Gandhi Teachings Essays - Gandhism, Ascetics, Gujarati People

Gandhi Teachings From Gandhi, to Gandhiji, to ?Mahatma' and ?Bapu', Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi has traveled the distance from being the national hero to a legend. Gandhi, in life, was much more. Gandhi was a thinker, a philosopher, and also a statesman. He believed he could lead only if he was a worthy leader. To be a worthy leader he had to be morally strong. As he used to say, "A liar could not teach his pupils to speak the truth, a coward can not train young men to be brave." So to be morally strong, he believed one has to be strong in spirit. To be strong in spirit, one must live in accordance with one's beliefs, by a strict code of conduct. With such an all-encompassing vision of life, every area of human life was of interest to Gandhi. Very little escaped his attention. And a cursory glance would never do for Gandhi. He would mull over a subject, think about it during his periods of silence or incarceration, write about it, discuss it, experiment with it in his own life-- whether it was the subject of fasting, giving up salt in his food, celibacy, abstinence or the use of non-violence as a political tool. II. Gandhi's Early Life Mahatma Gandhi was born on Oct 2, 1869, in Porbandar, India. His parents belonged to the Vaisya (merchant) caste of Hindu's. Gandhi was a shy and serious boy and grew up in an atmosphere of religious tolerance and acceptance of teachings of various Hindu sects. When he was 13 years old, he married Kasturibhai, a girl of the same age. The wedding was arranged according to custom by his parents. The Gandhi's had four children. At the age of 19, Gandhi traveled to England to study law. In London he began develop his philosophy of life. He also studied the great Indian religious classic the Bhagavad-Gita and also turned to the New Testament of the Bible and to the teachings of the Buddha. In 1891 Gandhi returned to India to practice law but met with little success. III. Gandhi in Africa In 1893,Gandhi went to South Africa to do some legal work. South Africa was then under British rule. Almost immediately, he was abused because he was an Indian who claimed his rights as a British subject. He saw that all Indians suffered from discrimination. His law assignment was for one year, but he stayed on in South Africa for 21 years to work for Indian rights. Gandhi led many campaigns in South Africa and edited a newspaper, Indian Opinion. As a part of sahyagraha, he promoted civil disobedience campaigns and organized a strike among Indian Miners. Gandhi also worked for the British when he thought justice was on their side. They decorated him for medical work in the Anglo-Boer war. Gandhi fully developed his philosophy of life in South Africa. He was greatly influenced by writings of Leo Tolstoy's and John Ruskin but his greatest influence on him was Bhagavad-Gita, which became an unfailing source of inspiration. IV. Spiritual Reality in Africa Gandhi believed that all life was a part of one ultimate spiritual reality. The supreme goal was self-realization; the realization that one's true self was identical with ultimate reality. He believed that all religions contain some element of truth and this accounted for his own religious tolerance. Gandhi experimented with communal living at the Phoenix farm and the Tolstoy's farm in South Africa, and later at the Sabramati ashram, in India. There he practiced voluntary simplicity, a way of life designed to offer an alternative to the increasingly competitive, stressful, and violent atmosphere of western civilization. Gandhi himself served as teacher, cook, nurse, and even scavenger. As a social reformer, he fought for the emancipation of women, the removal of the tradition of untouchability (low caste or caste status) and for Hindu Muslim unity. In 1914 the government of the Union of South Africa made important concessions to Gandhi's demands, including recognition of Indian marriages and abolition of the poll tax for them. His work in South Africa complete, he returned to India. V. Gandhi returns to India In 1915, Gandhi returned to India. Within five years, he became the leader of the Indian nationalist movement. In 1919, the British introduced the Rowlatt bills to make it unlawful to organize opposition to the government. Gandhi led a peaceful protest campaign that succeeded in preventing one of the bills. The others were never enforced. Gandhi called off the campaign when riots broke out. He then fasted