Maulana Wahiduddin Khan | Speaking Tree Website | Monday, January 20, 2014

Mahatma Gandhi spent twenty years in South Africa. In June 1893, he had to undertake a trip to Pretoria in the Transvaal, a journey which took him to Pietermaritzburg. There, Gandhi took his seat in a first-class compartment, since he had purchased a first-class ticket. The railway officials ordered him to remove himself to the van compartment, since non-whites were not permitted in first-class compartments. Gandhi protested and produced his ticket, but was warned that he would be forcibly removed if he did not make a gracious exit. As Gandhi refused to comply with the order, he was pushed out of the train, and his luggage was tossed out on to the platform in the extremely bitter cold of the winter. About this experience Mahatma Gandhi says that it "changed the course of my life."

This event was a clear case of apartheid. In later years Gandhi became a champion of anti-apartheid movement, which was an important part of his freedom struggle that started in 1920. Although his experience was violent in nature, but his response was positive. He adopted non-violence as a method for his anti-apartheid campaign.

This is not only the example of Mahatma Gandhi, it points towards the capacity of man. Man is able to maintain his positive mind in any situation. He can manage all kinds of negative experiences, he is able to convert a negative experience into a positive one. This is the art of emotion management, and emotion management is the greatest secret of success.