Gandhiji On Christmas

What were Mahatma Gandhi's thoughts on Christmas? His Christmas message, simple and succinct, can be accessed on the website dedicated to the Father of the Nation. The report stated that on Christmas day 1931, as Gandhiji was returning by sea to India from the Second Round Table Conference in London, he was asked by Christian passengers on the vessel to give them a talk. Mahatma Gandhi's message had these thoughts, among others:

Referring to a hymn sung by those on board the ship, Gandhiji said, "though we sang, "All glory to God on High and on the earth be peace,' there seems to be today neither glory to God nor peace on earth. As long as it remains a hunger still unsatisfied, as long as Christ is not yet born, we have to look forward to Him. When real peace is established, we will not need demonstrations, but it will be echoed in our life, not only in individual life, but in corporate life.

Then we shall say Christ is born. That to me is the real meaning of the verse we have sung. Then we will not think of a particular day in the year as that of the birth of the Christ, but as an ever-recurring event which can be enacted in every life… It consists of the living of life, never ceasing, ever progressing towards peace...And unless one wishes for peace for all life, one cannot wish for peace for oneself."

Gandhiji went on to say that one cannot have peace unless there is in one "an intense longing for peace all around." His sage words ring true eighty-eight years after they were spoken.