Profiles in Greatness - Gandhi

Amy Anderson

Mohandas K. Gandhi spoke several

languages. During his lifetime he gave
speeches before hundreds of thousands and
wrote nearly 100 books. There are numerous
quotes by Gandhi that speak of compassion,
nonviolence and equality, and most of us
have heard at least one, such as, We need
to be the change we wish to see in the world. Or maybe, An eye for an eye
will make the whole world blind. But Gandhi's first language was not
English. He rarely spoke it, instead taking great pride in the languages of his
native Indiaspeaking and writing most often in Gujarati. As he said, Our
languages are the reflection of ourselves. But Gandhi's message of peace
transcends both time and language, and reveals a most significant life.

Great Soul
Born Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi in 1869, in what was to become
the state of Gujarat, India, this beloved leader was later given the honorary
title of Mahatma, or great-souled, by Rabindranath Tagore, the Bengali
poet and 1913 Nobel laureate.
But Gandhi never felt comfortable with the name. The title Mahatma has
deeply pained me a number of times, he said. I have nothing new to teach
the world. All I have done is to try experiments on as vast a scale as I could.
His experiments in truth, compassion, purity and nonviolence
demonstrated a wisdom that others immediately recognized in the softspoken man. A large number of people have told me that they revere me
because I understand them like none other, he said.

Throughout his life, Gandhi preached equality. He sought civil rights for
people of color while living in South Africa in his 20s and 30s. He consistently
promoted equality for women, and he advocated reformation of the Indian
caste system, demanding civil rights for those labeled untouchables,
referring to them instead as harijan, or children of God.
The title Mahatma distinguished Gandhi in a way that went against his
idea of equality. I have never, even in my dreams, thought that I was
mahatma and that others were alpatma [little-souled], he said. And yet his
humility is precisely the reason so many believed he deserved the title.

Love for All People

Literally speaking, ahimsa means nonviolence, Gandhi said. But to
me it has much higher, infinitely higher meaning. It means that you may not
offend anybody; you may not harbor uncharitable thought, even in
connection with those who you consider your enemies. To one who follows
this doctrine, there are no enemies.
While ahimsa translates to non-injury or nonviolence, Gandhi, as most
Hindus in the early 20th century, applied a much broader meaning to the
word. They used ahimsa to mean entire abstinence from causing harm to any
living creature by thought, word or action. Gandhi also used it to mean love
toward all people, true sacrifice, forgiveness and suffering for the sake of
another.
Ahimsa was the driving concept behind almost all of Gandhi's beliefs
and actions. In 1896 he was attacked by white South Africans and began to
teach passive resistance as a means to achieve civil rights. Ahimsa calls for
the strength and courage to suffer without retaliation, to receive blows
without returning any, he said.
Gandhi applied this principle to every area of his personal life, and he
inspired countless others, including Martin Luther King Jr., with his successful
application of ahimsa in the political realm.

A Self-Governing Movement
Gandhi left South Africa and returned to India in 1914. In his persistent
advocacy for Indian self-rule after World War I, Gandhi quickly rose to the
forefront of the struggle and proclaimed swaraj, or self-governing movement.
The economic ramifications of this movement were significant, as the British
raj, or rule, sought to exploit Indian villagers and suppress Indian economic
development for the sake of British industry; especially textiles. Gandhi
advocated the restoration of traditional home trades, such as weaving, and
led boycotts of British goods. (To drive home his point, Gandhi himself wore
only homespun cloth, and today an emblem of a spinning wheel adorns
India's flag.)
Gandhi believed that the most effective means of changing British
policy was a reasonable and business-like approach, rather than conflict,
fanaticism or rioting. Swaraj is not a product of excitement or intoxication,
he said. Swaraj will be the natural and inevitable result of businesslike
habits.
In 1930, Gandhi led a 248 mile march to the Arabian Sea and made
sea salt by evaporation, an activity deemed illegal by the British ban on
private production of salt. The British government responded by jailing
60,000 Indians, including Gandhi. This small, seemingly frail man was an
example of what he taught: that Indian self-rule would be a result of each
individual's self-rule exhibited through self-control and personal
responsibility. Swaraj of a people means the sum total of the swaraj of
individuals, he said.

Truth and Firmness

As much as he desired a free India, Gandhi was convinced that war
was not the way to win it: With God as witness, I want to proclaim this truth,
that the way of violence cannot bring swaraj (self-government), it can only

lead to disaster. Dissatisfied with the terms passive resistance and civil
disobedience, Gandhi coined the term satyagraha (firmness in truth). He
admired Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, and Gandhi's policy of satyagraha was
partly influenced by Tolstoy, in addition to the teachings of Jesus Christ and
the work of American writer, Henry David Thoreau. The ideal encompassed
an approach of nonviolence and incorporated ahimsa toward one's enemies.
Satyagraha, of which civil resistance is but a part is to me the universal law
of life, he said.
After a demonstration resulted in the massacre of Indians at Amritsar
by British soldiers in 1920, Gandhi called for an organized campaign of
noncooperation. Indians carried out mass boycotts of government agencies,
resigned from public offices and removed their children from government
schools. Passive demonstrators were beaten in the streets and countless
protestors were arrested along with Gandhi, who was soon released.
Satyagraha is a process of educating public opinion, such that it covers all
the elements of the society and makes itself irresistible, he said.
In 1947, India became independent after 100 years of British rule, and
Gandhi sought accommodation with the Muslim minority. A year later, while
taking his nightly walk, Gandhi was assassinated by a Hindu radical.
For all the words Gandhi spoke, his enduring legacy consists of the
actions he took throughout his life. As he once told a journalist who asked
him to sum up his message: My life is my message.