Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi

Gandhi, one of the most admired and influential leaders used his belief in nonviolent civil disobedience to lead his people in an effort towards achieving independence for India. India had long been a British colony but many of the Indian people believed in the idea of self determination and self government. Using the power of his skills as an orator and his belief in the power of nonviolence, Gandhi was able to lead his nation in a struggle against one of the most powerful European countries.

Gandhi had self determination on the values of brahamacharya. "I vow to flee from the serpent which I know will bite me, I do not simply make an effort to flee him. I know that mere effort may mean certain death. Mere effort means ignorance of the certain fact that the serpent is bound to kill me."(Pg 207 Gandhi, Mahatma. Gandhi An Autobiography The Story Of my Experiments With Truth. Boston, Massachusetts: Beacon Press books of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations, 1957.) It was a vow of renunciation is the natural and unavoidable fruit. A vow of self-discipline and self determination by Gandhi proved to be beneficial to the human psyche because it offered hope for progress and a better life. Gandhi showed through example that adversity can be positive and lead to growth if the effect on the human psyche motivates the desire for change. Gandhi's philosophies on nonviolent resistance lead to the India's independence from the British.

The British presence in India began in 1765 when the East India Company army defeated the Mughal Emperor and conquered Bengal. From that point on Britain began colonizing Indian an attempt to acquire the trade routes that would profit the queen. The effects of colonization on the Indian people led to many horrifying revolts, but dominant British rule put down every revolt with great force. The strong British rule, long believed to be impenetrable, was shaken by the rise of Mahatma Gandhi and his philosophies on non-violence.

Gandhi (1869-1948), also known as Mahatma Gandhi, was born in Porbandar in the present state of Gujarat on October 2, 1869, and educated in law at University College, London. After being admitted to the British bar, Gandhi returned to India and attempted to establish a law practice in Bombay, but had little success. He then went to South Africa to practice law since as he was never able to establish an effective practice in his homeland. He was shocked at the widespread denial of civil liberties and political rights to Indian immigrants in South Africa. He threw himself into the struggle for elementary rights for Indians. Gandhi remained in South Africa for 20 years, suffering imprisonment many times. After being treated horribly by the white soldiers of South Africa, Gandhi began to teach the policy of passive resistance and non-cooperation towards the South African authorities. Some of the inspiration for embracing this passive non-violent reaction came from Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, whose influence on Gandhi was profound.

Gandhi considered the terms passive resistance and civil disobedience inadequate for his purposes. He coined another term, Satyagraha (Sanskrit, "truth and firmness"). In using language more common to his own experiences and people, Gandhi would be able to Indians who were being marginalized, whether the substandard treatment was happening in South Africa or at home in India. Mahatma Gandhi, the father of non-violence, was an extraordinary leader of peace and human rights. With nothing but simplicity, truth and honesty, Gandhi developed a powerful weapon, Satyagraha, which means 'insistence on truth using non-violent non-cooperation', and employed it successfully to win freedom, independence, reform and equality of all human beings. The Satyagraha Movement spread throughout India, gaining millions of followers. Gandhi retreated briefly from this when violence broke out and martial law was declared. In the year____ in April, the movement came to a halt when British troops fired at point-blank range into a crowd of 10,000 unarmed and unsuspecting Indians gathered at Amritsar in the Punjab to celebrate a Hindu festival. A total of 1,650 rounds are fired, killing 379 and wounding 1,137. (Gandhi, Mahatma. Gandhi An Autobiography The Story Of my Experiments With Truth. Boston, Massachusetts: Beacon Press books of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations, 1957.)

Economic independence for India, involving the complete boycott of British goods, was the outcome of Gandhi's Swaraj (Sanskrit, "self-ruling") movement. The dominant effect of British control of the economic means of production in India was devastating to the native people. The exploitation of Indian villagers by British industrialists had resulted in extreme poverty in the country and the virtual destruction of Indian home industries. England also enjoyed great profits on British clothes made in India and sold to Indians. As a remedy for such poverty, Gandhi advocated revival of cottage industries; he began to use a spinning wheel as a token of the return to the simple village life he preached, and of the renewal of native Indian industries. The success of these philosophies of Gandhi resulted in the boycott of British goods by Indians as well as hunger strikes, public demonstrations, and speeches. Gandhi once led a group of fewer than 100 people on a journey to the Indian Ocean to protest a British control on salt production. By the time he arrived, thousands had joined him on the beaches in a show of passive resistance. The economic gains made by England in India were significant and they did not want to lose the profits they were enjoying by exploiting Indian labor and natural resources. Losing India would make Great Britain a much weaker international player. Gandhi's speeches on independence were given daily, which created more followers that were more willing to protest the English crown in India. English made clothing was set on fire to show the taste of freedom and the need to achieve it. Gandhi's thoughts on non-violence were really strict. He never wanted to risk any bloodshed in order to get independence. Boycotts and other non-violent protests, in Gandhi's mind, was the path to glory and the nation's freedom. Through the use of boycotts, Gandhi demonstrated that adversity can be beneficial to progress if the effect on the human psyche motivates the desire for change. The people of India took the non-violent philosophies of Gandhi