num_pages: 336
description: As the quotation near the front of this book makes clear, Mahatma Gandhi conducted a good deal of his adult life – his "experiments with truth" – very much in the tradition and the manner of Gautama Buddha. Gandhi took the foundation of Buddha's revelation – his First Noble Truth, that life is fraught with pain and suffering, from birth to death – and turned it inward in a unique and deeply creative manner. In his article, The Gandhian Bridge Between Heaven and Earth (in Hermes, January 1988) Prof. Iyer makes clear what should be an obvious connection to the student of Gandhi's life and thought, but is – remarkably – hardly noticed by many chroniclers of Gandhi. Even to the diligent student of Gandhi, this connection is difficult to grasp, as it is frequently understood only in an external sense. One can readily grasp that life brings suffering to every incarnated being, but it requires a profound revolution in consciousness to understand the necessity to actively choose suffering as a means of self-purification and the means by which an "enemy" might be purged of enmity, opposition, and violence.  In these essays, Prof. Iyer returns again and again to a central theme found in many of his writings, that the recognition of those Beings who have far transcended the neophyte stages of Buddhi Yoga is a powerful purifier for the minds and hearts of the neophyte, that there are men and women who are perfected in the power of Buddhi Yoga, ceaselessly ideating and meditating, yoked to the good of the whole of Humanity. These beings comprise the sacred Fraternity of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, who exemplify above all else perfection in mental devotion and skill in action. The sacrificial work of these beings makes it possible for those caught in the realm of Samsara to purify themselves. Like the Himalayas, they are immovable in relation to their devotion to the Self of All.
language: English
title: Mahatma Gandhi and Buddha's Path to Enlightenment
publisher: Theosophy Trust Books