origin – because there can be no justification for these heinous acts. He has said that,

“Instead of policies that make Indian Americans feel targeted or excluded from the American story, I will be a President who draws upon the energy and expertise of the Indian-American community. Together, we can restore and revitalize America’s innovation-based economy so that we create jobs and meet our most pressing domestic challenges…”

As the 44th President of the United States, Barak Obama reiterated that,

“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change we seek.”

Obama, perhaps due to his inspiration from Gandhi, reached out

to his former rival Senator Hillary Clinton, and appointed her as the Secretary of State when he formed his government. In an unprecedented Presidential gesture, Obama reached out to include some Republicans in his administration. And, for his health care reform, he strived to seek bipartisan support, while courageously standing up to the special interest groups opposing any reforms.

Congressman Dennis Kucinich and Non-Violence

Having been elected to Cleveland's City Council at age 23, Dennis J. Kucinich was well-known to Cleveland residents when they chose him as their mayor in 1977 at the age of 31. At the time, Kucinich was the youngest person ever elected to lead a major American city.

In addition to being Mayor of Cleveland, Kucinich has served on the Cleveland City Council (1970-75, 1981-82); served as the Clerk of Courts for the Cleveland Municipal Court (1976-77); been an Ohio State Senator (1994-96); and in November 2008, was elected to his seventh term as a Member of the United States House of Representatives (1997-present).

Kucinich was born in Cleveland, Ohio on October 8, 1946. He is the eldest of 7 children of Frank and Virginia Kucinich. He and his family lived in twenty-one places by the time Kucinich was 17 years old. Kucinich graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and a Masters in Speech Communications from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio in 1974.

Since being elected to Congress in 1996, Kucinich has been a tireless advocate for worker rights, civil rights and human rights.

Kucinich has been honored by Public Citizen, the Sierra Club, Friends of the Earth and the League of Conservation Voters as a champion of clean air, clean water and an unspoiled earth. Kucinich has twice been an official United States delegate to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (1998, 2004) and attend the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Kucinich is the chairman of the Domestic Policy Subcommittee of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee. He is also a member of the Education and Labor Committee. In November 2008, Dennis Kucinich was reelected to a seventh term in Congress.

Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge and Non-Violent Public Duty

Rep. Fudge brings a hard-working, problem-solving persona to the task of creating jobs and improving health care in her economically distressed district.

Her hard-working, problem-solving spirit of determination was honed as Warrensville Heights’ first African American female Mayor.  

On the Education and Labor Committee, she works toward elevating Cleveland’s struggling public schools to academic excellence. As a member of the committee’s Higher Education, Lifelong Learning and Competitiveness Subcommittee, Representative Fudge is dedicated to aiding research at our universities and institutions of higher learning.  On the Science and Technology Committee she promotes our robust aerospace industry.  She is one of the only freshmen members of Congress appointed to serve as Vice Chair of a Subcommittee.

Personally, Representative Fudge is past National President of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Professionally, she earned a Business Administration degree from Ohio State University and a law degree from Cleveland State University.   She served as the chief administrator for her beloved friend and then Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Stephanie Tubbs Jones.  When Tubbs Jones was elected to Congress, Representative Fudge became her first Chief of Staff.      

Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge took the oath of office for the 110th Congress on November 19, 2008.  She is highly respected by her congressional colleagues for her insight, wisdom, and honesty.  Because she is a visionary, she voted for President Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act as a welcome “initial lifeline”.  As a dedicated public servant, she begins each morning with a firm promise “to do the people’s work”.  This simple philosophy defines this Congresswoman of substance and character who always keeps her promise.

Reverend Otis Moss, Jr. and Non-Violence in the Civil Rights Movement

For more than three decades Rev. Otis Moss Jr. led Olivet Institutional Baptist Church, one of Cleveland's largest and most influential churches. As senior pastor, he preached and pushed for civil rights and quality medical care around the world. Presidents sought his counsel. Then he retired to write his memoir about his historical experiences. His son, Rev. Otis Moss III leads Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ, formerly attended by Sen. Barack Obama.

