19.docx

Mahatma Gandhi

By
Gannista Assawachutithumrong

Content
Preface
Introduction
Biography
Spiritual Belief
Pictures of spiritual belief activities
Reference

Preface
I have heard about Mahatma Gandhi since I was
in primary school in history class. He fought for
rightness, which is respectful. He longs for peace, as
shown in his famous quote; An eye for an eye only
makes a world blind.

Introduction
Mahatma Gandhi was an Indian lawyer,
anti-colonial nationalist and political ethicist who employed
nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for
India's independence from British rule, and to later inspire
movements for civil rights and freedom across the world.
Contrary to what one might think, he was not a
great student; on the contrary, he was within the average.
He even had a hard time passing the entrance test for the

University of Bombay. After graduation, he tried to

establish himself as a lawyer in Bombay but was not
successful. This was due to the fact that he was not able to
speak in public, and would frequently embarrass himself
when making an intervention.

It was there where he started using nonviolent civil
disobedience to help his fellow countrymen. There were
several incidents in which Gandhi was mistreated for his
skin color, but one of the most famous ones was when he
was thrown off a moving train for not giving his first class
seat to a white lady.

In 1900 he recruited 1100 men to be
stretcher-bearers during the Boer War. Gandhi did this to
prove that Hindus were as fit for manly activities as any
other men, which was proven when his stretch bearers
could move injured soldiers from the front lines to the clinic
because the terrain didn’t allow the ambulances. He and
37 other Indians received a War Medal for his actions.
Although he wasn’t directly involved with South Africa’s
political problems, his teachings were a major step in
helping black people gain the right to vote, for which he
was given the title of national hero. He started a project

named Tolstoy Farm in 1910, where they lived a simple,
pacific, ascetic life, and followed Tolstoy’s summary of the
Sermon of the Mount. These teachings have several
common points with Hinduism, but the fact that he chose to
follow Tolstoy’s doctrines is interesting.

After spending so much time in Africa and
having gathered such a vast array of experiences, Gandhi,
at the request of Gopal Krishna Gokhale, went back to
India, where he rose from the ranks as one of the leaders
of the independence movement.

The Salt March was a demonstration led by
Mahatma Gandhi and became one of the most important
events that led to the independence of India from British
Empire. He, along with thousands of people, walked 240
miles until they reached the coastal town of Dandi, where
he walked into the ocean water and took some water in his
hands, signaling people to boycott the Raj’s rules on salt
taxes and start producing their own salt from sea water.
Gandhi continued to work, trying to bring much needed
reforms to Indian society, integrating the lower castes,
developing rural areas and even defending Muslims in
Hindu territories.

Biography
Gandhi was the youngest of his father's fourth wife.
Karamchand Gandhi was the dewan Chief minister) of
Porbandar, the then capital of a small municipality in
western India(now Gujarat state) under the British
constituency, did not have any formal education per se.
However, he was an able administrator who was more than
capable enough to make his way between the inconsistent
and unpredictable princes, their long-suffering subjects,
and the stubborn and ignorant British Officer in
power.Gandhi's mother, Putlibai, was a pious religious
woman who had no such greed for jewellery or finery
divided her time between her home and the temple, fasted
frequently, and immersed herself in the service of others
who were sick or were helpless in the family. Mohandas
grew up in Vaishnavism, a practice followed by the worship
of the Hindu god Vishnu with a strong presence of Jainism,
which has a strong sense of non-violence and that each
and everything in this universe is eternal.Therefore, he
took up the practice of ahimsa (noninjury to all living
beings), fasting for self-purification, vegetarianism, and
mutual tolerance between the sanctions of various creeds
and colour.He always uttered the words, "to carry out the

orders of the elders, not to scan them." With such extreme
reluctancy, so it was not that surprising that he should have
gone through a phase of rebellion in his adolescence
stage, followed by personal rejection of God or atheism,
petty thefts, furtive smoking, and—most shocking of all for
a boy born in a Vaishnava family—meat-eating. His
adolescence was probably no stormier than most children
of his age and class. Not until the age of 18, Gandhi had
read a single newspaper. Neither as a budding barrister in
India nor as a student in England, nor had he shown much
interest in politics. Indeed, he was overwhelmed by a
terrifying stage fright each time he stood up to read a
speech at a social gathering or to defend a client in court.

