October 14: “Our bodies are the real temples rather than buildings of stone.” –Gandhi (Harijan, January 4, 1948) If there is one quotation of Gandhi’s that could rival the misattributed, paraphrase Be the Change that we all know and love, it’s this one from 1948. Uttered a couple of weeks before he shed his body,… read more
Tag Archives: daily metta
“Syria’s White Helmets”–Daily Metta
October 13: “Satyagraha brigades can be organized in every village and in every block of buildings in the city.” –Gandhi (Harijan, March 17, 1946) We’ve all heard of the Blue Helmets — the United Nations armed peacekeeping wing. But have you heard about the White Helmets, the unarmed peacekeeping and first responders in Syria? It… read more
“Understanding Columbus”–Daily Metta
October 12: “True economics stands for social justice.” –Gandhi (Harijan, October 9, 1937) Columbus Day, a national holiday in the United States, seems to be a celebration of Christopher Columbus, the man, the adventurous, courageous Italian explorer who convinced the Spanish king to send him on a sea-mission. Though really, it is a subversive celebration–a… read more
“Our Humanity vs. Our Machines”–Daily Metta
October 11: “In this [vision] there is no room for machines that would displace human labour and that would concentrate power in a few hands.” –Gandhi (Harijan, July 28, 1946) It’s hard to understand the concept of Gandhian Economics (one of his most brilliant contributions) without the fundamental principle that upholds it: human beings need… read more
“Show by example”–Daily Metta
October 10: “The best way to show how to do it, is to do it myself.” –Gandhi (Young India, October 23, 1924) It was Gandhi’s first great campaign in India, well portrayed in the Attenborough film: the indigo farmers of Champaran, Bihar state. While the farmers were faced with starvation and slave-labor conditions in their… read more
“Nothing is insignificant”–Daily Metta
October 9: “I must strive my utmost, during the coming year of grace, to express in every little act of mine whatever love I am capable of.” –Gandhi (Young India, October 23, 1924) One of the most interesting things about Gandhi is the way he seems at one minute to be a political activist, with… read more
“Brave enough to love each other”–Daily Metta
October 8: “Before they dare to think of swaraj they must be brave enough to love one another.” –Gandhi (Young India, September 29, 1924) While love is, in itself, a kind of freedom, what does a love of a nation or a larger social order look like when there is no love between those living… read more
“The Abbot and the Sword”–Daily Metta
October 7: “A man of faith will remain steadfast to truth, even though the whole world might appear to be enveloped in falsehood.” –Gandhi (Harijan, September 22, 1946) ‘Steadfastness to truth’ is another way to say ‘Satyagraha,’ almost a literal translation from the Sanskrit. When Gandhiji maintains that it is a person “of faith” who… read more
“Knowing when to escalate”–Daily Metta
October 6: “Since Satyagraha is one of the most powerful methods of direct action, a Satyagrahi exhausts all other means before he resorts to Satyagraha.” –Gandhi (Young India, October 20, 1927) When I first contemplated activism, I thought it meant going from doing nothing to throwing every last ounce of energy into direct confrontation with… read more
“Progress without exploitation”–Daily Metta
October 5: “All motion is not progress. We have no reason to believe that the people of Europe are progressing.” –Gandhi (Young India, February 11, 1920) The movement for localism–swadeshi–in the Free India Struggle had an enormous purpose at its core: to deracinate exploitation itself, especially as it manifests through the unfettered accumulation of material… read more
