Quote of the Day – Mohandas Gandhi on Marriage

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Marriage is not only not a necessity but positively a hindrance to public and humanitarian work.
– Mohandas Gandhi, quoted in Great Soul by Joseph Lelyveld p.80

Alas, if only the Mahatma had come upon this great wisdom before his marriage he wouldn’t have put his family through so much stress.

Greatness often extracts a heavy price, sadly not from the great one but from those around the personality. Most often, it’s the family that pays the price. History is replete with examples.

Besides Gandhi, the other ‘great’ figure that quickly comes to mind is the Georgian monster and Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. Like with Gandhi, the dictator’s family, particularly the wife and sons, paid a heavy price.

Related Stories:
Great Soul by Joseph Lelyveld – Chapter 3; Before he Became Mahatma, Gandhi was a Racist Swine
Great Soul by Joseph Lelyveld – Chapter 2
Great Soul by Joseph Lelyveld – Chapter 1
OMG, Was Gandhi an AC/DC?

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6 Responses to "Quote of the Day – Mohandas Gandhi on Marriage"

  1. Aswin_Kini   April 27, 2011 at 6:31 am

    SI Wrote: “Greatness often extracts a heavy price, sadly not from the great one but from those around the personality. Most often, it’s the family that pays the price.”
    Very well said SI, couldn’t have said it better. History is indeed replete with such examples.

    The thing that I like about this book is that the title sounds like a PERFECT OXYMORON. While, the book is titled the Great Soul, I see that most of the chapters have been covering about the NOT-SO GREAT deeds of the so-called Mahatma Gandhi. Is this just a coincidence or was the author sarcastic while naming his book?

    I guess if we delve deeper into the personal lives of some great people, we may find that they weren’t that great after all.

    Or, perhaps Greatness itself is an overrated virtue?

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    1. Lelyveld is indeed sarcastic. That’s alright.

    2. You write: Or, perhaps Greatness itself is an overrated virtue?

    This ideal and worship of Greatness indulges the craving of vast millions for a life different from their humdrum existences.

  2. முனிAndy   April 28, 2011 at 5:45 pm

    Bizarre.. is more of chapter 3 cumming?

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    Chapter 4, the AC/DC chapter next. 😉

    Been beri bizee with some other stuff. Hence the delay.

  3. rama dasa   April 30, 2011 at 9:14 pm

    homer a. jack wrote a book called”The Gandhi Reader” that occupies a place somewhere in one of my many book containers….I personally didnt like it but someone(one of our fellow readers???) might find it interesting.

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    The more we read about Mohandas, the less endearing we find him.

  4. rama dasa   May 1, 2011 at 12:59 pm

    an interesting story of dwarka and IVC (indus valley civilization)

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Wlx_-daGLE&feature=related

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    Watched. Interesting.

    So, did Sanskrit develop endogenously and not come with the Aryans?

    • rama dasa   May 1, 2011 at 2:37 pm

      wendy talks about that in her book,but from what i understand there was no aryan invasion and yes it most likely was developed by the early scholars of the ivc

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