3. Mahatma Gandhi and his Gurudev
Gandhi often fasted to get things done in his own way … [On one occasion] Gandhi took a vow that he would fast unto death. Tagore immediately said to his countrymen, having realised the gravity of Gandhi’s vow: “He has come after a thousand years. Shall we send him back empty-handed again?”Gandhi’s Gurudev, Rabindranath Tagore, once remarked: 12
"I differ with Gandhi in many respects, but admire and revere the man highly. In one aspect of life, at least, we see the difference between these two great souls. In renunciation Mahatma found his deliverance, while Tagore found his deliverance in the fruit of fulfilment. Tagore sings, Deliverance is not for me in renunciation, I feel the embrace of freedom in a thousand bonds of delight. The Upanishadic seers sing through the heart of Mahatma, Tena tyaktena bhunjita (Enjoy through Renunciation)."
RTM 100,3. Sri Chinmoy, “Mahatma Gandhi,” in Mother India’s Lighthouse, op. cit., pp. 88-90.↩
Sri Chinmoy, Rabindranath Tagore: the moon of Bengal’s Heart, Agni Press, 2011
