Baba Amte's Words of Wisdom:

[ Baba, In His Own Words: ]

On Anandwan
"After about six weeks when we were about 34 feet down, the rock was becoming a little moist. It was in May; the temperature ran to 47 degrees Celsius in the shade. Inside the hole it was fearfully hot. Then a bee followed by a butterfly came to the moisture. Two days later when we arrived in the morning we found a frog happily sitting in the puddle of water between the stones. Three days later water came through in abundance. We worshipped the water with white flowers and milk. Then for the rest of the day we sat by our well just staring delightedly at the water. Now we had reason to be hopeful into the future."

On Christ
"I haven't the arrogance to say I can carry the mighty load of His Cross, but I do try to walk in its shadow. He wants to carve your life like a crucifix. Every calamity is a crucifixion, crucifying your ambition, your lust. Each is a tiny lesson, and then the imprint of the crucifixion is on your life. What is your plan of sacrifice today? You and I, petty souls, sacrifice for our children. Christ sacrificed for tomorrow's whole world. Whenever I see slum-dwellers, with their hunger and poverty, that obscene poverty, I feel He is crucified like that. When I come across a person suffering from leprosy, foul smelling, ulcerous, I can see the imprint of His lips, His kiss. What did they not do to sufferers of leprosy in His time, yet the carpenter's son cared for them and touched them. That hand is an emblem for me, that hand which cared for the loneliest and the lost. The Christian is ... he who not only lights the darkest corner in the world but also the darkest corner in his own heart. "

On Community Living
"Charity Destroys; Work Builds."

"I believe as a society we have to evolve, through experimentation, a system which combines the principles of individual freedom and common ownership. And this is what we have tried, basically with success, in all our projects, involving leprosy patients, tribal people and the so-called 'disabled' persons."

"Consider the honey-bee. Its treasure is nectar, obtained even from the chilly plant. It is not at the cost of the flower. In fact, its act of extracting honey contributes to the progress of the flowers. You need not learn from Kahlil Gibran, Marx or Gorbachev, not even from Gandhi-ji. Choose instead to learn your lesson from the honey bees as your silent partners: they will show you how to develop without destroying."

On Fear
"I have never been frightened of anything. Because I fought British tommies to save the honor of an Indian lady, Gandhiji called me 'abhay sadhak', a fearless seeker of truth. When the sweepers of Warora challenged me to clean gutters, I did so. But that same person who fought goondas and British bandits quivered in fright when he saw the living corpse of TuIshiram, no fingers, no clothes, with maggots all over. That is why I took up leprosy work. Not to help anyone, but to overcome that fear in my life. That it worked out good for others was a by-product. But the fact is I did it to overcome fear."

On Leadership
"Those who do monumental work don't need monuments."

"The new leadership in India is taking shape quietly, without any drum beating through the newspapers. ... Various centers, the centers of energy and strength in the life of society are gaining tremendous momentum. May be, the surging new generation of today appears to have lost its bearing, to have lost its soul. But it is absolutely certain that one day it will have its own leader and prophet.... I am absolutely confident that the phoenix of a new leadership is rising from the ashes of all its failure. Soon the world will witness the lightning hidden in its beak and the storm hidden in its wings."

On Leprosy
"Joy is more infectious than leprosy."

On Politics & Politicians
Baba says, "Our governance is by a gerontocracy. This cataract of history can only be removed by youth. In this common man's century, only the common man can change the profile of this country." Baba draws an analogy between Indian politicians and his leprosy patients: "When leprosy patients touched the soil, they transformed it into gold, but the politicians did that and made it into dirt." On Revolution

"Carry your ideals before you like banners; it is not enough to put them on pedestals. Ideals which grip the masses prove to be a mighty force. Their force is stronger than the hope of earthly gain and they are more productive of real wealth ... Nationalized ownership that throttles all creative effort, will no more be the test of revolution. Participation in decision-making will stimulate workers to greater efforts and common ownership will be the aim. ... The war-cry will no more be with Marx and Mao: the spirit of revenge cannot build a new world ... Only a revolution which leads to a higher sense of human dignity can lead to a higher and nobler way of life. Revolutions based on hatred and violence does not really change the situation. They merely transform the people who had been exploited into a new class of exploiters but hatred and exploitation remain. Therefore, there is no substitute for Gandhi's way of rousing the impoverished masses to creative awareness."

On Society & Social Justice
"To me, the common man's society is a mask-less society. He does not carry that thick mask which the professional people, the upper classes, whereas they might look nice and beautiful. Very often they do not dare to say what they really think and feel." - Baba Amte

"There is a certain callousness in families like mine. They put up strong barriers so as not to see the misery in the world outside and I rebelled against it." Baba Amte

"I, who never had planted a single seed in the estate, was expected to enjoy the comfort of a beautiful farm house, while those who had toiled there all their lives had only the meanest hovels ... I was charging fifty rupees for arguing for fifteen minutes while a laborer was getting only three-quarters of a rupee for twelve hours of toil. That was what was eating into me."

"A client would admit that he had committed rape and I was expected to obtain an acquittal. Worse still, when I succeeded, I was expected to attend the celebration party." On Solitude "I like this solitude. I read and ruminate and continue a dialogue with myself. It is a wonderful experience where I am the accused, the witness, the jury etc."

On Spirituality
"I'm so busy, I have no time to pray! The Lord is kind!"

"Wherever God has pointed the way with his finger, he also cleared the way with His mighty palm."

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[ National Awards (India): ]

Baba's Idea of Creative Humanism
Baba believes in "Creative humanism." It is based on the idea that disenfranchised people do not need charity, they need solidarity and support. This concept also respects the creativity and individuality of every human spirit.

Go in search of your people.
Love them
Learn from them
Plan with them
Serve them
Begin with what they know
Build on what they have
- Lao Tzu (5000 B.C.)

"I sought my soul, my soul I could not see,
I sought my God, my God elude me,
I sought my brother, and I found all the three."
- Anonymous

Through my tears I shall reach my ideal;
in my tears rests the power to crush steel and stone.
My tears are my God.
Never deprive me of my tears
Let my eyelids never get dry.
- Sane Guruji

God is that indefinable something, which we all feel but which, we do not know. To me, God is truth and love, God is ethics and morality, and God is fearlessness. God is the source of light and life, and yet He is above and beyond all these. God is conscience.
- Gandhi

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[ On Baba Amte: ]

"Usually people avoid looking at leprosy patients. Here Baba is putting them on stage for all to see."
- P L Deshpande [Famous Marathi playwright]

"He came to be known as Baba not because he is a saint or any such thing, but because his parents addressed him by that name,"
- Sadhanatai Amte (Baba's wife)

"Every once in a blue moon, is born a person, who has the clarity of vision, and the greatness of deed, to make us all recognize the dizzying heights the human spirit can really achieveŠBaba Amte is one of those people."
- Neesha Mirchandani

"He came to be known as Baba not because he is a saint or any such thing, but because his parents addressed him by that name,"
- Sadhanatai Amte (Baba's wife)

On the Amte Family

"In our family, Baba is the speaker; Vikas the amplifier; Prakash, the silencer; Sadhana the brake,"
- Sadhanatai Amte (Baba Amte's Wife)

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