Born in rural Georgia and orphaned at 16, Rev. Moss attended Morehouse College in Atlanta, and earned a bachelor's degree and a masters in divinity. He absorbed the non-violent civil rights message from Morehouse President Benjamin Mays, and joined the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to lead sit-ins at lunch counters and public buildings.

In 1954, He became a pastor and served at several Baptist churches in Georgia, including Atlanta. In 1961 he moved to the Cincinnati area and became the regional director of King's Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Rev. Moss Jr. marched with Dr. King in Selma, Ala., and Washington, and, in 1971, he became co-pastor in Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church with the Rev. Martin Luther King Sr.

In 1974, Rev. Moss moved to Ohio’s largest black church Olivet including all community leaders. He has exchanged views with Pope John Paul II, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, and President Bill Clinton. In 1990, he earned his doctorate of ministry was in top 15 black preachers list in 1993 and 1994. He inspired Oprah Winfrey to speak at - and donate to - Cuyahoga Community College. The Rev. Moss and wife Edwina plan to stay in Cleveland.

Maurice Small on Non-Violent Actions for a Harmonious Community

Maurice Small calls himself an "action hero" in pursuit of simple joys of fresh food and fresh water. He transforms discarded and drug-infested urban plots to build, tend, and harvest gardens. This can help a community of young people renew and rally behind a meaningful purpose. Cleveland Clinic supports initiatives of Maurice and receives fresh vegetables for their patients.

Maurice developed his love for gardens from his parents. Community gardens and healthy vegetables help replace unhealthy communities infested with drugs and crimes. In five years, Small and the New Agrarian Center started approximately 500 gardens all over Ohio. He can build and plant a garden in a few hours. He fuses his passion for teaching gardening with his joy of cooking healthy vegetarian food to at-risk school children.

He has collaborated with Slow Food, Ohio University’s Outreach Extension Cleveland Program, and Cleveland Botanical Gardens. He is a certified Master Composter and Permaculture Designer.

“…Whenever you are in doubt or when the self becomes too much with you, try the following expedient: Recall the face of the poorest and most helpless man you have ever seen and ask yourself if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him.”

“To forget how to dig the earth and tend the soil is to forget ourselves.”

America’s Deep Rooted Ties With Global Gandhi

Dr. R. Ray Gehani

Unprecedented Historical Event. October 2nd marks the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi – considered by many as perhaps one of the greatest leaders of modern times. With the genocide in Darfur and the increasingly escalating War on Terror, Gandhi’s non-violence movement increasingly demands from us a re-examination of our instinctive violent tendencies. This year this day was particularly of an unprecedented historical significance for Cleveland as the city unveiled the first and the nation’s tallest life-size statue of Mahatma Gandhi in the most recently established Indian Cultural Garden on the Martin Luther King Boulevard.

Gandhi for African-Americans. Most African Americans, and many mainstream white Americans, know that Gandhi’s non-violent Satyagraha movement, long after his death, was the core guiding inspiration behind the U.S. Civil Rights Movement led by Rev. Martin Luther King. At first some African-Americans like Booker T. Washington and DuBois, including King, felt that Gandhi’s success in leading a majority of Indian masses against a minority of British colonial rulers was not appropriate to lead the African-American minority to get justice from the majority white Americans in power. After further study, Rev. King effectively combined a Christian strategy of love for fellow-human beings, with the Gandhian tactics for a forceful non-violent confrontation. Millions of African-Americans and many immigrants, such as the members of Asian-American community are still reaping the benefits from the non-violent Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.

