Gandhiji was a strict observer of pledged
rituals. He wrote, “One can’t lead life simply by observing rituals. The
rituals are useful only if one keeps praising God incessantly. One can also
gain strength by reading about the lives of noble people.” If someone tries
to find out about the idols this nobleman worshipped himself, it will
certainly benefit the readers. Yet, we would better try to now about some of
his Icons from his ‘Autobiography’.
An infant gets to know this world through his
mother. Gandhiji has sketched his mother Putlibai’s profile in a few words
only. “My mother was a saintly, religious minded woman. She would staunchly
observe the hardest of religious rituals and won’t give them up even if she
was not keeping well. About Karamchand Gandhi, he writes, “My father was a
family oriented man, truth loving, brave, generous but indignant. Still he
was passionate about certain things. His achievements were based on his
experiences. He was extremely practical in his dealings. He would delve deep
to find out the cause of even the minutest things. He also had a knack of
dealing with thousands of people.”
The third person who influenced Gandhi as a
child was Rambhabai, his nanny. Young Mohan was afraid of ghosts. Rambha
suggested that the surest way to evade them was to say ‘Ramnam’. Mohan
revered Rambha more than ‘Ramnam’. This seed of Ramnam sown in the childhood
spread its roots deep enough. Gandhiji effectively used the strength it
generated till the end of his life, because it was a sapling planted by
Rambhabai.