ARUN GHANDI:
SUMMARY OF SPEECH GIVEN TO THE INTERNATIONAL LEADERSHIP ASSOCIATION'S ANNUAL CONFERENCE, NOVEMBER 15, 2002

Summarized by Herb Rubenstein
President and Founder, Herb Rubenstein Consulting

Introduction

Arun Ghandi is the grandson of Mahatma Ghandi. He works to promote world peace through the teachings of leadership and non – violence. He has identified 200 categories of leadership including, the category he promotes, “Moral Leadership.”

His favorite story regarding Mahatma Ghandi is that his grandfather for most of his early career could not speak in public. He was sent by his family at great expense to England to study to be a lawyer and when he returned he set up his law practice. However, more often than not, when he was called upon by the Judge to speak on behalf of his client, he could not get the words out of his mouth and he would leave the courthouse embarrassed and would have to give his clients their money back. His efforts at being a lawyer in India failed miserably.

Mahatma then went to South Africa to live. He was on a train and sitting in first class at a time when no one other that those with white skin were allowed to ride in first class. A man came up to him, a fellow passenger, and told him that he could not sit in first class since he was not white. Ghandi showed the man his ticket for a first class berth. The man said his ticket did not matter. Ghandi told him that he was not moving and told the man, “You do whatever you think is right.” The other passenger went to get the security force for the train. The security force then took Mr. Ghandi and his luggage off of the train. Ghandi did not resist with force and on that day began to work even harder to put his principles of non-violent resistance into practice.

Throughout Ghandi’s life he resisted the many efforts of his people to use force and violence to fight the British occupying and brutal force. Ghani consistently preached that non-violent action can be very powerful, especially when one is taking the offensive in political action, but can also be powerful when taking defensive positions.

Relevance Today of Ghandi’s Teachings of Non-Violence

Ghandi believed that acts of violence result in creating societies and cultures that become based on exploitation whether it is social, economic or political exploitation. Ghandi’s view was that all relationships must be based on four key principles.

• Integrity
• Understanding
• Acceptance
• Appreciation

Ghandi believed that we all are interrelated, interconnected as people. Humans are not masters of creation. We do not own it, we are only part of it. Ghandi believed there were seven basic evils in the world. They are:

1. Wealth without work
2. Pleasure without conscience
3. Knowledge without character
4. Commerce without morality
5. Science without humanity
6. Worship without sacrifice
7. Politics without principles
   
   Arun Ghandi has added one more:
8. Rights without responsibilities

The Impact of Violence

Arun Ghandi stated that every time we kill an innocent person, we create 100 terrorists using violent methods to resolve conflicts. This causes the society that killed the innocent person to have to again escalate its capacity for violence to overcome the people who are devoting themselves to find ways to attack the other using violence.

Arun Ghandi’s basic theme of the speech was that revenge is bad. No one should act violently as a result of anger. Ghandi’s goal is to change human behavior. He then asks the question, “Is Human Nature violent?” He believes the answer is “No.”

Arun Ghandi believes that the US is using the 9/11 World Trade Center attack to gain power and that President Bush and the government have invested substantial time and resources to arouse the emotions of the American people to support that aim. By the actions President Bush is taking, Ghandi believes he is actively seeking to capitalize on this event and channel the anger of US people into violent actions by the United States.

Arun Ghandi recognizes that it is human nature to be angry. The goal of leaders should be to channel the anger into positive action, to become better than the people who perpetrate violence. A leader must tap into the energy of anger, but not lead it down the usual path of violence.

Arun Ghandi says that the worst development of the Bush administration is the concept of “Preemptive War,” which may be adopted by many countries and destabilize the world. Ghandi says that the purpose of every leader is to look for the welfare of all of the people, not just those in his or her immediate family, society, culture or country.

Mission and Purpose

Arun Ghandi says we are all here for a purpose. We are part of a bigger picture. Justice, not punishment, must be the guiding principle in dealing with aggression. Justice does not mean revenge; Punishment is simply another word for control which manifests itself first in physical form toward the immediate person who is being punished, but more pervasively it controls via creating and fostering fear among all of the others who do not get directly punished. Leaders must become the change what they want to create. Leaders must ask people to do what they should do; not more. We have to live a life showing what we want others to learn and be the example fo r all people to follow.

Arun Ghandi asked the audience to stop labeling people. We are all human beings behind these labels and must appreciate our humanity in conjunction with everyone else’s humanity. Humanity must not be divided by labels or false categories.

Mahatma Ghandi, in spite of his very busy schedule, spent one hour per day with his grandson – Arun teaching him. Mahatma Ghandi demanded that no person “kill” time. Ghandi could always, account for every minute of every day he spent. He.was always working on purpose, always accountable for every moment he spent.

Two Stories

Mahatma Ghandi made money by selling his autograph. Arun wanted one for free, but in spite of all of the devious efforts by Arun, he could never get one for free. Mahatma charged him just like everyone else for his autograph.

Second, Mahatma Ghandi had an uncle who was known for him amazing ability to help people. There was a young boy, a family member who was ill, and the doctor told him and his family that eating candy was making him ill. The doctor told him that in order not to become sick, he could never eat candy again. The family instructed the child not to eat candy. The family, however, continued to eat candy, but was stern with the child in their admonishment of the child not to eat candy.

The child would not eat candy for days, but over time the child would sneak some candy. The family did not know what to do as the child became sicker and sicker. They went to the uncle and asked him to talk with the boy and convince him not to eat candy. The uncle said, “Come back in 15 days.” The family insisted, “Please see our son today and tell him not to eat candy.” The uncle said “No, I will see him in 15 days.”

Fifteen days went by and the family and the boy came to the uncle. The boy and the uncle went into the study for just one minute. They came out. Neither said anything about what they talked about. The uncle said everything would be all right with the boy. The boy never ate candy again. After a year, the family went to the uncle and asked, “What did you say to the boy?”

The uncle replied that “What he said did not make any difference.” The family was puzzled and then asked, “Why did you make us wait 15 days to have our son see you when you only saw him for one minute?” The uncle replied, “I had to quit eating candy myself before I could see him again and before I could ask him to quite eating candy.”

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