FREE ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GHANDI

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GHANDI

Mahatma Gandhi
(Mohandas Karamchand)
Throughout history most national heroes have been warriors, but Gandhi was a passive and
peaceful preacher of morals, ethics, and beliefs. He was an outsider who ended British
rule over India without striking a blow. Moreover, Gandhi was not skillful with any
unusual artistic, scholarly, or scientific talents. He never earned a degree or received
any special academic honors. He was never a candidate in an election or a member of
government. Yet when he died, in 1948, practically the whole world mourned him. Einstein
said in his tribute, "Gandhi demonstrated that a powerful human following can be
assembled not only through the cunning game of the usual political maneuvers and trickery
but through the cogent example of a morally superior conduct of life". Other tributes
compared Gandhi to Socrates, to Buddha, to Jesus, and to Saint Fancis of Assisi.
The life of Mahatma (great soul) Gandhi is very documented. Certainly it was an
extraordinary life, poking at the ancient Hindu religion and culture and modern
revolutionary ideas about politics and society, an unusual combination of perceptions and
values. Gandhi's life was filled with contradictions. He was described as a gentle man
who was an outsider, but also as a godly and almost mystical person, but he had a great
determination. Nothing could change his convictions. Some called him a master politician,
others called him a saint, and millions of Indians called him Mahatma or Bapu (father). I
on the other hand call him extraordinarily great.
Gandhi's life was devoted to a search for truth. He believed that truth could be known
only through tolerance and concern for others, and that finding a truthful way to
solutions required constant attention. He dedicated himself to truth, to nonviolence, to
purity, to poverty, to scripture reading, to humility, to honesty, and to fearlessness.
He called his autobiography, My Experiments with Truth. Gandhi overcame fear in himself
and taught others to master fear. He believed in Ahimsa (nonviolence) and taught that to
be truly nonviolent required courage. He lived a simple life and thought it was wrong to
kill animals for food or clothing.
In his religious studies, he happened upon Leo Tolstoy's Christian writings, and was
inspired. It stated that all government is based on war and violence, and that one can
attack these only through passive resistance. This made a deep impression on Gandhi.
Gandhi developed a method of direct social action, based upon principals of courage,
nonviolence, and truth, which he called Satyagraha (holding on to truth). In this method,
the way people behave is more important than what they achieve in life. Satyagraha was
used to fight for India's independence and to bring about social change.
In 1884, he founded the Natal Indian Congress to fight for Indian's rights and he used
and perfected the tool of satyagraha (nonviolent resistance) in demanding and protecting
the rights of the Indian community of South Africa. He would later use this tool in
fighting the British for India's independence.
He started his first two ashrams, (Hindu religious groups) in South Africa, one was named
Phoenix and the other, Tolstoy. Men, women, and children lived at the Tolstoy Farm where
they were schooled about fearlessness, self-reliance, self-denial, self-sacrifice, and
suffering; and embracing poverty and living in harmony with other people and with nature.
Once educated they could learn to practice brahmacharya, the creator God of Hindu,
satyagraha, and ahimsa, so they could attack their corrupt society and the government. 
He was a believer in manual labor and simple living. He spun thread and wove the cloth
for his own garments and insisted that his followers do so, too. He disagreed with those
who wanted India to become an industrial country.
From 1893 to 1914 he worked for an Indian firm in South Africa as a lawyer. During these
years Gandhi's experiences of open, racial discrimination moved him into agitation. His
interest soon turned to the problem of Indians who had come to South Africa as laborers.
He had seen how they were treated as inferiors in India, in England, and then in South
Africa.
In 1906, Gandhi began his peaceful revolution. He declared he would go to jail or even
die before obeying an anti-Asian law. Thousands of Indians joined him in this civil
disobedience campaign. 
He started protest campaigns and organized demonstrations, but never used violence. His
philosophy was to never fight back against the atrocities, but still never retreat. This,
he said, would decrease the hate against him and his fellow believers, and increase the
respect felt towards him. Gandhi's one aim was that everybody - Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs,
Jews, Christians, black, white, and yellow - could live together in peace and harmony.
On January 13, 1948, at the age of 78, Gandhi began his last protest. On January 18,
British leaders pledged to stop fighting and Gandhi ceased his nonviolent attack. Twelve
days later, on January 30, 1948, in Delhi, while on his way to his regular prayer
meeting, Gandhi was shot and killed by a Hindu fanatic opposed to partition.
Mohandas Ghandi was the source of many changes throughout, India, Britain, and the world.
With all that Ghandi has done in our world it becomes overwhelming when I think about his
life. What Ghandi did in terms of opening the minds of the people of India is almost
analogous to what Christ did to open the minds of the people around him. With all that
can be said about Ghandi, I would like to now shift focus upon his economic impact in
Britain and India.
Britain's self-glorifying empire building was a great hindrance on the Indian economy.
Britain employed the "Mother Country" system in Indian. This is a system where the raw
materials of the colony (i.e. India) are harvested and shipped to the Mother country
(i.e. Britain.) The raw materials are manufactured into goods that are shipped back to
the colony where they can be sold for a great profit. Britain had a firm grasp on the
cotton market in India. The Indians were forced to sell their raw cotton to the British,
and the British would manufacture it into clothes that were sold back to the Indians.
Ghandi saw how England was able to railroad the Indian population with its strangle hold
on the cotton market. As stated earlier, Ghandi hand-spun his own cloth and inspired
others to do as well. By making and using their own cotton the Indian people were
protesting the British way of doing things. Ghandi, and his followers, rejected Western
style clothing because they had strong feelings of nationalism and proclaimed they were
not westerners, thus they would not wear their style of clothing. 
The Western style of clothing was just one of many things Ghandi rejected while he was
developing into the man that we remember. Had Ghandi accepted the traditional Western
style clothing he would not have been able to reach all Indians since a large number of
Indians could not afford British clothes.
Ghandi's policy of non-cooperation and peaceful disobedience is one that would be very
difficult to follow through with. I do believe that peaceful protest is a very effective
means of getting what you want. When people see a group protesting in a non-violent
fashion and then they see that group beaten to the ground by police, it tends to build
public support for those in protest.
Ghandi's defiance towards British rule brought forward a primal emotion that exists in
all people, fear. Ghandi undoubtedly had some fear of what might come of him because of
his actions, but that did not stop him from pursuing his goal. Ghandi's ability to
inspire the Indian nation certainly caused fear in the British. Approximately 50,000
British were in a foreign land trying to control 300 million Indians, those are not good
odds when the people you are controlling start to rebel. Ghandi would not let his fears
stop him, regardless of how he felt he continued to stand for equality and justice.
Mahatma Gandhi was an astounding example of someone who was pass and misunderstood, and
yet had great determination and beliefs. Throughout his life he brought attention to his
beliefs of equality and nonviolence , two main factors of world peace. His teachings,
thoughts, and beliefs hold great knowledge and will be forever left as his legacy. 
Hopefully, when his life accomplishments and beliefs are looked at and considered by all
masses, Gandhi's true intention could result causing a powerful effect on humanity; a
rebuilding of government and society and in effect world peace.