“I have found that life persists in the midst of destruction. Therefore there must be a higher law than that of destruction.” Mahatma Gandhi, “Autobiography of a Yogi.”
“The destiny of the United States is tied up with the destiny of India. We should help India preserve her soul and thus help to save our own.” Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
To hear the talks given on the lives of these two great souls go to:
Dr. Martin Luther King and Mahatma Ghandi Celebration from Ananda Washington on Vimeo.
Few people realize the connection between Gandhi and ML King. King was a follower of Gandhi. He visited India and met with Gandhi’s successors. In his first civil rights protest in Montgomery, Alabama, he made Gandhi and his teachings household word in the deep South!
As early as 1950, Dr. King recognized that the world was in a state of transition into a new age. In a speech he stated that we “are living in an age in which a new world order is being born….The present tension represent the necessary pains that accompany the birth of anything new…..The old order will not die without an effort and without working against it.” King’s realization fit neatly into the insights given us by Swami Sri Yukteswar (Yogananda’s guru) who stated that beginning around the year 1900, we have entered into a new age of energy and individual self-respect.
Like Gandhi who considered all nations his own and all peoples his brothers, King spoke out against foreign wars, namely, the Vietnam War. Not only did he eventually pay forfeit one year later with his life, but his stance cost him the support of fellow civil rights leaders, politicians, and fellow supporters of the civil rights movement.
The day before King’s assassination, testimony of friends and the words of his last impassioned public speech suggest that Rev. King had a profound spiritual experience in which he not only saw his own demise and the future freedom of his race but encountered redeeming “the glory of God.”
May the divine light shine upon you,
Nayaswami Hriman