Learnings from Gandhi
Not often you read about personalities who are a great source of inspiration and brought revolution to the society.
Having recently completed reading his autobiography The Story of my experiments with Truth, Mahatma Gandhi was indeed a person with undying spirit and burning ambition to serve society and fight for the truth.The book which was originally written in Gujarati, then later translated to English brings forth the untold stories from his life and principles that he had followed religiously in every phase of his life.
The ideas and methodologies that were followed are very much applicable and relevant in today’s world as well.I could gather the following learnings from the life of Mahatma Gandhi :
Mistake is actually not a mistake, but the inability to learn from it is : We often develop a notion about great leaders and personalities that they are perfect.However, very few people who actually study their life realize that underneath the cult image lies a series of mistakes and blunders that a person goes through in his lifetime.Gandhi was no exception.Whether it was his early marriage(child marriage was a tradition in India),or being in the wrong company in school days that led him in activities like stealing, smoking cigarettes, or his insecurity about his wife, in every segment of life there were mistakes but the ability to learn from it to not repeat again and move forward stood him apart from the rest.
The significance of being socially connected : The modern world is increasingly becoming more isolated as essential needs are just few clicks away on your computer screen or phones.However, irrespective of which kind of society you live in, it is important to know your local people.Gandhi, whose life has been majorly public, was bonded to the roots of the societal behavior and norms.That way he was able to meet large number of people on a daily basis and build connections.He used his profession being a lawyer as an opportunity to fight for the issues that brought societal changes.So, how many amongst us in the current world would genuinely think of innovatively using our profession as a tool to bring positive impact on the country or even a small society.The following quote aptly puts forth this idea :
“ Success is not about the money or the fame, but the magnitude of beneficial footprint you leave on the society”
Be the man of action : Mahatma Gandhi believed in being the change he wished to see in the world.The many changes he brought in his own life like cleanliness, being equal to all communities, the idea of vegetarianism and the courage to take stand for truth and righteousness even though odds were against it are the examples that were set for the people to follow.We always get lost in the train of thoughts about things could have been.Instead of wishing what would have been good, it is always better choice to take action and move forwards.Your actions defines the personality rather the result you dreamed for.
To sum up, these were the qualities I could pick up from the book and I am sure there are many traits that we can learn from leaders in the history, but rather more important to put them into practice in our everyday life.
