In a world where terror, violence and bloodshed seem to be the order of the day, it's probably the 'faith burning' in a handful of people that has kept alive the voice of the Father of the Nation.

Online, there's ample proof that people are spreading his teachings and philosophy, giving hope to those trying to find peace and understanding. A search on Gandhi yields hundreds and thousands of results.

When Arun Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, wrote an article after 9/11 he could not find anyone to publish it "because it advocated non-violence". He then put it on the Web site, gandhiinstitute.org, and the response was overwhelming: "Within days, hundreds of organisations and individuals copied it and sent it to others. I started getting email from all over the world in response."

Arun Gandhi, based in the US, founded the MK Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence, with assistance from the Christian Brothers University in Memphis.

He says of his efforts to keep alive the memory of his grandfather: "Our broad vision is to promote nonviolence at the individual level as widely as possible. Most people have the impression that nonviolence is either a political tool or something deeply spiritual. We have taken a middle road to make people aware that it's just an awareness NOT to be destructive and violent."

Closer home, Arun Gandhi's son Tushar Gandhi, managing trustee of the Mahatma Gandhi Foundation is spreading the message with the Official Mahatma Gandhi E-archive. He says the site arose out of the need to maintain a freely accessible electronic archive of Gandhi's writings, audio recordings, photographs and movie footage.

Mahatma Gandhi's grandaughter, Ela Gandhi, settled in South Africa also feels that his message should get across to more people, "Through his life he advocated simplicity, conservation, compassion, non violence, spirituality and not a fanatical clinging to a faith. His message is powerful and should be conveyed to as many people as possible using all means of communication available."

Yet another site containing valuable information on Gandhi's teachings is mkgandhi.org. TRK Somaiya who maintains the site says that in today's atmosphere, Gandhi's philosophy could help achieve peace and harmony in the world.

Trying to spread positive thoughts and give direction to people from all walks of life is the main purpose of these sites. Gandhiinstitute.org was started as a "spur of a moment decision" but has today grown into something much larger than what its founder envisaged. Due to several public speaking assignments at colleges and universities in the US, the popularity of the site grew.

"I've no long term plans because we have a limited budget," says Arun Gandhi, "We take it one day at a time and do our best." It's currently updated and maintained by volunteers.

Tushar Gandhi, on the other hand, has been able to support the site with financial help, "We've been lucky to secure funding from Kanwal Rekhi and BV Jagadeesh of TIE, USA who gave us US $500,000 and Harish Mehta, CEO of Onward Novell who gave us Rs 30 lakh." These grants enabled them to access the best technologies and talents and also pay commercial salaries.

His vision, as stated here, is to host "250,000 pages of text, everything written by the Mahatma and about the Mahatma." They've already reached the halfway mark and their software and graphics team are working to bring out better features like a search engine for the multimedia database and better quality photographs.

In the pipeline is an ebook autobiography of Mahatma Gandhi in four vernacular languages, the technology for which has been developed in-house, and also a multi-lingual site.

Yet, how relevant today is the message of non-violence that Gandhi propagated during his lifetime? Perhaps the answer can be found after the events of September 11th, 2001 that seems to have triggered off an increased interest in his teachings.

Reveals Somaiya, "After the attack on the twin towers, we received lots of email asking us how people can solve the problems of violence and terrorism using peaceful means. They also asked us how Gandhi would react to such a terrorist attack."

Likewise, the official e-archive received maximum number of hits after September 11. Says Tushar Gandhi, "We had people who claimed to have turned towards Gandhiji after being traumatised by the events. The relevance increases as violence affects day-to-day life. The Internet serves as the ideal medium for wide distribution of information."

Somaiya also feels the Internet is the most effective and low cost medium to spread the message of non-violence, peace and conflict resolution. He notes that over 75 per cent of visitors to his site are from the US and also observes that the maximum number of mails come from overseas.

"Sad to say, but I think the Mahatma is admired and followed more in the Western world than in this country," states Arun Gandhi. The statistics on these sites seem to support this.

GandhiServe, a charitable foundation in Germany that disseminates information about Mahatma Gandhi, is perhaps more proof that his voice is alive and well in the Western world. An interesting project it conducts is the 'Gandhi Bridge of Understanding' with its affiliate in New Delhi. Besides information on the life of Gandhi and his ethics of non violence, the Mahatma Gandhi Research and Media Service Web site also has a store, and is another online initiative that attempts to keep the flame burning.

Peter Ruhe, representing the foundation says about the Internet: "It plays a tremendous role in data transmission, and the greatest advantage it has is to easily stay in touch with like-minded people who represent positive ideals in order to fight powers which lead to the destruction of this planet."

While there have been concerns about the negative influence the Net can have on the youth, Arun Gandhi thinks otherwise: "I have great faith in young people and I'm sure they'll do the right thing. I think the Internet is an opportunity to seek something positive in life."

"Even amongst youngsters there is tremendous interest in alternative ways to violence to fight the problems the world is facing today. Actually, we receive mails from people of all age groups as Gandhi and his principles are very much present in the minds of people throughout the world," says Ruhe. This, he feels, is taking us closer to creating creating a culture of peace and nonviolence.

"All I can do is convey to as many people the message of my grandfather and hope that in some way, to some extent, it will impact them," ends Arun Gandhi on a optimistic note.

More Resources:

-- Mahatma.com
-- Gandhi Text Collection
-- Time 100 - Mohandas Gandhi
-- Virtual Ashram
-- A tribute

Also Read: -- Give peace a chance

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