Gandhi Jayanti-International Day of Non Violence

"There are many causes that I am prepared to die for but no causes that I am prepared to kill for."
Mahatma Gandhi The Story of My Experiments with Truth, 1927

"Non-Violence", a sculpture by Karl Fredrik Reutersward, sits permanently outside UN Headquarters in New York. UN Photo

The International Day of Non-Violence is marked on 2 October, the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, leader of the Indian independence movement and pioneer of the philosophy and strategy of non-violence.According to General Assembly resolution A/RES/61/271 of 15 June 2007, which established the commemoration, the International Day is an occasion to "disseminate the message of non-violence, including through education and public awareness". The resolution reaffirms "the universal relevance of the principle of non-violence" and the desire "to secure a culture of peace, tolerance, understanding and non-violence".

Introducing the resolution in the General Assembly on behalf of 140 co-sponsors, India’s Minister of State for External Affairs, Mr. Anand Sharma, said that the wide and diverse sponsorship of the resolution was a reflection of the universal respect for Mahatma Gandhi and of the enduring relevance of his philosophy. Quoting the late leader’s own words, he said: "Non-violence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man".

My brother in Christ and spiritual mentor during my student days wrote this note on his Facebook page. I would like to reproduce it here.

Letter to My Son Joel
by D Phillips
"I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."
-- Mahatma Gandhi

I just have to make a comment on this one; this statement, [and many similar] are used by people who are unwilling to swallow the hard statement of Christ, such as 'I AM THE WAY...no one comes to the FATHER BUT (ONLY) by Me'.
Mr. Gandhi made politically nice statements for Christ, and claimed that he accepts His teachings. But the problem was that Christ teaching, “Take up your cross and FOLLOW ME” was NOT acceptable to him and many leaders then. By 'Christians' he meant the East India Company that was largely run by ungodly heathen British who were responsible for brutally killing protesting Indians against British regime. But then Mr. Gandhi did accept the good works done by many Christians missionaries that gave India the best of its schools, gardens, colleges, & hospitals and many other ethical & moral values. Amongst many such people was the famous William Carey. The city of Calcutta now called Kolkata still honors William Carey for his works.
One is not honest with himself when they use the same argument as Mr. Gandhi used to reject the Lordship of Christ. Mr. Gandhi was a famous freedom fighter like many others, and we should give due respect to him for that.
You cannot say 'I like Christ'', as he said and do not accept His LORD ship. Christ does not leave that option to us. Either you accept His Lordship as the ONLY true God, or else you are rejecting Him. Some one has said; and rightly so, "Either Christ is LORD of ALL, or else, not at all.”
We are not following Him because some one else is following Christ the right way; we are following Him for WHO He IS, and Indeed, there is no one like Jesus;
He never went to college, yet He commands more loyal disciples than anyone in human history.
He never wrote a book, but each day more books are written on Him than anyone else ever in the world;
Humanly speaking he was seemingly a failure at his time, since one of His own disciple deceived him and he died the death of a Criminal one the cross,
But He is the ONLY one who ROSE AGAIN from the dead and is alive and well and commands Lordship on many more that all the leaders put together in their lifetime.
If I do not accept His cross & His resurrection, then it is like eating the topping of a pie but leaving out the crust. Christ & His resurrection is the CRUST of the matter.
In India, it takes a lot more courage to publicly acknowledge Christ as your Lord than to stand before a hungry Lion. We keep getting the news that there are hundreds each year persecuted, burnt & killed, & beaten.
I am taking this time to write this to you to give you a reasonable perspective on some of these statements. Hope you won’t mind this since it is not written to attack you (since you already know me, and gave me an honor to call me a spiritual father). I am including some of the dear friends here who know a lot more than me and they too might have something to say here that I might have missed, or might better clarify things on this above statement.

Lovingly ~ Dad