The following post is the second one based on my talk at the India Center in Charleston, WV for Gandhi Day 2015. Please read Part 1 here. What can we learn from Gandhi’s ideas about Nai Talim (new education) and how can we apply them to our context now? How can (must) education be a… read more
The India Center in Charleston, West Virginia celebrates Gandhi Jayanti, (Spinning Wheel Day, in honor of Gandhi’s birthday, October 2) each year by inviting a guest speaker to talk about a different theme relating to Gandhi and nonviolence. The celebration also includes dinner, interfaith prayers, songs by the children’s choir, and a poster and essay contest for… read more
September 21: “I can say with confidence that if the world is to have peace, nonviolence is the means to that end and no other.” –Gandhi (Harijan, July 20, 1947) On International Day of Peace, what better way to celebrate than to remember that peace is something we can–must–learn. It is not a question of… read more
September 19 “I am but a humble explorer of the science of nonviolence. Its hidden depths sometimes stagger me just as much as they stagger my fellow-workers.” –Gandhi (Young India, November 20 1924) To explore the science of nonviolence is more than a study of books or movements. When you get down to it, really,… read more
September 16: “The child should never feel that he is being taught.” –Gandhi (Navijivan, June 2, 1929) When Narayan Desai, fondly referred to by Gandhiji as “Babla,” decided to quit the village school running on the colonial education system in favor of the “school” of working for Gandhi at the ashram, he was convinced it… read more
September 15: “Childhood is the most important period of one’s life.” –Gandhi (Speech at the second Gujarat Educational Conference, in Broach, 1917) Narayan Desai, though he was the son of Gandhi’s secretary, Mahadev, called Gandhi ‘bapu’ or father, while his own dad was his ‘kaka’ or uncle. As a little boy living in the ashram… read more
September 13: “There can be no Swaraj where there is no harmony, no music.” –Gandhi (Young India, April 15, 1926) If you were around Gandhi, you would experience music: from hymns at prayer meetings to the rhythmic sounds of spinning wheels. His appreciation for music, however went beyond our traditional understandings of instruments and rhythms;… read more
September 12: “For me nonviolence is not a mere philosophical principle. It is the rule and breath of my life.” –Gandhi (Young India, September 13, 1928) Ok, ok, I know what your burning question about Gandhi has been this entire time: Was Gandhi a “lefty” or a “righty”? In other words, which was his dominant… read more
September 10: “You have very truly remarked that if we are to reach peace in this world and if we are to carry on a real war against war, we shall have to begin with children.” –Gandhi (Young India, November 19, 1931, from his speech at the Montessori Training College) Very often Gandhi is the… read more
September 9: “Just as preservation of one’s own culture does not mean contempt for that of others, but requires assimilation of the best that there may be in all of the other cultures, even so should be the case with religion.” –Gandhi (Young India, December 6, 1928) A “reverential study” of the religions of the… read more
