On Feb. 29, 2012, Arun Gandhi, grandson of the late Indian Leader Mohandas K. Gandhi, spoke to a jam packed crowd in the Markosian Library at the Taylorsville Redwood Campus.
Arun Gandhi has been spreading his message of non-violence around the world for about 25 years. He was first inspired by his grandfather Mohandas Gandhi, who he was sent to live with in India at the age of twelve.
“We are not independent individuals but interdependent, interconnected and interrelated, not only as human beings, but as human beings with all of nature. It is only when we understand and respect that, will we know what our role… is in life,” says Arun Gandhi “Our role is not just to pass the time away from birth till death. Our role is a significant role we have to try to improve society, try to improve ourselves, and to create a world people will be happy to live in.”
Having positive healthy relationships is a very important part of the philosophy of non-violence. The four basic principles for building a positive relationship are respect, understanding, acceptance, and appreciation.
“Today relationships with each other are based on self-interest,” he says. “This leads to a very negative relationship…which can lead to conflict.”
He tells the story of how his grandfather taught him to write in an anger journal. His grandfather told him “every time you get angry don’t do something you will regret, but write a journal. Write the journal with the intention of finding a solution to the problem, then commit yourself to doing so.”
Arun says that finding a solution to the problem is the most important thing.
“Be careful not to just bring your anger out to the journal,” says Arun.
His grandfather was the first person who taught him how to “understand anger and use its energy positively.”
