Gandhiji and Rama Nama

[Guest guest]

Radhe Krishna To all,

 

On the occasion of Gandhi Jayanthi yesterday, Namadwaar would like to bring here

some of the quotes of Gandhi from the book " Rama Nama " by M.K. Gandhi.

                     

 

  Repetition

 

To a question by a Missionary friend whether he followed

any spiritual practices,

Gandhiji said: " I am a

stranger to yogic

practices. The practice I

follow is a practice I learnt in my childhood from my nurse. I was afraid of

ghosts. She used to say to me, " There are no ghosts, but if you are afraid,

repeat Rama Nama. " What I learnt in my childhood has become a huge thing in my

mental firmament. It is a sun that has brightened my darkest hour. A Christian

may find the same solace from the repetition of the name of Jesus, and a Muslim

form the name of Allah. All these things have the same implications and they

produce identical results under identical circumstances. Only the repetition

must not be a lip expression, but part of your very being.â€

 

(Harijan, 5-12-1946)

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Rama Nama in Nature cure

 

In the armoury of the nature curist, Rama Nama is the most potent weapon. Let no

one wonder at it. A noted ayurvedic physician told me the other day: 'all my

life I

have been administering drugs. But since you have prescribed Rama Nama as a

cure for physical ailments, it has occurred to me that what you say has, too,

the authority of Vagbhata and Charaka.'

 

The recitation of Rama Nama as a remedy for spiritual ailments is as old as the

hills. But the greater includes the less. And my claim is that the recitation of

Rama Nama is a sovereign remedy for our physical ailments also. A Nature-Cure

man won't tell the patient: 'Invite me and I shall cure you of your ailment.' He

will only tell about the all healing principle that is in every being and how

one can cure oneself by evoking it and making it an active force in his life. If

India could realize the power of that principle, not only would we be free but

we would be a land of healthy individuals, too – not the land of epidemics and

ill-health that we are today.

 

The potency of Rama Nama is, however, subject to certain conditions and

limitations. Rama

Nama is not like black magic. If some one suffers from surfeit and wants to be

cured of its after-effects so that he can again indulge himself at the table,

Rama Nama is not for him. Rama Nama can be used only for a good, never for an

evil end, or else thieves and robbers would be the greatest devotees. Rama Nama

is for the pure in heart and for those who want to attain purity, and remain

pure. It can never be a means for self-indulgence. The remedy for surfeit is

fasting, not prayer. Prayer can come in only when fasting has done its work. It

can make fasting easy and bearable. Similarly, the taking of Rama Nama will be a

meaningless farce when at the same time you are drugging your system with

medicines. A doctor who uses his talent to pander to the vices of his patient

degrades himself and his patient. What worse degradation can there be for man

that instead of regarding his body as an instrument of worshipping his Maker, he

should make it the object

of adoration and waste money like water to keep it going anyhow? Rama Nama, on

the other hand, purifies while it cures, and, therefore, it elevates. Therein

lies its use as well as its limitation.

 

(Harijan, 7.4.1946)

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We want healers of souls rather than of bodies. The multiplicity of hospitals

and medical men is no sign of civilization. The less we and others pamper our

body the better for us and the world

 

– Young India 29.9.1927

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Ramadhun

 

Gandhiji said that those who had some experience knew the power what the

Ramadhun, meaning recital of God's name from the heart, meant. He knew the power

what lakhs of soldiers marching in step to the tune of their band meant. The

desolation that the military prowess had wrought in the world, he who ran could

see. Though the war was said to have

ended, the aftermath was worse than actual warfare. Such was the bankruptcy of

military power.

 

Without the slightest hesitation he was there to content that the power exerted

by the Ramadhun recited by millions of mankind with true beat of time, was

different in kind from and infinitely superior to the display of military

strength. And this recital of God's name from the heart, would produce lasting

peace and happiness in the place of the present desolation, they witnessed.

 

(Harijan, 31.8.1947)

 

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" RAMA! RAMA! "

 

As Gandhiji passed through the cordoned lane through the prayer congregation, he

took his hands off the shoulders of the two girls to answer the namaskars of the

prayer congregation. All of a sudden some one from the crowd roughly elbowed his

way into the cordon from the right. Little Manu thinking that he was coming

forward to

touch his feet, remonstrated saying something about it being already late for

the prayer and tried to stop the intruder by holding his hand. He violently

jerked her off, causing the Ashram Bhajanavali and Bapu's spittoon and mala,

which she was carrying in her hands, to fall down. As she stooped down to pick

up the scattered things, he planted himself in front of Bapu at less than point

blank range – so close, indeed, that one of the ejected shells was afterwards

found caught among the folds of Bapu's clothes. Three shots rang out in quick

succession from the seven-chambered automatic pistol, the first shot entering

the abdomen on the right side two and a half inches above the umbilicus and

three and a half inches to the right of the mid line, the second penetrating the

seventh intercostal space one inch to the right of the mid line and the third on

the right side of the chest one inch above the nipple and four inches from the

mid line. The first and

the second shots passed right through and came out at the back. The third

remained embedded in the lung. At the first shot the foot that was in motion,

when he was hit, came down. He still stood on his legs when the second shot rang

out and then collapsed. The last words he uttered were " Rama Rama " .

 

(Harijan, 15.2.1948)

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Special! Sri Sri Swamiji's lecture video: New -- 'Ajamila Charitra'

 

Namadwaar

is pleased to bring to you the video of Sri Sri Swamiji's lecture on

'Ajamila Charitra' in connection with Navaratri Celebrations.

Click the link below and enjoy & also share this beautiful discourse with your

friends and relatives.

http://namadwaar.org/videos/internal/navaratri2009.php

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Regards & Chant The Maha mantra:

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

 

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Source: http://namadwaar.org/home.php