Warpath to Gandhipath (Message from a Moral Sovereign)

Through the ages, philosophers, scholars and thinkers have been writing about love for fellow beings. But even two of them have not been in unanimity in this regard. Each and every one of them had his own view or definition of love. Besides philosophers and thinkers, the founders, pro-founder and preachers of religious-communities have also talked of love and some of them at length. They have connected it with high moral values like human-unity, service. equality and protection. The name of Jesus Christ, Prophet Muhammad and Guru Nanak Dev can particularly be mentioned in this context. Love and affection to all humanity occupies a unique place in ancient Indian philosophy, spiritual thinking and traditions. It has been defined excellently and matchlessly there. Especially its sensitivity and effects, which besides attracting attention has become a subject of curiosity for so many all over the world, are worth mentioning. If humans are ever to achieve a stable global society in the future, they will have to become much more modest in their economic behavior and much more peaceful in their politics. For both modesty and peace, Gandhi is a useful source of ideas. The problems with which he struggled during his Iife time are extremely relevant to us in the 21st Century, when both nuclear and ecological catastrophes threaten the world. Same as Gandhiji- Jeff Jeff Knaebel peccadilloes and idiosyncrasies drove quite a few people up the wall. He was considered by many to be a "difficult person," as he insisted that those around him and the people of follow him in his peculiar "ascetic" ways. Alas. very few people knew about his dangerous life story which we narrate here in his own words. Some of the tests of will were neither new nor strange in some of the esoteric ascetic and spiritual traditions of India. But such practices were usually taught and carefully monitored by teachers, and were barred to those in the secular world. Because he was assassinated, we now ignore the frailties and the follies of the Mahatma. What is unremarked in many of the renderings on Gandhi is that his understanding of individual growth ignored the traditional Hindu version that sought balance between the four stages of life. Gandhi's transition from the medieval to the modem without the understanding of the ancient led to his incomplete view of Indian history, culture and mores. Gandhi Research Foundation is making its best efforts in disseminating the teachings of Gandhiji and Gandhian peoples who dedicated their life for humanity. Come together- A good network can change the world.

Bhujang R. Bobade (Born 1982) from last Nine years, Bobade is in the consulting world to take the helm in Archival and Museum field at a time of crisis and change. He went through a dramatic turnaround. He started bootstrapping growth. Now, he is on the doorstep of a major expansion. It's exciting and tiring and rewarding as ever building a rigorous strategic framework under his creative, community-based work. In his all last years, it was all about getting the programming moving, experimenting, and exploring the possibilities with a spreading historical research in our community- History for Society Research. He is also working on different historical and educational Museums committees.

Dr. Omshiva Ligade (Born 1968) is an eminent Indian historian of medieval and Modem India, following the approach of Cultural historiography. He has a great experience of Under Graduate and Post Graduate teaching also. He is well known for his strong stance about Numismatic and research orientation work. He has authored a number of books, including Syllabus books chapters. He is head of History Dept., Shivjagruti Mahavidhyalaya, Nalegaon Dist. Latur from last 14 years. He was Chairman of State and National conferences, workshops about History and Gandhian thoughts. He is executive editor of different National and international research journals. He is said to be the first historian to use inscriptions and pictorial sources for the teaching of history which is what current days students of history do. He is said to be a pioneer in throwing light on judicial system in late medieval period.

I have never met jeff Knaebel, but our paths crossed in late 2006. As editor and publisher of The Voluntaryist newsletter, I receive many book orders from people interested in nonviolent alternatives to the coercive, political state. I filled jeff's order for books, and in April 2007, jeff sent me his book, Experiments in Moral Sovereignty: Notes of an American Exile, which he had published in October 2006. I discovered that jeff was a tax expatriate, as well as a person who believes that "a man needs a country but would be better off without a government.

Jeff tried to become "a man without a government" when he renounced his birthright American citizenship and shredded his American passport in New Delhi, India on 19 June 2009. The Indian government was then faced with a dilemma: what should it do with a person like Jeff Knaebel? .

The following three documents have been inserted at the beginning of a long manuscript that Jeff emailed me in early December 2010, as he was making preparations for what he planned to be his departure from this "vale of tears." Faced with innumerable political obstacles and the threat of imprisonment by the Indian authorities for his failure to "stay in place" and apply for Indian citizenship, jeff decided that he would undertake a self-directed conscious death rather than being force-fed in an Indian or American prison (if he were to be deported).

He feared that wherever he was incarcerated he would receive very poor treatment from the legal authorities due to his non- cooperative attitude. His understanding of Indian and U.S. law, and current penal practices, is that either government could do with him anything they wished, including imprisoning him indefinitely without charges, or even executing an extraordinary rendition, pursuant to which dissidents, such as he, simply "disappear."