M. K. Gandhi (popularly known in India as “Mahatma”, “The Great Soul”) would have turned one hundred and forty-eight years of age this October 2^nd.  A frail, short person clad in a loose Indian garment, Gandhi led the India’s Freedom Struggle against the British Empire and experimented on truth and non-violence in his life.  Gandhi’s spirit became a beacon of hope for millions in the world giving way to freedom and self-determination to people everywhere.  Martin Luther King in the US and Nelson Mandela is South Africa carried on the torch fighting against segregation and apartheid and succeeded. 

Gandhi had special connection to New England through the writings of Ralph Aldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau.   Though he independently conceived the political movement he called “Satyagraha”, “the association of Truth”, he admired Thoreau’s analysis in the essay “Civil Disobedience” once it came to his attention.  Emerson’s conviction on positive thinking was possibly the seed in forming Gandhi’s philosophy and practice in life.  Gandhi succeeded in transforming a nation of half a billion people to express in a struggle in a path of nonviolence while silently suffering through the acts of civil disobedience.

India Discovery Center in collaboration with The First Parish in Lincoln will host a Gandhi Memorial Event in Lincoln Public Library on Sunday, October 15, from 2 PM to 4:30 PM.  The topic for discussion will be “Gandhi and Civil Disobedience”.  Dr. C. Gopinath, a Gandhian scholar and Professor at Suffolk University, Boston; Rev. Manish Misra-Marzetti, the Senior Minister at the First Parish in Lincoln; and Poet Dr. Sajed Kamal, the Social Activist and Educatorwill lead the discussion.  The event is free and everyone is invited to participate.  Please contact Chandu Shah at 781-983-4941 or Bijoy Misra at 781-259-0029 for any further information.  

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