A Biographical Item about Mahatma Gandhi - Assignment Example

A biographical item about Mahatma Gandhi One is generally puzzled by the question as to who inspired his/her life the most and has become one’s most trusted role model in life. But for me, it is not a difficult question that I adore a great personality whom I regard as the one instilled in me various good qualities and a true mender of my life. This is none other than Gandhi, the Father of India, one among the greatest leaders world has ever seen. He was the man who stood for the liberation of India, not through any violent and protective way but with suffering and perseverance. The way he showed was named as ‘Ahimsa’ meaning non violence. It is a hard task for one to mention the qualities of Gandhi, as he possessed certain characteristic traits which are certainly difficult for one to pursue in his or her life. But if one intends to speak about the virtues of Gandhi, one may get surprised at the thought that which quality should be mentioned first. Therefore, I am also get confused with the same thought when attempting to reveal the virtue of Gandhi that influenced me too much. However, I think, among the virtues of Gandhi the dominating are non-violence, truthfulness, love, ahimsa, and so on. Mahatma Gandhi is much more than a political leader. He is rightly been hailed as the father of the nation. The charismatic personality of Gandhi and his political ideology that upheld peace and non-violence was sufficient enough to bring independence to the nation. There have been many who were attracted and influenced by Gandhi’s thoughts, ideologies and ways of life. There is no wonder why Gandhism is today renowned as a way of life rather than a political ideology. In one of his speeches he utters, “And it is my constant prayer that I may never have a feeling of anger against my traducers, that even if I fall a victim to an assassin’s bullet, I may deliver up my soul with the remembrance of God upon my lips” (Gandhi & Kripalani 50). The life sketch: Gandhi was born on October 2, 1869 in Porbandar, Gujarat, India. Being the son of a rich man, Karamchand Gandhi, he was given basic education in India and later he was taken to London for higher studies. There he was observing his Hindu practice and he returned India after his studies came to an end there. He then made his journey to South Africa to practice barrister. In South Africa he was much pained by the discrimination towards Indians and an incident at Pietermaritzburg he was pushed outside from the first class compartment of a train only for being an Indian, turned him to work for the discrimination. He led many movements against the discrimination on Indians by the British people there. He planned to have a new movement against the British, based on nonviolence, called Satyagraha, means devotion to the truth, against the empire. When Gandhi returned from Africa in 1915, he was a giant figure for the freedom fighters in India. His words were given prime importance and he was the advocate of civil disobedience through the path Ahimsa. The new style of protest at first made the British confused but later recognized the power of it. They too knew what peace can do. Even the biggest criticizer against India could not underestimate Gandhi’s works in India. Gandhi’s personality Gandhi is a prominent figure in all history. The independence of India obliges to this man. He was half naked as Churchill called him ‘half naked fakir’ When Gandhi saw his fellow mates in India are not able to but dress , he too discarded it for them and covered with a piece of cloth he led the struggle against the Kingdom. In the appearance he was not at all good looking but when analyzing his personality the whole world throughput the ages bow before him. He one’s spoke as, “My life is my message.” It was true that in his life what he practiced, he spoke, and what he spoke he practiced. His importance lies in his approach to his enemies too. He never showed any hatred towards them and moreover he loved his enemies well. In many ways Gandhi was considered to be a true Christian even though by religion he was not a Christian. The affection towards nature and the creatures of it shows his concern towards the environment. In the Ashram of Porbandar, it was mandatory to give water for the trees and then only they had the food. To look at his political life too he never argued for any position whereas he showed his life to others. He led many satyagraha in India and all these resulted in huge success. The British government too was a favor of Gandhi. He walked around 240 miles, taking 24 days, from his hermitage, Porbandar to Dandi, a port in Gujarat, India to extract salt from the Sea as part of civil disobedience. Civil Disobedience (at times called civil resistance) is the refusal to obey certain laws and demands of a government. It is a non violent and non cooperation movement against a government that is super imposing its authority on the people. In the pre independent India, the British rule imposed heavy tax for salt that was extracted from Indian shores. This raised wide protests from Indian leaders. Gandhi led this movement. He, together with many followers, decided to disobey the government. On April 6, 1930, at many parts of India, people participated in this civil disobedience. This shows his perseverance to struggle a lot to attain his goals. Throughout his life one can see his struggle for his fellow beings in and around him. When India got independence in 1947 everyone in India was celebrating the independence but Gandhi was deeply disappointed on the problems of refuges. He was serving the villagers and others affected by the division of the country into Pakistan, Bangladesh and India. Gandhi’s influence to the world: Gandhi’s life influenced many world leaders like Martin Luther King (junior), Nelson Mandela, Mother Theresa, and the like. The present American President, Barrack Obama too showed his reverence to Gandhi during his visit to India. He is deeply moved by the life of Gandhi. Anyone who reads the autobiography of Gandhi, My Experiments with Truth will surely follow his words and path. He was a man who lived for the world and died for the world. The influence of him will remain throughout the ages and time. Non-violence and truthfulness of Gandhi are the two virtues that attracted my attention and I tried my best to pursue in my life. Nevertheless, it may not be possible for me to tell that I am fully succeeded in attaining those qualities. However, I would recollect his words when he commented of non-violence as the first article of (his) faith and the last article of (his) creed (Gandhi and Non-Violence). This is very notable that he followed this principle all through his life and it was the founding principle of Gandhian spirituality and the key stone of his political theory. He never used violence as a medium to grab political power and insisted that one should evade from violence and falsehood. Non- violence preaches world peace and brotherhood where Gandhi exhorted to strive for universal peace which later stimulated many great leaders of the world. Work Cited: Gandhi and Non-Violence. Mapsofindia.com. 2009. Web. 6 December 2010. Gandhi (Mahatma)., Kripalani, Krishna. All men are brothers: autobiographical reflections. Continuum International Publishing Group, 2005. Print. Read More