(Right use of ‘will-power’)
Mohan Das Karam Chand Gandhi:
who exemplified the power of desire
It is unwise to expect a young generation of India to follow Gandhi. Gandhi is not for the people who lack self-motivation and a desire to transform within. His experiences and experiments are the living examples of enhanced ‘Emotional Intelligence’ for psychologists and the behavioral scientists that pursue research – as to how self-motivated youth can be directed to choose the path of successful entrepreneurship? A new kind of personal research is on the way to help the CEOs of the companies, states as well as of the countries to learn to transform within for getting support from ‘nature’ for demonstrating their ‘worth’ as a leader.
Students of management asked, “Who is your role model?” “Gandhi”, I replied. “Do you know, Gandhi is responsible for our miserable condition,” shouted the annoyed students?
Up to the year 2000, I only liked Mohan Das Karam Chand Gandhi because he was somewhere near to my heart. When those students criticized me I started working on him. I purchased books to understand him. I consulted libraries. I peeped inside and visualized Gandhi through my mind’s eye. Ultimately, I could get the answer.
Recall the incidence that took place in South Africa. He was traveling on the train. It was the first class compartment. He was forcefully thrown away from the compartment. What must be the normal feelings in that situation of a normal man? He, certainly, must have felt helpless and powerless.
Normally, such feelings lead the person towards ‘negative thinking’ which ultimately sap his energy. In such situation, the victim suffers from the mental blocks of ‘indifference’ and ‘procrastination’. As a result, he is not in a position to feel that there is something more in life to realize. When women feel indifferent, they stop trusting their men. When men feel indifferent, they shut down and stop caring their women.
John Gray writes in ‘How to Get What You Want and Want What You Have’, “When indifference sets in, you forfeit your natural motivation and power to change circumstances to get what you want. Life loses meaning and purpose and becomes devoid of love. Gradually numbness sets in, and you do not even know what you are missing.” Likewise, with a mental block of ‘procrastination’, we put off or postpone action because we mistakenly believe that we are not ready.
He further writes about procrastination, “Nothing can get done if you do not begin: When you put will into action, power can begin to flow and your creative juices are once again realized. You can not realize your inner powers if you do not exercise them. Courage grows by taking risks. When you postpone action, you not only suppress your inner powers, gifts, and talents, but you suffer.”
History says this incidence helped Gandhi to convert his ‘self-motivation’ – desire for personal freedom into a ‘purpose of life to work for the freedom of India’. His life transformed as he could derive energy from the feelings of helplessness and powerlessness. Processing of emotions helps in deriving energy even from negative emotions like worry and sorrow. Mohan Das Karam Chand Gandhi could successfully do this.
Now recall the conditions prevailing when Nathu Ram Godsey killed him. Without any position in government Gandhi emerged as a leader whose ‘desire’ could attract support from the ‘nature’ – India attained political freedom. This does not mean Gandhi didn’t feel helpless when Jinnah and Jawahar Lal Nehru were fighting on the issue of Pakistan. Without feeling the emotion you cannot use its energy as a source of your desire fulfillment. Gandhi did it through the use of ‘will-power’.
Normally, people when trapped in a vicious circle of ‘sickness or failure’, they use ‘will-power’ as a remedy to get out. Experience suggests that such use of ‘will-power’ boom rang. As a result, chances of breaking the vicious circle get diminished. We, then, are stuck-up like a chronic patient of AIDS. The right use of ‘will-power’ is when you feel helpless and consider that you are not ready to act. Exercise your will-power into your action. Power will begin to flow and once again you will realize your creative juices are emerging from within.
Throughout freedom struggle, Gandhi demonstrated the ‘use of willpower’ through practicing Satyagraha to mobilize people of India. Satyagraha was not simply observing fast for him. It must be a means for him to convert his ‘desire’ – the purpose of life into a powerful magnet for attracting the events which could help him realizing fulfillment. It is only ‘processing the emotions’ that helps the person to get support from the ‘nature’. Past experiences convert into a medium that provides ‘wisdom and energy’ for taking a decision which meets future requirements.
I hope we can sum up like – Gandhi worked to convert his ‘desire’ into a powerful magnet for attracting the events which were taking place in India and abroad. Whether those were the efforts of Revolutionaries like Bhagat Singh, Azad Hind Fauz of Subhash Chandra Bose or the Second World War – all contributed to freedom of India under the leadership of Gandhi.
