Mahatma Gandhi touched and transformed the life of our people at so many points that he is rightly regarded as the Father of the Nation. A very good father indeed, he left us a rich legacy, spiritual and temporal. But we have been gradually disinheriting ourselves and today we feel morally poor and spiritually miserable.

If India and the world today are very different from those of Gandhiji's dreams, engulfed by violence and vitiated by an erosion of human values, we have none to blame but ourselves. For future betterment also, we have none to look to but ourselves, and we need do nothing more than apply in our day-to-day lives Gandhiji's primary tenets of self-reliance and social harmony, thinking globally and acting locally.

Leave alone the hand-spinning, austere-living syndrome dubbed as Gandhism. The broad lessons Gandhi taught boils down to self-reliance based on truth and non-violence, voluntary co-operation and an abiding concern for and service of the poor.

It is this overwhelming concern for the welfare of his fellow beings that drew Gandhiji into politics. As he says in his autobiography, "The seeker of truth cannot afford to keep out of any field of life."

The Mahatma clearly saw that war and militarism sprang from the iniquitous structure of the world and the resultant exploitation of man by man, where truth is the first casualty. This he found to be the direct result of modern, materialistic civilization, based and feeding itself on unethical exploitation of human as well as natural resources.

In today's headlong race through the 21st century, with technological revolution intertwined with spectres of violence, poverty and atomic filth, a steadfast Gandhian stance founded on truth and ahimsa, with an immediate concern for the welfare of the poor millions, poses pertinent questions and also presents cogent answers.

Gandhiji commended the following touchstone test for grand projects and plans undertaken by individuals, groups or governments: "Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man whom you may have seen and ask yourself if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him. Will he gain anything by it? Will it restore him to control over his own life and destiny? In other words, will it lead to swaraj for the hungry and spiritually starving millions?"

Can we usher in a world without war amidst the proliferation of missiles and megaton bombs? Should not the machine, mass media and technology subserve real human interests at every step instead of subtly crucifying men and women on the keyboard of the computer-age, where a few trigger-happy militarists could propel the globe to a star wars holocaust? What purpose is served by constantly pressing the economic apparatus into multiplying mass production of goods and services in the never-ending, ever-widening "pursuit of happiness", which, according to an American philosopher, "is turning into happiness of pursuit"?

Albert Einstein, 'Man of the Century' and whom "The Times" of London described as the 'embodiment of pure intellect', wrote: "It is my belief that the problem of bringing peace to the world on a supranational basis will be solved only by employing Gandhi's method on a large scale." More and more serious thinkers of the world today are coming round to this view. Let us hope that Gandhiji will come into his own in the 21st century when nuclear fission will yield place to a fusion between spirituality and science.