Gandhi for Mainstream Americans. What is, however, not equally widely known is that long before King, and during his own lifetime, Gandhi built strong alliances with many missionary and mainstream Americans to boost his struggle for independence of India. Whereas the British rulers severely censured the news about Gandhi from 1905 to 1947, and planted powerful propaganda by Katherine Mayo to counter his efforts, Gandhi built and strengthened strong ties with many American Quakers like Roger Baldwin, Robert Morss Lovett, Will Durant, and J. T. Sunderland.

Gandhi’s Gratitude. Gandhi admired and repeatedly thanked the selfless service of missionaries like Sam Higginbottom and Samuel Evans “Satyanand” Stokes. In 1921, John Haynes Holmes, a co-founder of the NAAACP, elected the relatively unknown Gandhi when he was poling for “the Greatest Man in the world.” Gandhi expressed his gratitude to Holmes by calling him his “advertising agent.” Fondly Gandhi referred Harvard educated corporate lawyer Richard Gregg as “Govinda” for his admiration of Indian deity. Based on his direct interactions with Gandhi, “Govinda” Gregg wrote Economics of Khaddar in 1928, Gandhi’s Satyagraha in 1930, and Gandhi versus Socialism in 1932. Gandhi also corresponded and coordinated efforts with others including the famous author Pearl Buck. Even Zionist Hayim Greenberg looked up to Gandhi for uplifting the down-trodden people, and wished the same for the Jews in Nazi Germany and rest of Europe. In London in 1931, Gandhi met Christian theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, whose work later King studied for his doctoral dissertation.

These two-way interactions between Americans and Gandhi, whereby American philosophers like Thoreau and Ruskin inspired Gandhi, and Gandhi inspired multiple generations of Americans, have tied together the American people and the Indian people with strong deep-rooted but invisible ties of democratic values. Perhaps Gandhi can once again move and inspire the current generation of Americans as they set out to meet the new and unforeseen challenges of globalization. (525 words)

Dr. R. Ray Gehani is a professor of Management and International Business and the Director of Graduate programs in Management of Technology and Innovation at the University of Akron. He is the President of the Cleveland Chapter of the National Association of Asian American Professionals, and a Director on the Board of the Federation of Indian Community Associations. He can be reached at (330) 972-8140 or rgehani@uakron.edu. This essay is excerpted from his forthcoming book, Reclaiming the Glory of India.

MONTGOMERY MIRACLE:

How The King Was Led by the Mahatma?

Dr. Ramesh Ray Gehani

Early in his development as a leader Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) realized that it was hard to keep a large number of diverse people committed to a social movement. He had to develop shared goals, a strategy that grips the imagination of a large number of people, and carry out frequent two-way communication.

Initially, his strategy in Montgomery bus boycott of 1954 was to use Christian Love and the Sermon on the Mount to mobilize more African-Americans. About a week into the protest, in her letter to Montgomery Advertiser, Juliette Morgan, a white woman sympathizer compared the Montgomery bus protest with Gandhi’s non-violence protest in India. Everybody understood what she meant. And, the 25-year old King blended Gandhi’s non-violent passive resistance as the strategy with Christian love spirit to pursue his dream of an America where the color of skin would not matter.

In Montgomery, African Americans did not have a radio station or newspaper. So King communicated Gandhi’s methodology face-to-face in biweekly meetings held on Mondays and Thursdays by rotation at the different black churches of different denominations in Montgomery. King explained to the workers and professionals gathered that their use of violence would only accelerate retaliatory violence and hate from the racist white authorities. Instead they hoped to quench the forces of racist hate with the forces of Christian love by winning their understanding and friendship rather than by defeating the racist authorities. Some African-Americans wanted to use violence to intimidate the racist whites, while some others were willing to be non-violent as long as the other side did not use violence. The majority, fortunately, saw the efficacy of using non-violence for a lasting and sustainable racial solution. Their meetings used prayer songs, readings from scriptures, and reports from the President King and other committee heads.

