Childhood (up to 12 years old) Arun spent time in South Africa. His family lived there in Durban, and he went to school there. In South Africa in those years, there was a strong discrimination, all non-white population was considered "second class".
Arun was once beaten up by his white peers for being "not white". And soon he was beaten up by "black" boys for the fact that the color of his skin is not black enough. Arun was from a dark-skinned Indian family. And he was caught between two fires. The boy was very angry and could not get justice. These events caused severe psychological trauma to the teenager.
Then the parents decided to take the child to the Ashram of his grandfather-M. K. Gandhi - in India. They decided that the grandfather would be able to help the child and raise him in the spirit of love.
The journey from Durban to India was a tedious one, first by boat and then by train for quite a long time…
The meeting with my grandfather was touching. Despite all the external "severity and asceticism", Gandhi was very happy with his grandson and warmly embraced him when they met, melting all the fears of the boy.
Arun often felt angry at that time, and now he didn't know how he could live with such a famous grandfather and how he could live up to him. once, while playing soccer, he was pushed hard by a boy from another team. Arun felt a strong sense of anger and injustice, and he tried to suppress it. When he got home, he told grandfather Gandhi about this with fear, suggesting that he might condemn him. But that didn't happen. The grandfather hugged his grandson and said that anger is a strong emotion and all people experience it. This is absolutely normal and human. However, we must not abuse the energy of anger. This energy, like electrical energy, can be used creatively to illuminate as a lamp shines, or destructively as lightning does. The task of a person is to learn how to use the energy of anger for creation.
My grandfather taught my grandson nonviolence, love and kindness.
Arun lived with his grandfather for only two years from 1946 to 1948, in januar1948 Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated.
Post a Comment