Earth Ethics of M.K. Gandhi with Teachings from Holy Mother Amma: an Introduction

Submitted by Wise Earth on Mon, 09/27/2010 - 00:00

 

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To read this book was a blessing in disguise for me. It has thrown light on so many aspects of knowledge that are near to my heart. It awoke positive energy within me. It was an opportunity. This is the way I like to use my time.  (Ms. S. Rajasubramanian, India - Amritapuri Resident.)
Two great souls – one light bearer, one enlightened. Herein are oceans to imbibe about what is most important to us all – how to live in peace and joy with ourself, with others and with the Earth. Compiled and commented as it is, with so much love, knowledge and understanding, reading this book is an outstanding experience.  (Kerstin Utas, Sweden - Initial Working Group, Humana People to People.)
India, Gandhi, and Amma have provided unique contributions to worldwide earth ethics.  Their contributions are well worth reading—and contemplating.  We are indebted to Kamala for having made them available.  (Dr. Joseph Elder, Professor of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, USA.)

Earth Ethics are the Universal Ideals that light our way into building a humane civilization in harmony with Mother Earth.  With analogies, parables, anecdotes, and photographs, this book brings to light ethics which, while blindingly relevant like the air we breathe, are so obvious as to be forgotten.  It has been written and produced with love, and that grace-filled vibration embraces the reader who peruses its pages. 

 
 
Including:
  • India's awesome legacy as a spiritual teacher among nation souls;
  • Gandhi's tools for self-evolution;
  • Holy Mother Amma's (Mata Amritanandamayi) teachings bringing those tools to today;
  • Earth-Wise Economics;
  • Timeless guidance for successful Civil Disobedience;
  • Communities initiated by Gandhi and Amma to aid the individual and society in progressing towards ethical life.
In over 1000 pages, this book answers the needs of the seeker, the lay person, and the scholar alike, with extensive quotations from Gandhi and Amma and their detailed sources, chronologies, appendices, lexical and biographical glossaries, and an exhaustive index.
 
This book is the People's Manual for Earth Ethics; a seminal volume for the dawning global consensus on universal human values in the 21st Century.  
 
As a resident for 12 years in Holy Mother Amma's ashram in India, a mother, housewife, landscape artist, school teacher, gardener, dairy farm hand, soft sculpturer, composer, sanitation worker, animal rescuer, interior and fashion designer, writer, nursing assistant, civic activist on education and environmental conservation, and much more, Aunty Kamala (as Dr. P.K. Willey prefers to be known) offers genuine knowledge and scholarly insight to the universal ethics these remarkable leaders have taught and employed.  She writes with a literary voice that is comprehensive, yet easy to read and assimilate. 
 
Aunty Kamala is continuing her inquiry, and has many more (smaller) gems for us all, with two new publications in the works that will begin a series called: Earth Ethics of Gandhi and Holy Mother Amma: Practical Applications Volume 1 – M.K. Gandhi and My Hometown, Chaplin, Connecticut, USA and other Essays, and Volume 2 – Discovering the Penance of Speech.

Dr. Willey holds a Ph.D. in Educational Philosophy from the University of Connecticut, USA.  Currently she is living in Sweden and working on a blueprint for children's education, suited to the realities and challenges that we face.  She is available to give talks and facilitate discussions on Earth-ethical life and can be contacted via http://earthethics.org.in/contact/PK_Willey

 

More about this book:

Divided into three cohesive parts, Part one begins the discussion of Earth ethical ideals by introducing these two great world teachers, placing Gandhi in the historical context of his time and the contemporary woman saint, Holy Mother Amma in hers. India's unique contributions for the development of a humane civilization are unveiled through her scriptural legacy and Vedic culture, the varna and ashrama systems, with candid observations of India's failures in living up to her own ideals as well as guidelines from Gandhi and Amma for the challenges facing marriage and ethical family life today.

Part two delves into the awareness, practices and vows that Gandhi held, including Gandhi's successes (and self-admitted failures) with Brahmacharya, which enabled him to touch the moral fibers that sustain the universe, and use their power.  Holy Mother Amma's authoritative teachings add enlightened depth to his means to actualize these ideals.  Gandhi's principles regarding democracy, moral economics, and the relations between capital and labour demonstrate their potential for world wide applications. His means for social reform and transformation using Satyagraha and the Fast clarify the essentials of these two great weapons for activists. 

Part three portrays for the first time, an examination of Gandhi's community work in South Africa and India as working arenas for personal growth and education into Earth ethical life.  The ideals for education and community development that Gandhi gave, provide guidelines for future community or ashram development using these principles. Amma's community in Amritapuri shows these concepts applied to global service. The expansion of the individual, to the community, to nation states, and India's role in guiding humanity for earth justice, concludes the book. 