How did King come to follow the footsteps of Mahatma Gandhi? In 1944, as a freshman at Atlanta’s Morehouse College, King was introduced to Thoreau’s Essay on Civil Disobedience – and the rationale to refuse to comply with an unjust system. At Cozier Theological Seminary for graduate work he read a variety of religious and social philosophers from Plato and Aristotle to Karl Marx and Locke. Then in Philadelphia he heard President Mordecai Johnson of Howard University, who had just returned from a trip to India. King was moved by the talk about life and teaching of Mahatma Gandhi and bought “a half-dozen books on Gandhi’s life and works” to study Gandhi seriously.

As an outcome of these studies, the young King was particularly moved by Gandhi’s use of Satyagraha or soul-force for the Dandi salt-boycott march in 1930. In the past, King had accepted the use of Christian love, turning the other cheek, and loving enemies only in individual relationships. Gandhi’s actions convincingly showed King how love for fellow humans could be used as a powerful social force to transform an unjust society. The answers that King could not find in revolutions of Marx and Lenin, utilitarianism of Mill and Bentham, social contracts theory of Hobbes, and the optimism of Rousseau, he found in Gandhi’s proactive Satyagraha and Experiments with Truth. He liked the courageous confrontation of unjust evil power with the soul power of love.

Finally, when King joined the Boston University for his Ph.D., he was stimulated by Hegel’s dialectical synthesis of combining the unjust evil forces and the resistance against it. In 1954, as he finished his formal education, King consolidated the different philosophies into how oppressed people could use nonviolent resistance as a potent force against racial injustice. But, when he went to Montgomery as a pastor, he did not suggest the use of non-violence resistance but adopted it because other people chose it.

Rest, as all of us know, is America’s Civil Rights history. King’s martyrdom at the young age of 39 years liberated millions of African-Americans from hundreds of years of slavery. But few of us realize that King’s efforts and Gandhi’s guidance also opened the Ellis Island in New York and the Golden Bay in San Francisco for the millions of immigrants like you and me who contributed so significantly to make the United States a Hyper-Super Power within four decades by the dawn of the 21st Century.

Dr. Ramesh Ray Gehani is a member of the Executive Board of the Federation of Indian Community Associations, and he is a professor of Management and International Business at the College of Business, University of Akron. This essay is based on an excerpt from his forthcoming book with Rashmi Gehani, Reclaiming the Glory of India.

Gandhi’s Immortal Luminous Leadership Spirit

Dr. R. Ray GEHANI

Mahatma Gandhi became a martyr 60 years ago, after living his entire life promoting peace and non-violence. His physical body was cremated when this apostle of non-violence was violently gunned down on January 30, 1948. But, even today, in our turbulent times, his large luminous spirit still glows and lights vividly the dark paths of hundreds of millions of doubtful people in distant parts of the world. And, perhaps Gandhi’s luminous spirit will continue to do so for centuries in the future.

STRENGTHENING THE SPIRIT.

How did Gandhi get to build his spirit so strong and so pure that it glows so brightly after half a dozen decades? He always claimed that he was ordinary like anybody else. Through his uncompromising commitment to the pursuit of true justice for all, no matter what were his personal sacrifices, Gandhi evolved as the Mahatma, or the Great Spirit, that inspires the millions, who follow and emulate his ideals.

Mohandas started out like most of us – full of temptations for unfulfilled carnal desires and wants. He told lies, ate what he was not supposed to eat, and lusted for sexual pleasures. This mystical Mahatma, who later goaded millions into their life-threatening sacrifices for their nation, was once shy, timid, and afraid of petty things.

METAPHYSICAL MASTERY OVER PHYSICAL STRENGTH.

Being small and physically frail, he stealthily ate meat under peer pressure, to grow strong and confident. But, the emotional toll on his spirit, because he was hiding this fact from his mother, did not seem to him worth any potential physical gain. Gandhi diligently conquered his physical needs and materialistic attachments, to build his dauntless meta-physical mind. He recognized that the priceless toll our spirits pay when we commit acts that do not align with our core conscious.

