Gandhi - The Greatest Man of our Time

By Jo Prakash

His only regret in life were that he was unable to convince his beloved son Harilal Gandhi and Muhammed Ali Jinnah about the beauty of his ideals.

From adulthood lived a life of self discipline and complete control, to Gandhi this didn’t come easy and he had to struggle to stay strong, but through life experiences he began to learn the lessons that were offered to him. For more depth read his autobiography, My experiments with Truth by MK Gandhi, I would highly recommend it for anyone seeking spiritual improvement in their lives, it shows the cycles of Gandhi’s life and provides an insight to a miraculous life that could resemble any normal child or teenagers life at that time, a hundred years ago.

He lived simply in his own ashram (community) where all people were welcome regardless of caste, colour or religion, notoriously spinning a wheel to make his own clothes with the knowledge that self sufficiency brings success in life and success for his mother country.

He is responsible for the movement which brought the independance of India from the British and pioneered through “satyagraha” (truth force) for the rights of women and caste, help in eliminating poverty of indians through unfair laws and injusties and brotherhood among every religion.

Worldwide Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi is referred to as Mahatma (meaning great soul) Gandhi and honoured as “father to the nation” by Indians.
Gandhi has inspired many civil rights leaders today such as Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela.

While at school Gandhi was mediocre and didn’t necessarily shine in the classroom or playground, he knew this and was not at all bothered with being an average student. He was a quiet, shy and introverted child who placed great importance on truthfulness and honesty, any question of this to him personally offended him greatly and would reduce him to tears.

He studied in England to become a barrister then later returned to India, with little success working in Law in India he decided to accept an offer of work in South Africa as he believed he had nothing to lose and so began a new chapter in his life, the chapter that would rewrite history and turn this quiet, humble man into one of the world’s greatest pioneers in politics and history today, and forever.

He suffered all kinds of abuse from an ignorant society where cerain “coloured” people had little rights, to walk on the same pavement as a white person was considered an insult to the white person and would often result in humiliation and beating of the coloured who commited the offence.
He was beaten many times simply because of the colour of his skin, an incident occured while travelling on a train in South Africa which became a turning point of his whole life and destiny of the world.
From that moment a strength inside him grew and he dedicated his life to changing the world for civil rights of his community.

Encouraging the idea of non-acceptance of injustice, many individuals followed in his quest to stand up for their rights by simply not accepting the discriminations forced upon them, they accepted the punishment that was addressed to them which was usually prison sentences and beatings.
They found a great difference of the treatment of inmates according to their colour of skin, a white murderer or rapist received better treatment than any of the other coloured prisoners of freedom .

Through constant civil disobedience (non-violence) publications, petitions, and nationwide campaigns he managed to help change some of  the laws in the interest of the asian community in South Africa before moving back to India where he eventually freed India from British rule after much perserverance and heartache.

When he arrived in India with a hero’s welcoming he quietly studied the nature of India and its own politics and humanitarianism, he built an ashram which was a community for people of all faiths to live peacefully and simply together.
Within his ashram universal rules were followed of truth, non-violence and chastity.
Physical labour was also followed to eradicate the discrimination of untouchables and caste systems within the Indian society. All these vows were taken to aid spiritual and moral growth, everyone there lived as a family with their own jobs to do; there was no room for ego or laziness. People within the ashram ranged from little children to senior citizens, European, American, and Indian of all faiths living in a peaceful haven under the same roof.

The issues he saw within India were that of women’s rights, untouchable and caste systems, uniting religious brotherhood and abolishing poverty due to unjust laws and greed.

He began working within India on hospital, village and school  clean-ups but was soon arrested by the British for causing unrest, the community soon formed a tight organisation and he had many loyal followers who believed in their rights and his leadership.

It was at this time that Gandhi managed to change the laws so farmers had more control and compensation, thus a small victory to the Indian villagers.

More and more Indians began supporting Gandhi with his non-violent disobedience's against the British rule, many were killed or sent to jail for supporting him but their faith in a peaceful India still stood strong.
They accepted their fate and carried on protesting, a horrific massacre followed and over 1000 Indians were slaughtered during a peaceful meeting including women and children.

After the massacre more violence followed and he was betrayed by one of his close friends Muhammed Ali Jinnah who instigated the partition of India.The worst brutality and cruelty anyone had ever seen started and the partition of India began.
Reluctantly, Gandhi had no other choice but to accept the partition along with the independence of India.

Gandhi was heart broken and in poor health (mainly from prison time and regular fasts) in a last bid to save India he vowed to fast till death unless the fighting ceased.

After a few days the fighting stopped, Gandhi broke his fast but 12 days later was sadly assassinated by a Hindu nationalist, his lasts were “hey ram” as he was shot 3 times in the chest while walking to prayers. The world mourned that day on January 30th 1948 but his teachings and life still lives on, statues commemorate his life in many different countries and children study him in school today, his spirit  and teachings will live on forever.

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