Thursday, June 12, 2014

How Nelson Mandela preserved his sanity through prison?


With the passing of Nelson Mandela, the world lost a very dear friend and statesman.  In Nelson Mandela was a world leader who respected Indian philosophy out  of love. We all know that Nelson Mandela was inspired by Gandhi.  There was another Indian, a spiritual master,  whom Nelson had held in  high regard that Nelson would bow down and pay stretch obeisances on  the floor ("dandavat pranaam") at his statue.

When a monk questioned how Nelson could complete the Sanskritic verses from Gita, "Nelson Mandela explained that he was imprisoned on Robbins Island along with some of his fellow leaders of their political party, the ANC. One of them was an Indian-bodied lawyer. The South African government tried to break them by giving them mindless labor and routine. Realizing that they needed to keep their minds actively engaged, the Indian lawyer taught Nelson Mandela Gita verses which they quoted and discussed back and forth to transcend their daily drudgery. Nelson Mandela told Maharaja that learning the Gita helped keep him sane and did much to infuse his view of the world and his strategies for bringing independence and a better future for the South African people.

  There was a temple in South Africa setup by this spiritual master or his disciples. "When Mr. Mandela visited our temple the first time (he came several times thereafter as well) he, with dignity and humility bowed before the spiritual master."  Mr. Mandela had participated in public road-shows of the temple while he was president of the nation.

This spiritual master was an ardent Indian nationalist in 1920's when he met his spiritual master who convinced him that preaching the philosophies born out of India to the world is a better service to India.


sincerely,
 --sudhakar

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