International Day Of Non-Violence (Gandhi Jayanti or Gandhi Birth Anniversary) : History, Significance, and Quotes

October 2 is celebrated annually by the United Nations as the International Day of Non-Violence. Mahatma Gandhi gave the world the philosophy of non-violence or Ahimsa. It was Mahatma Gandhi’s firm belief that only a nonviolent movement can achieve the great goal of freedom. “Nonviolence is the greatest force available to mankind. It is more powerful than the most powerful weapon of destruction devised by human ingenuity,” Mahatma Gandhi said.

The United Nations General Assembly, in a resolution of June 15, 2007, commemorated the anniversary of the birth of Mahatma Gandhi as the International Day of Non-Violence. The UN said the goal of the day is “to spread the message of non-violence, including through education and public awareness.”

Mahatma Gandhi & the struggle for non-violence

The call of Mahatma Gandhi transcends the boundaries of race, faith, and nation-states, and has emerged because of the prophetic voice of the twenty-first century. The global recollects Gandhi now no longer only for his passionate adherence to the exercise of non-violence and preferred humanism, however because of the benchmark in opposition to which we take a look at people in public life, political thoughts and authorities policies, and the hopes and needs of our shared planet.

The life and leadership of Mahatma Gandhi

Gandhi, who helped lead India to independence, has been the muse for non-violent moves for civil rights and social trust throughout the world. Throughout his life, Gandhi remained dedicated to his notion of non-violence even below oppressive situations and withinside the face of apparently insurmountable challenges.

The concept in the back of his actions, which blanketed encouraging huge civil disobedience to British regulation as with the ancient Salt March of 1930, changed into that “simply method results in simply ends”; that is, it’s far irrational to attempt to use violence to obtain a nonviolent society. He believed that Indians should now no longer use violence or hatred of their combat for freedom from colonialism.

Definition of Non-Violence

The principle of non-violence — additionally called non-violent resistance — rejects the usage of bodily violence for you to acquire social or political change. Often defined as “the politics of everyday people”, this shape of social battle has been followed via way of means of mass populations everywhere in the globe in campaigns for social justice.

Culture of Peace and Non-violence

Establishing a lifestyle of peace and sustainable improvement is on the coronary heart of UNESCO’s mandate. Training and studies in sustainable improvement are many of the priorities, in addition to human rights education, abilities for nonviolent relations, proper governance, Holocaust remembrance, the prevention of war, and peace building.

Mahatma Gandhi’s quotes on non-violence

• “Ahimsa is the strongest force known” 
• “Ahimsa is my God, and Truth is my God” 
• “Truth and ahimsa will never be destroyed” 
• “Ahimsa and love are one and the same thing” 
• “Ahimsa is not a matter of mere dialectics: it transcends it” 
• “The removal of untouchability is one of the highest expressions of ahimsa” 
• “Ahimsa means infinite love, which again means infinite capacity for suffering” 
• “The scriptures of Christians, Mussalmans and Hindus are all replete with the teaching of ahimsa”
• “Ahimsa and Truth are so intertwined that it is practically impossible to disentangle and separate them”  
• “Ahimsa is an attribute of the brave. Cowardice and ahimsa don’t go together any more than water and fire” 
• “Whatever strength the masses have is due entirely to ahimsa, however imperfect or defective its practice might have been”