Nevertheless, in July 1894, when he was barely 25,
he blossomed within an overnight into a proficient
campaigner. He drafted several petitions to the British
government and the Natal Legislature and signed by
hundreds of his compatriots. He could not prevent the
passage of the bill but succeeded in drawing the attention
of the public and the press in Natal, India, and England to
the Natal Indian's problems. He still was persuaded to
settle down in Durban to practice law and thus organized

the Indian community. The Natal Indian Congress was
founded in 1894, of which he became the unwearying
secretary. He infused a solidarity spirit in the
heterogeneous Indian community through that standard
political organization. He gave ample statements to the
Government, Legislature, and media regarding Indian
Grievances. Finally, he is exposed to the outside world's
view, the real story, and the ugly side in the imperial
cupboard. This discrimination was pre-dominant against
the Indian subjects of Queen Victoria in one of her colonies
in Africa. It was proof of his success as a publicist that
such vital newspapers as The Statesman and Englishman
of Calcutta (now Kolkata)and The Times of London
editorially commented on the Natal Indians'
grievances.Mahatma Gandhi spent almost 21 years in
South Africa. But during that time, there was a lot of
discrimination there because of skin colour. Even inside the
train, he could not sit with white European people. But he
refused to do so and got beaten there and had to sit on the
floor. So he fought against this nasty thing and finally got to
succeed after a lot of struggle.In 1896, Gandhi returned to
India to fetch his wife, Kasturba (or Kasturbai), and their
two oldest children and amass support for the Indians

overseas. He met the prominent leaders and persuaded
them to address the public meetings in the centre of the
country's principal cities. Unfortunately for him, middle
versions of his activities and utterances reached Natal and
provoked its European population. Joseph Chamberlain,
the colonial secretary in the British Cabinet, urged Natal's
government to bring the guilty men to proper jurisdiction,
but Gandhi refused to prosecute his assailants. He said it
was his belief the court of law would not be used to satisfy
someone's vendetta.

Mahatma Gandhi's death was a tragic event and
brought clouds of sorrow to millions of people. On the 29th
of January, a man named Nathuram Godse came to Delhi
with an automatic pistol. In the evening, at about 5 pm, he
went to Gardens of Birla house, and in a sudden, a man
from the crowd came out and bowed before him. Then he
fired three bullets in his chest and stomach. Mahatma
Gandhi was in such a posture as welcoming that man to kill
him and fall to the ground. During his death, he uttered
“Hei, Rama” (Oh, God). Although someone could have

called the doctor in this critical situation during that time, no
one thought of that, and Gandhi died within half an hour.

Spiritual Beliefs
Gandhi was raised in a Hindu family, but he lived in
a multicultural community. He had Christian and Muslim
friends as a child, and may have been especially
influenced by the Jain religion, with its principle of total
ahimsa, or nonviolence. When he traveled to England to
study law, he met theosophists who encouraged him to
learn more about his native Hindu texts like the Bhagavad
Gita, as well as those of other religions. One of his other
favorite texts was the Christian Sermon on the Mount.
After finishing his studies, Gandhi spent 20 years in
South Africa working for Indian civil rights. He also devoted
himself to reading a variety of religious literature. During
his first year alone, he read over 80 books on spiritual
subjects. When he returned to India, he established an
ashram, or religious community, for his family and
followers. This community did not follow any particular
orthodoxy, but instead was based on mutual aid and the
principle of nonviolence.
Gandhi's later work rested largely on a spiritual
principle of satyagraha that he developed while working in
South Africa. Satyagraha has often been translated as
nonviolence, but its meaning is actually closer to
truth-force. It referred to the political and spiritual power
that people possess when they take action with
nonviolence, for example, by engaging in civil
disobedience, or refusal to participate in oppressive
systems. Gandhi believed that setting a righteous example
of resistance would eventually cause oppressors to change
their ways.

While Gandhi remained a Hindu throughout his life,
his spiritual priority was to focus on the principle of
satyagraha. When he returned to India in 1914, the country
was experiencing increasing conflict and violence between
Hindus, Muslims and the British ruling class, and Gandhi
had friends on all sides of the conflict. His powerful belief
and example went quite a ways toward reconciling this civil
conflict, or at least keeping it somewhat contained until his
death in 1948. While he spent many years reflecting on
religious topics, his focus was always on practical action.
When a reporter asked Gandhi what his message was, he
famously replied, "My life is my message." The same could
probably be said of his religious beliefs – that they were
most fully expressed in his peaceful and just actions.

Gandhi did not believe in withdrawing from the
world of everyday life to devote himself to spiritual
practices. In every field he had to look for, and apply the
spiritual law. He could not do this if he withdrew from
everyday life or the problems or activities of everyday life.



Reference
1. https://www.gandhiashramsevagram.org/gandhi-art

icles/mahatma-gandhi-leadership-moral-and-spiritu
al-foundations.php
2. https://www.mkgandhi.org/articles/Gandhi-and-spiri
tualism.html#:~:text=Gandhi%20did%20not%20beli
eve%20in,or%20activities%20of%20everyday%20li
fe.
3. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Mahatma-Ga
ndhi