What I am discussing is a scientific aspect of his personality. Gandhi demonstrated much earlier what psychologists are professing today, ‘desire is more powerful than an atom bomb’. His total life I feel is a role model for the consumer who feels helpless and powerless when finds he is exploited by all.
As a consumer don’t you feel helpless and powerless? Especially, when total education system has prepared you to become powerful by managing the resources from the environment. You find philosophies of Maoists and terrorists are more supportive of your mental state. Instead of learning and subsequently using your ‘will-power’ to put into action for deriving power from within, the moment you take arms in your hands as a revolutionary, you will be writing your destiny which begins with’ i.e. ‘destruction’ or ‘death’.
No system is perfect. It is you who has to discover your destiny. Of course, democracy gives some hopes not because of the rulers but because of its inherent weaknesses. That is, for its survival, it has to encourage your ‘uniqueness’ as a voter. Leaning towards ‘Reservation policy’ by politicians is nothing except their efforts for creating vote bank to maneuver support of the majority. With the maturity of democracy, the politicians will have to encourage your ‘uniqueness’ for their own survival.
Bahujan Samaj Party came into existence with the opposition of Brahmans, the ‘manuwadies’. Then, the slogan of BSP was, ‘Baniye Maaf, Thakur half and Brahmans saaf.’ Now Mayavati, Supremo of BSP won UP Assembly Elections in May 2007 with the help of Brahmans whom she used to insult by calling ‘manuwadies’. She didn’t favor Brahmans but they were required for writing her success story in the elections and she recognized their importance.
Likewise, requirements of business development will compel the competitors to make you feel ‘unique’. Or they will perish because of the pressures of economic globalization. Don’t you feel small-scale traders are not able to sustain such pressures? They feel trapped and, hence, are mobilizing pressure tactics for arresting the process of globalization which is next to impossible. As a country, Indian Government can only delay the process of liberalization but cannot stop it from economic globalization has become a universal reality.
In addition, from a psychological point of view – truth and ahimsa of Gandhi are more relevant when you are in a relationship. The moment you feel you are a victim. Gandhi will be the most hated person by you. His teachings are not for victims of circumstances. The moment you own responsibility of your helplessness and powerlessness and you want to convert your desire into a powerful magnet, you cannot ignore the importance of relationships. Leadership is an art of developing trusted relations. ‘I don’t think of leadership as a position’, says Phil Quigley, CEO of Pacific Bell. ‘I don’t think of leadership as a skill. I think of leadership as a relationship.’
In micro context, relationships refer to the family, especially, between husband and wife, parents and wards. Unless we learn to respect each other’s uniqueness (truth) and forgive the mistakes (ahimsa); we will only be biological parents to our children who always feel terrorized by our clashes and quarrels.
In the 19th century, Gandhi showed the way through his own example. Marx was very popular when Gandhi began working for the freedom movement. Indian revolutionaries were inspired by Russian Revolution. Mohan Das Karam Chand Gandhi didn’t follow Marx or anybody but went on discovering within. He recognized his ‘uniqueness’. He developed his own visions for attaining the purpose of life. He, finally, chose his own path.
What is required for getting support from ‘nature’ – establish alignment among your ‘uniqueness’, the purpose of life that gives meaning to your existence and the activity you perform better than others. I am revealing you the recent advancements of the 21st century. Gandhi practiced all these when the science of psychology was an infantile stage.
Father of Psychology, Dr. Sigmund Freud introduced ‘unconscious mind’ to the world as ‘villain’ who was responsible for creating all kinds of problems. Gandhi successfully used the powers of the unconscious by getting support from ‘nature’. Now psychologists in 21st century feel that with revised relationship undermind (the unconscious) plays roles of a trusted friend and a wise guide.
Some people refer to his experiments related to Brahmacharya as an example of sexual perversion. Their writings create an impression as if he reached the old age.
I wish to submit, “Experiments what Gandhi performed was the part of his transformation. Had Gandhi not performed those experiments, he would have met the same ‘fate’, what Swami Rama Krishna Paramhans had faced in the form of cancer. Or Lala Harcharan Das had faced the fate of miserable demise.”
In Chapter – III, ‘Personality: a Perfect Prediction’ I will reveal the conditions that helped me developing insight for peeping into the psyche of people.
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