A young Mohandas stole money from his family members to do and possess what his common peers expected. He, however, discovered that “keeping up with the Gopalas” was not worth the pain it caused his father when Mohan timidly admitted his crime to his father in a letter. Instead of yelling loudly at Mohandas, his father simply cried silently. Mohan pledged that day to never again allow his spirit to wander away from its true path because of any potential materialistic gains.

ESCAPE MATERIAL TRAPPINGS.

After decades of uncompensated voluntary work for hundreds of Indian immigrants in South Africa, Gandhi refused to keep their sendoff gift to his wife Kasturba – much against Kasturba’s dreams of saving these for their son’s future wife. Through his personal actions, Gandhi weaned away millions of rich and poor Indians from their materialistic attachment to their imported textiles made in the mills of England.

When Gandhi died in 1948, his TOTAL MATERIAL POSSESSIONS included a pair of old glasses, a pair of heavily used slippers, and a pair of hand-made cotton loin clothes – worth no more than a pair of dollars. He could have easily chosen to govern and rule the newly Independent Empire of India – but Gandhi chose to govern their hearts and minds instead.

Gandhi admitted truthfully that he had carnal desires like most common human beings. Having married young at the age of thirteen, and driven by his high libido, Gandhi highly enjoyed and looked forward to having sex with his wife every night. He, however, realized his flaw when the fulfillment of his lust kept him from being next to his dyeing father’s bedside. To purify his mind, the young Gandhi took a vow of celibacy, and for decades he lived a married life without letting his spirit get swayed away by his strong sexual desires.

SMALL SEEDS OF A GREAT SPIRIT.

When young, Gandhi was afraid of dark places and imaginary ghosts. He lacked guts to stand up to injustice and intimidation by his physically stronger peers. For his first legal case in Bombay, Gandhi could barely stand in the court room without shaking. In South Africa, Gandhi discovered that he was willing to bear physical blows, but not willing to give up his rightful prepaid seat inside a carriage. He stood up against the discriminating laws invalidating the Hindu, Muslim, and Parsee marriages under racist South African administration. Whereas he could not deliver a short vote of thanks to a handful of his Vegetarian Society friends in London, later he gave speeches for hours to tens of thousands of people, and convinced them to transform their lives.

LIVING THE LIFE THAT LEADS.

With his simple sincere words Gandhi empowered hundreds of millions of uneducated, under-clothed, and under-fed Indians, under the heavy burden of years of colonial yoke, that they had the birthright to have the daily necessities like salt without paying a heavy tax. Gandhi stood side by side with the impoverished Bihar farmers who were overtaxed for generations during the years of failing crops under floods or draughts. And, single-handed a physically frail Gandhi stood fearlessly in front of the rulers of the worldwide British Empire, demanding them to “Quit India,” and revert the ruling of India back in the hands of the native-born Indians.

Gandhi’s nanny taught a young Mohandas a simple Ram mantra to help him hold ground rather than flee from a fearful situation. Gandhi’s spirit, which wielded almost unlimited informal influence on the hearts and minds of millions of Indians, chose to take no formal position of authority after India’s independence on August 15, 1947. His truthful spirit continues to hold even larger influence on hundreds of millions of people, in far corners of this earth, more than six decades after his physical departure from this planet.

LEAD KINDLY LIGHT.

He may not walk on this earth, but his spirit resides and roams freely in the hearts of millions of Indians and non-Indians alike. We may not be able to speak to him, but his message still rings loudly in our ears. His immediate blood family may not be rich or materially comfortable, but Gandhi gives precious solace to his extended family of billions. He gave away his life in the name of his ideals, but he gained an eternal place in our hearts.

What an authentic way TO LIVE ! What a graceful way TO DIE !! And, what a splendid way for a spirit TO SHINE forever !!!

