One who lives receives

One who lives receives

1991 9 September 7 One who lives receives (34) “Every day, two angels visit the servants of God on earth. One of them prays: “Lord, reward those who spend,” while the other prays, “Lord, destroy the wealth of those who withhold.”

(AI-Bukhari Muslim)

Vital preparation

1991 9 September 7 Vital preparation (279) The film on Gandhiji made by Richard Attenborough became extremely popular, principally because British actor, Ben Kingsley, who played the title role, took such pains to look and act exactly like the Mahatma. In order to get the part just right, Kingsley underwent extraordinary hardships. Accustomed off-screen to a royal life-style, and keeping a table which boasts more varieties of food than our nawabs and rajas ever had, Kingsley now embarked on a life of semi starvation, and that, too, over quite a long period of time.

It was no mean feat to present the image of the thin, lean ascetic, striding along, staff in hand. Only by almost starving did Kingsley manage to shed the necessary seven kilograms of body weight before appearing on the screen. This same tough course was adopted by the Maharashtrian actress who played the part of Kasturba Gandhiji’s wife.

Although playing a part in a film or a stage production is an arduous experience, it is a much harder struggle to play the real-life role of a leader of the people. Yet we repeatedly find the strange phenomenon of a ‘leader’ entering the field of leadership without any special preparation whatsoever.

For his role in the film, Kingsley almost had to kill himself physically in order to give of his best; in that hardest of all tasks, the guidance of a nation, a true leader has to kill the self, the ego. Where Kingsley had to shed body weight, the leader has to shed the dead weight of his own egoism.

Those who enter the field of national leadership without due preparation should be regarded not as leaders, but as posturers and deceivers.