Prof. Dr. Yogendra Yadav Senior Gandhian Scholar Gandhi Research Foundation, Jalgaon, Maharashtra, India Contact No. – 09404955338, 09415777229 E-mail- [e-mail]; dr.yoge…

[Prof. Dr. Yogendra Yadav]

Prof. Dr. Yogendra Yadav

Senior Gandhian Scholar

Gandhi Research Foundation, Jalgaon, Maharashtra, India

Contact No. – 09404955338, 09415777229

E-mail- [e-mail];

[e-mail]

Mailing Address- C- 29, Swaraj Nagar, Panki, Kanpur- 208020, Uttar Pradesh, India

 

 

Some Don’ts- Mahatma Gandhi

 

 

When Mahatma Gandhi was living in South Africa, he saw Indian people had many bad habits. It was very bad. So he talked about it with his associates and Indian people. He worked a lot on this issue. Some Don’ts he published in his Indian Opinion also. They are:

1. Avoid, as far as possible, blowing your nose or spitting on swept or paved walks or in the presence of others. On hygienic grounds also, this rule is worth observing. Doctors say that sometimes serious diseases are caused by contact with the nasal or oral discharge of another. Dr. Murison has said that we often spread tuberculosis through our habit of spitting anywhere. Both these things should be done into a spittoon while at home, and into a handkerchief while out, and, as far as possible, in privacy.

2. One should not belch, hiccup, break wind, or scratch oneself in the presence of others. These maxims are useful for correct social behaviour. By practice one can learn to check one’s instinct to do any of these things.

3. If you want to cough, do so holding your handkerchief against the mouth. If one’s spittle gets blown on to others, it annoys them and if one has any disease, the spittle carries it to them.

4. Even after a bath, in many men, some dirt remains in the ears or under the nails. It is necessary to pare one’s nails and keep them as well as the ears clean.

5. Those who do not grow a regular beard should, if necessary, shave every day. An unshaven face is a sign of laziness or stinginess.

6. One should not let mucus accumulate in the corners of the eyes. One who allows this to happen is considered slothful and a sleepyhead.

7. Every act of cleaning the body should be done in privacy.

8. The turban or cap and the shoes should be clean. The life of the shoes is prolonged by cleaning and polishing.

9. Those who chew betel-leaf and nut should do so at fixed hours, as with other kinds of food so as to avoid giving the impression that we are eating all the time. Those who chew tobacco have a lot to think about. They disfigure every spot by spitting. Addicts to tobacco, as the Gujarati proverb goes, spoil the corner of the house where they chew tobacco, the whole house if they smoke and their clothes if they take snuff. These are rules for personal cleanliness. Later we shall write of those relating to the home and its environs.

 

References:

 

Indian Opinion, 2-2-1907