By IANS
Chandigarh : For students and teachers of a few departments of Panjab University here, Tuesday was a different day when they encountered an ‘Americanised’ version of the father of the nation, Mahatma Gandhi.
When peace activist Bernie Meyer, dhoti clad, bespectacled and with a stick – just like Mahatma Gandhi – walked through the corridors of the arts block of the campus here, scores of teachers and students came out to greet him. Some looked at him in awe and others with reverence as if the real Mahatma had appeared before them.
Bernie resembled the Mahatma in dress, physique, mannerism and walking style, and greeted and smiled at everyone.
Bernie, 69, was in the city at the invitation of a local non-government organization ‘Yuvsatta’. He interacted with students of various departments – quoting Gandhi’s teachings and philosophy extensively. “Gandhiji said that the Earth can meet our needs but not our greed,” Bernie told the attentive students.
Though Bernie himself studied engineering and philosophy, he said he was totally convinced since the days of Martin Luther King that “Gandhism” is the only anti-dote to the global destruction of earth and nature.
“Simplicity, hard work, truthfulness, and achievement of peace and harmony are some of the basic Gandhian values and goals to be nurtured by everyone,” Bernie said in his interaction with the students.
The ‘American Gandhi’ said he had gone to jail many a time in the US on various issues and registered strong protests even against the American aggression of Iraq. His mode of protests, like the Mahatma, was completely peaceful and non-violent.
“Spinning wheel is not simply a tool of spinning thread; it epitomizes the entire philosophy of nature-friendly living. Gandhism is not an armchair philosophy simply to be believed; it is a philosophy to be practiced in everyday life,” Bernie pointed out.
Giving his own example of kitchen gardening, in order to throw challenge to the market-based consumerism, he urged young students to say goodbye to rash materialism and try to be self-sufficient.
He particularly criticized capitalism for its massive air and water pollution through emissions and effluents. He also pointed out that in order to prove his point of simple living, he walked 700 km within 71 days in USA.
He also highlighted the looming dangers of nuclearisation- both for arms and power generation, and the damage that greenhouse gases would cause to the earth.