To commemorate and celebrate Gandhi’s Luminous Spirit shining 60 years after his martyrdom, Dr. R. Gehani organized a Panel Reflection on Freedom Marchers: Gandhi and King, on February 2, 2008, from 4:30 to 7:30 at the India Community Center on 12412 Cedar Road, Cleveland Heights, OH. Near NightTown Jazz Club. Contact rgehani@uakron.edu; Ghose@tri-C.edu.

Fearlessness, Freedom and Faith for Spirit-driven Leaders

Dr. R. Ray Gehani

We could name October the month for fearlessness. Mahatma Gandhi was born in October, and Ram defeated Ravan around this time. When Gandhi was young, he could not sleep in dark because he was afraid that ghosts, thieves and snakes would come at him from different directions. He was so shy and fearful that he could not speak to his schoolmates. He ran back home as soon as the school ended because he was afraid that others would make fun of him.

Over the years, Gandhi faced his fear fully, and learned to overcome his fear so as to act with courage and justice. Gandhi drew heavily from his spiritual faith to confront and free himself from his multiple fears. How can we learn that from him?

Many centuries earlier, Ram in exile raised an army of monkeys and bears to fight the large forces of almighty King Ravan of demons. October is the month of Dassera, when Ram overcomes Ravan.

A distinguishing mark of brave leaders, such as Gandhi, Martin Luther King and others, is that they are not frozen and tied down by fear, as are most common people. Instead, they confront their fears boldly by riding them out. These leaders are thus liberated by their fear. Recall President Franklin Roosevelt’s quote about the fear of fear.

Ram Mantra for Changing Fear into Fearlessness

When Gandhi was in high school, he was fearful of boys much smaller than him. His family nanny Rambha pointed out to him, “There is nothing wrong in admitting that you are afraid. But, instead of running from something that threatens you, hold your ground, and chant the ‘mantra’ Ram, Ram repeatedly in your mind. This will transform your fear into fearlessness.”

She vividly illustrated to young Gandhi the power of Ram “mantra” by pointing to the powerful elephants passing through the narrow market streets of Porbander, where Gandhi was born. When uncontrolled, their trunks would swing restlessly and snatch bananas, sugar canes, and other fruits from the different vending shopkeepers. A skillful mahout calmed down his elephant by giving the elephant a bamboo stick to hold in its trunk. The elephant walked through the main street without getting distracted by the contents of the shopkeepers. Rambha explained to young Mohandas Gandhi that his mind was like the trunk of the elephant. It looses its restlessness when it wraps around the Ram mantra.

Gandhi chanted Ram mantra repeatedly when he went on long walks. Gradually, the rhythm of the Ram mantra synchronized with his footsteps, and the rhythm of his breathing and his mind. By calming the mind, the mantra gradually integrated his opposing and divided thoughts at a deep consciousness level. Whenever fear and anger invaded him, he chanted Ram mantra to drive these away. Let us try it and see if this works – especially when facing the bullies at work or play.

The Gita as Gandhi’s Spiritual Guide

Gandhi has called the Gita his “spiritual reference book.” The Gita was his practical guide through the challenges he encountered in his innovative leadership experiments with truth, ahimsa (non-violent), Satyagraha (truth-based persuasion). The Bhagvad Gita taught Gandhi the art of living in freedom. Gandhi admitted that the Gita became a mother to him ever since he became first acquainted with the Gita in 1889. He turned to it in every difficulty. And, he always received the desired guidance.

The Gita gave Gandhi detailed guidelines for crossing the turbulent sea of his life. Arjun in the battlefield of Mahabharat represents the human heart of every leader. Therein the forces of love and alienation, light and darkness are constantly competing for control over the leader’s actions and thoughts.

Arjun seeks guidance from Krishna, the God of Love, who is a manifestation of Arjun’s core spirit. Arjun searches for answers to his daily dilemmas, and how to be free from fear and anxiety. Krishna, unlike idealist Ram, provides practical advice. Human beings, as leaders of our own destiny, are duty-bound to fight. We must, however, choose to fight anger and selfishness within us, rather than fight with others for their flaws. Do we raise our hands to hurt others or do we do so to heal their pain and tears away?

