| Hindu Ideals |
 |
HUMANITARIAN IDEALS |
|
| In the next verse
he continues to say: Hunger, thirst, fatigue, loss of strength in limbs, distress, langor,
grief, disappoin - tment, delusion - all these undesirable features of my distressed soul
have all disappeared upon my giving water to one who was suffering from acute thirst.'
The Triumurthis, the rulers of the three worlds, revealed themselves to him and
praised his heroic sacrifice and infinite mercy for his suffering fellow men. There can be
no higher or nobler humanitarian ideal than the one revealed by this episode. Not only did Ranti Deva seek to relieve the misery of his fellow-men, but he also desired to so identify himself with them and become a part of them so as to undergo their suffering and thereby share their miserable predicament. Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of our Nation, took hold of this great teaching of Srimad Bhagavatham as the inspiring motto of his life. He inscribed this verse in front of the Sabarmathi Ashram founded by him for the inspiration and guidance of his followers. The fundamental basis of the great national movement started by Mahatma Gandhi was suffering and sacrifice for the liberation of his countrymen from foreign yoke. The echo of the Ranti Deva's sacrifices we hear in the story told about the great English nobleman Sir Philip Sydney who, lying wounded in the battle-field, felt severe thirst on account of much loss of blood. He asked for a cup of water to quench his thirst. But finding another soldier in a similar distressing predicament by his side, Sir Philip offered the cup to the soldier instead of taking the water himself, saying: 'Thy need is greater than mine.' |
|
| About Humanitarian Ideals |