This book holds something useful and inspiring for everyone who picks it up.

Find This Book

From our distributors:

India / Worldwide: Order online from Bibliophile South Asia (US $ 40, including shipping)

From Online Bookstores:

Book Details

xliii / 943p (43 Chapters) / Appendices (42p) / Glossaries (46p) / Endnotes / Bibliography / Index (52p)

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Comments

Submitted by PK Willey on Sun, 01/20/2013 - 21:51.

From Robert Smith, Catholic Worker Movement, Iowa

Greetings! My copy of "Earth Ethics" arrived in the mail a few days ago... perhaps the first copy in Iowa! This book is absolutely stunning! P. Kamala Willey: you have done an incredible service to the future of humanity: I've been reading and studying Gandhi since my junior year in high school (just a few years ago!) and this is by far the very best book on Gandhi that I have ever come across (with the added blessing of Holy Mother Amma on nearly every page). A direct transmission is here: spirituality / politics / economics / nonviolence / direct action / service / meditation / intentional community and on and on... I am hopeful that this book will become a "textbook" for every intentional community of the future: a roadmap to a world worthy of our children is here. (One need not agree with every one of either Gandhi's or Amma's opinions -- I don't -- but that is what makes this book so rich, important, and beautiful: this is a life companion: just like Gandhi and Amma). Thank you! -- Robert Smith

Submitted by Wise Earth on Thu, 04/05/2012 - 18:37.

From Dr. Harikumar, Chief Reporter, Matrubhumi Daily

This book changed many of my notions about both Gandhi and Amma.

I am eager to read [Dr. P.K. Willey's] new works. Praying to God to give more strength and good health to her to write more and more.

Submitted by Wise Earth on Fri, 03/16/2012 - 15:24.

From Morgana Washington, founder of Welcome Home Sanctuary

Is there any hope for the people of this world and their future on Planet Earth? Before reading this book, I had little hope.

But the easy to read and compelling EARTH ETHICS has changed my mind and more importantly, my heart. By examining the Earth Ethics of both Gandhiji and Holy Mother Amma, Willey has spread before us a bountiful feast of love and hope, based in the wisdom of two of the world’s most important Karma-Yogis.

If you think there is no hope, if you think there is nothing you can do to sway what seems like the inevitable loss of Earth and all her children, if you have been yearning to feel love, deep unselfish love and a giving heart, you MUST read EARTH ETHICS.

Morgana Washington, Founder Welcome Home Sanctuary Inc.; Veteran Wildlife Rehabilitator; and Priestess of Avalon, Carey, NY

Submitted by PK Willey on Tue, 01/10/2012 - 20:50.

From Tai West, J.D., yoga teacher, Oregon, USA

Astoundingly comprehensive in its scope, Earth Ethics incorporates the ethical guidance of two Great Souls in a way that is at once inspiring and thought-provoking.

The book's concise yet thorough classification of the spiritual literature of Sanathana Dharma (Hinduism) is well worth reading as a starting point for any student of yoga who wishes to go beyond the very basics included in most modern yoga trainings.

Submitted by Wise Earth on Sun, 11/13/2011 - 16:04.

From Rafael Myskja, Oslo, Norway

My father [Dr. Audun Myskja, MD] saw the book and admired the academic yet accessible nature of the work.

Really looking forward to listen to the whole Become Love album, and
the Pranaam book looked very honest and great, surely must be a book to cherish, not instead of, but in addition to...

[Dr. Audun Myskja runs the Center for Life Help and integrated medicine in Norway: http://www.livshjelp.no/]

Submitted by Wise Earth on Sun, 11/13/2011 - 15:49.

From Lena Eriksson, Humana Teacher's Group, Enkoping, Sweden

I am reading your book and can only join in with what Dr Joseph Elder says: we are indebted to Kamala for having made India, Gandhi and Amma available to us.

I find so much to contemplate, reading it, which I would not easily have come across otherwise - if ever.

I am thinking of people I know to whom I can introduce Earth Ethics to.

Submitted by Wise Earth on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 13:46.

From Kapil Rawal, Navajivan (Gandhi's own press!)

Mr. [] has presented a copy of the Earth Ethics to us when he visited Ahmedabad last month. The book is excellent in all the aspects. Presentation of views expressed in a very lucid language will attract the readers to read it again and again. When the flow of words comes from the heart it helps the reader to understand, accept and try to follow the views expressed in the work. I congratulate and thank you for your contribution in betterment of humanity.