Advice To a Child

Mahatma Gandhi practised what he preached. That is why Bapuji was respected as a practising philosopher. Once a mother approached him along with her naughty son. She touched the dust of his feet despite his gentle remonstrance. She said, "Bapuji, my little son eats jaggery which often makes him sick. He will not listen to me when I scold him to stop that bad habit. But he  has great respect for you. Please help us."

Gandhiji gave a patient hearing to the mother and asked her to visit him after a fortnight.

The mother did as told by Bapuji. On the appointed day he stroked the naughty boy's head gently and extracted a promise from him not to eat raw jaggery.
The mother thanked Gandhiji profusely but did not leave his presence. Bapuji looked at her inquiringly.
"Mahatma," she said,"may I know why have you taken two  weeks to just admonish my son not to eat jaggery?"

The great soul smiled, "mother," he said, "shouldn't I stop eating jaggery before I could ask the same of your son?"

That was Gandhiji. Einsstein summed up the spirit of  Gandhi when he said cryptically on learning about his assasination as "a living Christ died."