Gujarat Police looking for
“Mahadev Mangela”
Mahadev Mangela once settled all disputes with his fist. Today, he says: “From wanting to hurt, I’ve turned to healing. Now I realize the other is not the other, he is my brother.” The vehicle for his transformation is the Swadhyaya philosophy, which preaches the concept of the God within as the source of kinship between all mankind.
Through this noble philosophy, Mahadevbhai has flowered into an orator, poet, administrator and leader. He is also a key lieutenant of Swadhyaya. However, the most revolutionary change for this son of illiterate fisher folk has been his conversion to a priest, well versed with the Vedic rites for marriage, birth and death.
On the threshold of his first bhakti pheri (devotional tour) to South Africa, he says: “Dadaji (founder Pandurang S. Athawale) made me export quality.”
Mahadev Mangela Export quality product from Dadaji.
http://www.lifepositive.com/Mind/personal-growth/transformation/transformation2-article.asp#man
Mahadev Mangela, former strongman speaks to Suma Varughese
Nature has wrought Mahadev Mangela in imposing lines. His burly physique, well-cut features, massive dome of the head are stamped with power, resolute will, and driving purpose. A man destined to make a mark, for good or for bad. In Mangela’s case, both. A former dada (strongman) who settled all disputes with his fist, today, at the age of 45 he is a mellow blend of strength and gentleness.
“From wanting to hurt or hit, I have turned to healing. I never used to love people, but now I realize that the other is not other, he is my brother. Divine brother.” On his arrival in Mumbai, India, in 1975 for a job as a bank clerk, Mangela came into contact with the group and its founder, Pandurang Shastri Athavale. Behind him lay a backdrop of conflict and the assertion of might.
Born to a family of illiterate fisherfolk in Udwada, India, Mangela financed his way through school by working in a hotel at a monthly salary of Rs 5 and a bonus of Rs7. His standard response to injustice and exploitation of others was to resort to violence. As an ace cricketer, unfavourable calls on the field would provoke him to uproot the stumps and pulverize the umpire. His teachers and later, lecturers, were also victims of this rough and ready logic, as indeed, were his eight brothers.
“I would beat up anyone who said anything against my mother,” he laughs, white teeth gleaming against his brown face. Come election time, the village head would be who Mahadevbhai (as he is known) insisted upon, and woe betide the opponents. “I was so arrogant! People sighed with relief when I left,” he recalls. “Dadaji (as Athavale is customarily known) has Karl Marx ki kranti (Karl Marx’s revolution) and Himalayan shanti (peace),” he rhapsodises.
In a nutshell, the philosophy has converted the Bhagavad Gita into a socially transforming force by using its concept of an indwelling God to weld relationships between people regardless of caste, community and class. The presence of divinity is cited as cause for respect for the self and for others. This redemptive, noble philosophy has motivated 80,000 villages to live in peace and harmony, and has transformed millions of individuals, among whom Mahadevbhai is a striking example. “I changed from bill ki baat to dil ki baat (money-centered to heart-centered),” he says.
His modest one-bed-room apartment in the the distant Mumbai suburb of Vasai, where he lives with his wife, Kusumbhai, and daughter, Gita is clean and neat, but austerely furnished. “Earlier, I was ambitious. I too aspired for a fan, a sofa set. Through Dadaji, I discovered that the meaning of Home is harmony; and that O is for obedience, not ornaments, M is for man, not money, E is for emotion, not ego. Today my priorities have changed. For money, man converts his blood into water, and then uses that money to reconvert it into blood!”
Mahadevbhai has flowered into an orator, poet, administrator and leader. He heads the fishing community, whose membership runs into lakhs, and which forms one of the dominant groups in the movement. However, the most revolutionary of all changes has been his conversion to a priest—well-versed with the Vedic rites for marriage, birth and death.
Arguing that the sacred thread was not only for Brahmins, Dadaji initiated 200 fisherman into priesthood after giving them a one-month-long course in the Vedas. Mahadevbhai breaks into a mellifluous flow of Sanskrit slokas (verses) to illustrate his proficiency in the language. “Were it not for Dadaji I would have been at most a bank manager. Today, I can achieve anything in any field.” Poised on the threshold of his first bhakti pheri (devotional tour) abroad, to South Africa, he quips: “Dadaji made me export quality.”