Nahari talks with Gandhi (from the 1982 movie, Gandhi)
There is an astonishing scene in the movie Gandhi where a Hindu man named Nahari commands Gandhi to “Eat!” The fasting Gandhi is starving, near death, but he refuses pressing for an end to violence. Nahari, overcome with emotion, cries out, “Eat! I am going to hell, but not with your death on my soul!”
Gandhi replies, “Only God decides who goes to hell.”
Nahari continues despairingly, “I . . . I killed a child . . . I smashed his head against a wall.”
“Why?” Gandhi asks.
Deeply distraught, Nahari replies, “They killed my son . . . my boy!” Nahari holds his hand out showing the height of his son. “The Muslims killed my son . . . they killed him.”
After an intense pause, Gandhi replies, “I know a way out of hell . . . Find a child . . . a child whose mother and father have been killed . . . A little boy . . . about this high . . . and raise him . . . as your own . . . Only be sure . . . that he is a Muslim. And that you raise him as one.”
Nahari almost leaves but then goes to his knees and breaks down sobbing. The divine seed within him is coming to life. Astonishingly, there is a way out of hell.
This story is not so much about Nahari, or about the faults of any people of the Indian subcontinent, or about the cruelty of Christian imperialism in India, or even about the violence or injustice or intolerance in today’s world. It is about me. How many times have I sought to get the better of a deal, killed the creativity in a child, scoffed at the wise thoughts of others, watched abhorrent videos, wasted the gifts of nature for my own convenience, discounted the needs of others, lashed out in anger, doubted the divine seed in others, failed to be generous, failed to forgive, placed myself above others, … In all these things, I have built up our insane violence, injustice, and politics.
But hell is not our only option. With God’s Infinite Gracious Mercy, we need add just a few ingredients: understanding, appreciation, justice, forgiveness, and love.
Similar to Nahari, we can raise our children and educate ourselves to understand and appreciate the ways of the Muslims, the ways of the Buddhists, the ways of the Hindus, the ways of the Christians, the ways of the Humanist, …
We can appreciate each person and each culture’s strengths and weaknesses, but we must not focus on the other’s weaknesses. It is by earnestly seeking solutions to own our faults, that we nourish the divine seed in others.
We all have needs. Justice for all is required. How we treat one person and how we neglect one person, is how we treat all humanity and how we neglect all humanity. Disrespect and injustice and violence, toward even the most despicable person, toward even the most unwanted person, toward the weak or the strong, toward our neighbor or stranger, … is intolerable.
I am guilty of these intolerable acts, yet I am forgiven and loved. There is hope, a way out of hell for everyone. Let us consider deeply and act today. Let us courageously hear the call to both a broader community and family.