Renounce Results and Enjoy

When an American journalist asked Gandhi to tell him the secret of his life in three words, Gandhi smilingly accepted the challenge and replied, “Renounce and enjoy.” According to the Gita, renunciation leads to skillful action. A leader constantly concerned about the outcome of his work is obsessed by his obstacles and opponents, and often misses seeing his goal clearly. Out of frustration, he resorts to aggression and violence. On the other hand, the leader who renounces himself from results, and focuses on self-less actions, does not waiver in the face of any challenging obstacles. With his eyes clearly on the goal of serving others, he can vividly see through every obstacle.

In his own words, Gandhi cites Gita as teaching us: Do your allotted work, but renounce its fruit, be detached and have no desire for reward while you work. He explains that renunciation of fruit does not mean being indifferent to the result. For every action, the leader must know the expected results, and the means needed. The leader thus prepared, and fully engaged in the task, and without desire for the result, is said to have renounced the fruits of his actions.

The last eighteen verses of the Second Chapter of Gita, in a nutshell gave Gandhi the secret of the art of living. These verses were inscribed deeply on his heart. In these verses, Krishna describes to the struggling leader Arjun, how to identify the attributes of the leader who has achieved the highest state of consciousness. These Gita verses transformed Gandhi’s fear into fearlessness.

In the highly globalized society today we can draw inspiration and light from the lives of great role model leaders like Gandhi, Martin Luther King and others. Let us not succumb to our fears. Instead, we must learn to transform our fears into fearlessness and freedom.

Dr. R. Ray Gehani feels a special inspiring bond with the spirit of Gandhi. Gehani was born in Rajkot where Gandhi grew up, and he grew up in Porbander where Gandhi was born. Gehani lived in Delhi for many years where Gandhi was assassinated. This essay is an excerpt from his research study on Gandhi and Globalization.

How Gandhi Mentored Legions of Indian Women Leaders

Dr. R. Ray GEHANI

Every year the Spring sunshine of March wakes up millions of Americans from their yearlong wintery slumber to discuss the inequity of women in American leadership. For four weeks, women, particularly feminists, accuse men for oppressing women and holding them down. Men, on the other hand, defensively point out that even women favor to have men as their leaders. That, as fathers, brothers, husbands, and sons, men has taken care of women for hundreds of centuries. That many women are happier raising loving children in their private home space rather than growing mega-billion business ventures in public space.

Where lays the truth on this important and complex issue of women’s leadership in Modern Times? Why do women political leaders in America like Hillary Clinton, Geraldine Ferraro, Pat Schroeder and millions of other American women feel that they are held back from rising to their fullest leadership potential in the USA?

Asian Women Trailblazers.

This lower level of achievement for American women is particularly noteworthy considering the path-breaking progress women leaders have made in other parts of the world. In developing Asian nations of India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Philippines women became heads of state many decades ago. What can women in America learn from their sisters in India and other parts of Asia?

Gandhi’s Transformational Mentoring of Indian Women. The discrimination against women was even worse in the traditions-bound India – until Gandhi emerged on the national political scene in 1915. The transformation of Indian women as leaders has gone through three phases: (1) women entrapped in traditional domestic roles based on ancient customs of India until Gandhi’s arrival in 1915, (2) Gandhi’s innovative mentoring of women leaders in Satyagraha from 1917 to 1948, and (3) women’s rise to national leadership in Independent India.

1. Manu’s Mantra for Man’s Mandate.

The centuries-old traditions of dominant patriarchy cloistered generations of Hindu women behind a veiled purdah curtain (and Islamic burqua for the Muslim women). Ancient scriptures by Manu assigned father’s Karma to protect his unmarried daughters until puberty. As soon as she hit puberty, he was expected to arrange to marry her to the best groom he could find – just like Janak arranging Seeta’s Swayamvara looking for the Perfect Man Ram. In modern times, sometimes the fear of social and family pressure made father send off his darling daughters to the first or the richest persons he could find around him. In many cases, her will or development was secondary to their family’s reputation. In some cases, the highly protected Indian Princess was happier to be handed over from her protective father to a father-like husband.

