Self improvement - inspirational stories from Gandhi Ji

2nd of October, the birth date of the "father of nation" - Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. Gandhi Ji is someone who is respected for always deeming with values, living a life that was led by principles, courage, determination, non-violence. It's absolutely vital to mention here that Gandhi Ji lived a life, that did not only serve as a inspiration to people who saw him/were with him but Gandhi Ji continues to be a inspiration for even today's generation.

The president of USA, Barack Obama, has time and again said that he's a follower of Gandhi Ji's lifestyle and tries to inherent as much as he can, to his own life. That's what makes Gandhi Ji such a great person. All along his life, he kept on spreading inspiration/love and even today, his stories serve as a inspiration to each one of us.

Through this blog post, I'll take you through 3 stories that I know, which you might have not heard of.  Each story of Gandhi Ji, serves as a moral to us and apprehends the point that Gandhi ji was simply a human being par excellence. :)

1st story : Gandhi Ji was a person who believed in giving ONLY such advice's that he himself followed/could follow/would follow. There's this story that there was a person who lived nearby Sabarmati asharam, the place where Gandhi Ji spent most of his time. The person that lived nearby Sabarmati asharam, had a kid, who had the problem of eating "too much sugar". Worried about his son's problem, the man looked for a solution. He knew Gandhi Ji as a great freedom fighter, a terrific human being who always believed in helping people and so he decided to meet Gandhi Ji and ask for a solution.

The man along with his son, visited Sabarmati Asharam, to meet Gandji Ji. The man told Gandhi Ji about his son's problem and demanded a solution. Gandhi Ji told the man to come after 1 week.

The man along with his son, waited for another week... The week passed by and having high hopes, the man again along with his son, visited Gandhi Ji.

The man asked Gandhi Ji if he had found a solution, Gandhi Ji told the man to come after 1 more week.. The man was confused, so was his son but they had no other option, they had to wait another week..

Another week passed by and the man along with his son, visited Gandhi Ji again, it was 14 days now since the man had told Gandhi Ji about his son's problem for the first time.. The man asked Gandhi Ji, if he had found any solution? To which Gandhi Ji replied "yes, I've reached to a solution".. Turning to the kid, Gandhi Ji said "don't eat sugar, it's not good for you.." "Eat gur (jaggery) instead, it's a sugar substitute and will not harm your health." The man was a little surprised, he had a solution to his son's problem and was delighted but he couldn't understand why Gandhi Ji made him wait for 14 days for this solution. The man very gently asked "Gandhi Ji, you could have told this on the very first day, why did you take 14 days to tell this"? Gandhi Ji replied "I could have told this to you on the very first day but I instead told you to wait because for the last 14 days, I was trying to remove my habit of eating sugar, once I implemented the same on me, I told you to implement the same"... :)

Fantastic story, isn't it? Gandhi Ji didn't tell the man about the solution until he himself implemented the same and reached to a solution. There's so much to learn from this story, it's a fact, that Gandhi Ji was such a fantastic human being because he cared for the smallest of the problems of the people and thought about the smallest of the things.. :)

2nd story : As I mention in the first story, Gandhi Ji spent most of his time in sabarmati asharam. One day, he was drinking tea and a man crossed by... After a few steps, that very man was talking to another person, to whom he said "look at Gandhi Ji, he says that he takes care of everyone but yet, drinks a tea that is made from pure milk.. Doesn't he know that most of the people in India don't get pure milk!"... Gandhi Ji overheard this conversation but he said nothing to either of the man..

On the very next day though, Gandhi Ji stopped having tea from pure milk and instead started drinking tea made of goat's milk. For those who don't know, goat's milk is very thin, it's hardly milk, it tastes more like water mixed with milk, preparing tea from it gets "yellow" colour..

Nehru Ji stayed at Sabarmati Asharam, whenever he got time.. Congress' meeting were usually held at Sabarmati Asharam.. All the senior and junior political leaders came to sabarmati asharam for the Congress' meeting and were served tea made from goat's milk. No one liked the tea but had to drink it because Gandhi Ji did too. The simplicity of Gandji Ji amazed every person and when the Congress leaders came to know the reason behind Gandhi Ji's habit of drinking tea made from goat's milk, their respect for Gandhi Ji rose even more in their hearts.

This story again proves that Gandhi Ji wasn't someone who believed in showing off. He was someone who believed in simplicity, leading a life on which no one can raise a question. Being such a respected person in India, why would he care for a passer by's comments? But no, he did and that's why he's THE Mahatma Gandhi. :)

3rd story : In late 1930's, queen of England invited Gandji Ji to England to meet her regarding discussing political scenario of India.Gandhi Ji accepted the invitation and reached the queen's palace, wearing his typical short dhoti. The administrative people of palace objected to his dress and told him to wear a suit. Gandhi Ji refused and told them to communicate that either the queen met him in his original uniform or he has no desire to meet her. The same had been communicated to the queen and to the utter surprise of all, the queen did not make any objection and when she saw Mahatma Gandhi, she spontaneously replied "now I understand, why the millions of Indians follow you"... This is perhaps the greatest example of courage, which all of us should have and implement in our life.

These 3 stories in some way or the other, give us a slight idea as to why Gandhi Ji is so much respected. These 3 are not just stories but a way of life, if we actually deem with the values apprehended in these stories, we can drastically change our personality. There's so much to learn from Gandhi Ji, his values will be with us forever because what one leaves behind is legacy, which is a standard for everyone else.

It's absolutely fitting to pay respect to a great man like Gandhi Ji, who thought of the people, whether rich or poor. Gandhi Ji thought/cared about everyone's problems.. He deemed with helping people in the slightest of the way he could. He hid nothing, if you've read the book "my experiment with truth" you'd know this. There's no parameter to judge someone but for me, greatness is what you leave behind. If you've the least of the interest in gaining name for yourself then that's what makes you stand out from the rest and that's what made/makes Gandhi Ji a person, whose footsteps we all must follow and we all too, just like him, lead a life with ethics/morals, thinking of every person and being truthful to our self and the people around us, that's what will make us a better human being.. :)

Happy Gandhi Jayanti! :)