"The Love Between Master And Servant..."

On one occasion, mahatma gandhiji grew eloquent while praising the wife of Gladstone, Prime Minister of England, for the love she showered on her husband. 


Gandhiji had chanced to read somewhere that Mrs. Gladstone was so particular that she would even prepare tea for her husband herself, even while the sessions of the House of Commons were in progress. 


This became a rule that this most disciplined of couples strictly observed.


On hearing Gandhiji speaks in this vein, Shrimadji commented 'what do you think is of greater importance here: Mrs. Gladstone's role as a wife or her spirit of selfless seva? 


Suppose this same woman happened to be Gladstone's sister? Or she was one of Gladstone's faithful servants offering him tea in the same spirit of affection? 


Do we not come across examples of such women, of such faithful servants, even today? 


And supposing you had come across an example of such love in a member of the male sex instead of the female sex, would you not have felt a similar sense of joy and surprise? 


Please do give some thought to what i say.'


Gandhiji comments on this incident in his Autobiography, 'Raichandbhai (Shrimadji) was himself a married man. 


I retain the impression on my having found his remark as being particularly harsh at that time. But the remark served to stick in my mind like a magnet. 


The loyalty of a male servant would count for being a thousand times higher in its worth. 


Husbands and wives are united by a bond of oneness; and so there is nothing surprising in the love they bear towards each other mutually. 


The love between master and servant, on the other hand, is one which has to be consciously cultivated. 


I felt the intensity of these words of Kavi (Meaning Raichandbhai) ever increasing within me with each passing day.'