GANDHI’s TEN STEPS TO HAPPINESS?
“I offer you peace. I offer you love. I offer you friendship. I see your beauty. I hear your need. I feel your feelings. My wisdom flows from the highest Source. I salute that Source in you. Let us work together. For unity and peace.” –Mahatma Gandhi
Rabindranath Tagore, a poet, and 1913 Nobel Prize winner, first called Gandhi a Mahatma or a great soul. He said, “Gandhiji’s call India blossomed to new greatness, just as before, in earlier times, when Buddha proclaimed the truth, of fellow feeling and compassion among all living creatures”.
Known also as “BAPU”, Father of INDIA.
Gandhiji’s life story is full of courage, determination and religious willpower.
His timeless message still holds true to combat injustice and cruelty through love and truth.
His message can be used to solve today’s social, political and ecological problems.
Mahatma Gandhi taught us that we can bring harmony to our world by becoming champions of LOVE and PEACE. He led by example in following the Ten virtues and principles of LIFE which we can incorporate into our daily practices to create more Happiness.
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1. “Where there is LOVE, there is LIFE”.
“Gandhi is unique in political history. He invented an entirely new and humane technique for the liberation struggle of oppressed people and carried it out with the greatest energy and devotion. The moral influence which he has exercised upon thinking people through the civilized world may be far more durable than would appear likely in our present age, with its exaggeration of brute force… We are fortunate and should be grateful that fate has given us a luminous contemporary- a beacon to future generations”. – Albert Einstein for more information
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2. “An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind.”
“If humanity is to progress, Gandhi is inescapable. He lived, thought, acted and inspired by the vision of humanity evolving toward a world of peace and harmony.” – Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. for more information.
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3. “Be the change you want to see in the World.”
An outstanding example of Mahatma Gandhi’s leadership was his famous Salt March, which brought about change. On March 2nd 1930, as a protest against the tax on salt, Gandhi wrote a remarkable letter to Lord Irwin, the Viceroy of India. He wrote,
“Dear Friend, I cannot intentionally hurt anything that lives, much less fellow human beings, even though they may do the greatest wrong to me and mine. Whilst, therefore, I hold the British rule to be a curse, I do not intend to harm to a single Englishman or to any legitimate interest he may have in India…”
With these words, he inspired millions to fight for this righteous cause and eventually forced the British to leave India without inflicting harm on any Englishman. for more information
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4. “Truthful dealing, even in the least little things of Life, Is the only Secret of Pure Life.”
When life becomes chaotic, stressful and hard in general, focusing less on the fear of the situation and more on the love around us helps ease the pain. Love is there for us in many forms, a romantic relationship, a parent and child, a friendship, a kind gesture from a stranger, or an unexpected smile. Our natural human feeling of True Love is what makes us feel alive and constant in all that changes in life. We are all united through the power of love and its energy that compels us to reach out to one another, to overcome hatred, fear, and suffering with peace, joy and harmony. for more information
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5. “Real enjoyment is derived from Drops, not from Mouthful.”
Gandhi’s words above go right along with Johann von Goethe’s words, “Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least.” What we do with our days tells us what we are committed to, good or bad.
Gandhiji communicates with great simplicity the potential that we all have the power to make changes.
“If we want to see greater global awareness, we must cultivate awareness. If we want greater harmony and less strife, we need to learn how to control our emotions and respond to frustrations with more patience and kindness than we do now”. for more information
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6. “The straight path is as difficult as it is simpler. Were it not so, all would follow the straight path.”
There really isn’t too much to live, but the more advanced our society gets, the more complicated we seem to be making things. Technology seems to be making it easier for us, but we find reasons to complain, searching for answers about how hard life still is. How have we progressed, and what have we learned from our ancestors before us? Life is really simple, so do your best not to complicate it and find the path to create the Best solutions for every problem that we come against.
Why is simplicity essential? Take a moment and look at your life. What are you doing that doesn’t serve you? And how did you find yourself in this position? Moving forward, our initial thinking would be to live within our means and for each one of us to find the happy medium to begin from what we can live without being the starting point.
“After all, LIFE is really SIMPLE. We ourselves create the circumstances that Complicate it”. for more information
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7. “Each One has to find his Peace from within. And Peace to be Real must be unaffected by outside circumstances.”
The lesson from Gandhiji’s 7th Step of Happiness is for each one of us to make a conscious choice to be happy, no one can influence the change needed, and it begins with our self-realisation. Let us all take this first step toward controlling our own destiny. Therefore follow the change needed for the ultimate happiness within each of us with every breath we take, and it is not out there?
When we have negative thoughts which enter our mind, think of what Gandhiji once famously said: “A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes.” So stay positive, and all your troubles will feel much smaller. for more information
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8. The Best way to find yourself is to Lose Yourself in the Service Of Others.”
Gandhiji’s 8th Step of Happiness is here to question the purposes and meaning of Life? And perhaps each one of us to find a solution by taking up our own individual challenge by making a conscious effort to look at ways to help others around us.
Think about some of the service activities we missed in the past and today have the opportunity to be involved in? When we are serving others, we learn more about ourselves in the process. What qualities does it take to be a part of that activity?. Gratitude not only makes others happy but gives us 200% satisfaction in completing our tasks and also gives us meaning.
Selflessness is a way to progress and bring prosperity that leads to happiness. for more information
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9. “A Man is but a product of his Thoughts. What he thinks he Becomes.”
GANDHIJI’s 9th STEP OF HAPPINESS
Our physical and mental aspects are integrated and do affect each other. So much so that every negative thought counts as stress and indirectly plays a role in your actions. To counter this, we should raise our tolerance levels so that small mishaps don’t bother us and eliminate any room for perceptions as they strongly influence our near future and actions.
Firstly it is essential for us to draw the line between positive and negative. Let’s say, for instance, you have butter fingers and can’t get a hold of things. While you might get irritated every time you drop something, somebody else might deal with it differently by just picking it up and continuing what he/she was doing. for more information.
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10. “Live as if you were to Die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”
GANDHIJI’s 10th STEP OF HAPPINESS
“If we want to see greater awareness in the world, we have to cultivate awareness. If we want to see greater harmony and less strife we need to learn how to control our emotions and learn to respond to frustrations with more patience and kindness than we do at present”.
Meditation helps us to recognize negative emotional patterns and to develop the mental freedom to choose more positive responses. The process of quieting the mind helps to develop more loving kindness with more compassionate responses.
BREATHE IN LIFE …, BREATHE OUT LOVE & PEACE…, for more information
