Activities were organised in Mauritius and abroad to mark the 138th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. His impact on humanity could best be described by the reaction to his death on this fatal 30th January 1948. The light this man of little size but of gigantic spiritual strength shed on civilization was felt by the heart-warming response from the then world leaders. Perhaps the most significant is from Professor Albert Einstein who described how ?Bapu? demonstrated ?that a powerful human following can be assembled not only through the cunning game of the usual political manoeuvres and trickeries but through the cogent example of a morally superior conduct of life?.

The world is going through a phase of massacre, genocide, terrorism and war. We are watching while civilization is tearing itself apart, while fighting for whatever you may call it - more land, more money, more "freedom", humans are killing each other at an alarming rate. No other species has ever killed its own as humans have done over the past century - over 100 million. The irony lies in the fact that this was the century that Mahatma Gandhi had walked on this earth and for the survival of humanity, as Allied forces General Douglas MacArthur said in 1948, all men cannot fail to eventually adopt Gandhi?s belief ?that the process of mass application of force to resolve contentious issue is fundamentally not only wrong but contains within itself the germs of self-destruction?.

Can his teachings answer the dramatic problems facing the planet today? While he had an intense spirituality, the Mahatma condemned inaction as the single most destructive force on earth. His message should not be lost on us. India?s Prime Minister of the time, Jawaharlal Nehru, said when Gandhi died that his light that he brought upon his nation would be felt by those who seek solace in the years to come. The message today is simple: transform yourself and see the impact it does on the world around you. A little positive change is always the best start to improvement. Gandhi believed that perfect renunciation - fully renouncing to anger - is impossible without perfect observance of non-violence.

During British rule of India, Gandhi quickly earned the hearts of his compatriots through numerous messages of peace. Gandhi said this in Bombay in 1917:

??We may no longer believe in the doctrine of ?tit for tat?; we may not meet hatred with hatred, violence with violence, evil with evil; but we have to make a continuous and persistent effort to return good for evil? Nothing is impossible.? Gandhi did not believe in tit for tat- what he advocated though is that diplomacy and morality should prevail over aggression at all times.

Admitting to a mistake is a quality often reserved to the very great and once, the Mahatma said that he always thought that ?it is only when one sees one?s own mistakes with a convex lens and does just the reverse in the case of others, that one is able to arrive at just a relative estimate of the two.?

Transformation and change were all along Mahatma Gandhi?s vision of life: they were two crucial ingredients to create advancement and peace. To-day, nations need to co-exist peacefully and fully co-operate to make the world less violent. However, it is often believed that a period of non-war equals to peace. Gandhi believed in something else- true peace which starts from the depth of every individual?s spirit and mind.

Reaz GHANTY