Some of these traditions were customs, whereas others were simply superstitions born and promoted out of women’s illiteracy and total economic dependence on the men during the different stages of her life. The smarter women, like her counterpart Victorian Women in the 18th century Europe, accepted the society’s customs, but did a great job managing her household as the custodian of her husband’s property.

2. Gandhi Mentoring Liberation of Legions of Women Leaders in India.

Whereas many generations of Indian fathers, brothers, husbands, and sons cloistered their women for their safety and protection, many free-spirited Indian women needed an innovative leader like Mahatma Gandhi to mentor and liberate them as leaders out of their protected purdah and burqua.

For masses of women “caterpillars” to transform into extra-ordinary “butterfly” leaders with strong wings and wills to fly freely in public space, Gandhi asked them to sacrifice and join non-violent struggle like the caterpillars struggling to break free from their bonded safe private spaces. Although salt was a common ingredient in Indian women’s cooking, Gandhi excluded women from the first salt satyagraha on April 6, 1930, to avoid any inadvertent ethical blackmail. Instead he felt that women were better suited to lead the boycott of use of imported mill cloth and alcohol. He noted that the attributes of self-sacrifice and silent suffering were ingrained in the daily lives of Indian women. Women’s non-violent appeals to the merchants and buyers of foreign cloth melt the hearts of the merchants as well as their European colonists.

3. National Women Leaders in Independent India. Gandhi’s engagement of women in his Ashram, and in the various activities of the Indian National Congress for India’s Independence struggle produced unprecedented legions of new women leaders.

Our studies of women leaders in Asia have revealed that the first legion of women leaders in independent India were more likely to be from the families associated with India’s independence struggle. When their men were imprisoned, the women learned to take over greater leadership responsibilities of their husbands, fathers, uncles or sons. As a child, while both her parents were imprisoned, India’s Prime Minister Indira Gandhi learned to give speeches to her servants. She ruled for multiple election terms after the death of her father, Jawaharlal Lal Nehru. Nehru’s sister Vijaya Laxmi Pandit became ambassador to the United Nations, Washington, Moscow, and the UK High Commissioner. Gandhi’s constant companion Sarojini Naidu became Chief Minister of the largest state Uttar Pradesh. Thousands of other women became key parliamentary leaders in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, and other social or cultural arenas in the free India. The Maharani of Jaipur, the Rajmata of Gwalior and the Begum of Bhopal, who hailed from the former Princely States, also rose to the upper echelons of national leadership. Rajkumari Kaur became President of International Red Cross.

From the first national election in 1952 to 1975, Indira Gandhi emerged as Prime Minister and a total of 13 women were in union government holding leadership positions for important ministries such as, education and social welfare, information and broadcasting, and tourism and social aviation.

Let Indian Women Leaders Inspire American Sisters.

If women in one of the world’s only continuing ancient Indian civilization can transform themselves from the perfect housewife Seeta to the warrior leader Kali, they can also share, mentor, and inspire their sister women leaders in The United States of “Free” America. The key to this societal challenge lies in American Women leaders leveraging their distinctive “feminine” qualities, such as compassion, nurturing, and inclusive team-building, and NOT blindly mimicking their fake macho male counterparts with egotistic arrogance, oppression, and autocratic leadership.

Let us recall that Tom Hanks reminded the women’s baseball players “In a League of Her Own” that, “There is NO crying in baseball.” The secret to winning the increasingly competitive business game in the “flat” global economy of today is in playing the game well, and not expect the undeserving entrenched male leaders to hand-over the same without a fight. Welcome women leaders, the global society can definitely use every competent and effective leader available we could get.

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