Gandhi: A Political and Spiritual Life

He also fasted during a strike of mill workers in Ahmedabad. He also famously used fasting to try to improve the status of members of the lower castes, or Harijans. On September 20, , Gandhi began a fast for them, opposing a British plan for a separate voting body for the Harijans. Fasting also saw some temples opened to exterior castes for the first time in history.

I came to feel that it was the only morally and practically sound method open to oppressed people in their struggle for freedom. Although a devout Hindu his whole life, he was very interested in and influenced by other religions, especially Islam and Christianity. These religions shaped his spiritual outlook, along with thinkers such as Henry David Thoreau, Leo Tolstoy and Ruskin.

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Having studied many religions and their writings, Gandhi came to believe that God and religion were two very different things. Therefore, Gandhi wanted unreserved reverence for all the great religions in the world. He asked for much more than tolerance; he pleaded for deep mutual understanding of humanity to learn from each other. Similarly, Gandhi desired social justice for all in society, without discrimination.

He argued that, as a country grows economically, it must ensure that all its members are brought with it. No one can be left behind. This philosophy is known as swadeshi , which, in effect, means local self-sufficiency. According to the principle of swadeshi, whatever is made or produced in the village must be used first and foremost by the members of that village. Gandhi argued that trading among villages and between villages and towns should be minimal, but goods and services that cannot be generated within the community can be bought from elsewhere.

He also urged Indians to make their own clothing rather than buy British goods. Gandhi believed that swadeshi avoided economic dependence on external market forces that could make the village community vulnerable. He had seen the reliance of villagers on the resources of British rule and the upper class and knew what devastation this could cause.

He also believed that, without the ability to grow and source your own resources, conflict will never be eliminated. Swadeshi also avoids unnecessary, unhealthy, wasteful and environmentally destructive transportation. If you consider how most things are transported in India, the avoidance of having to use this means has great implications.

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Through this, each individual can be free. Gandhi was also very concerned about the path society was taking towards the over-use of technology and machines. He believed a society in which workers had to labour at a conveyor belt, in which animals were treated cruelly in factory farms, and in which economic development often left the environment devastated, was not a civilisation we should be creating. In fact, Mahatma Gandhi was accused of being anti-machines and anti-technological advancement throughout his time.

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But when questioned on whether he was opposed to machines, he answered: The spinning wheel is a machine; a little toothpick is a machine. What I object to is the craze for machinery, not machinery as such.

The craze is for what they call labour-saving machinery. I want the concentration of wealth not in the hands of few, but in hands of all. Today, machinery merely helps a few to ride on the backs of millions. Swadeshi, for Gandhi, was a sacred principle — as sacred for him as the principle of truth and nonviolence.

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Much debate has been had over the years on whether Mahatma Gandhi was a great spiritual leader or, in fact, just a political one. He did not publish countless books on how to follow his philosophy. He did not create a doctrine or set a path for us all to travel. However, that does not make him any less of a spiritual leader we can all learn from and try to emulate in our own lives.

His understanding of society, of human beings, was truly profound.

Kathryn Tidrick

And to come from being a bumbling law student to one of the great world leaders of our time — that is a spiritual leader. His influence and the importance of his messages of non-violence, truth and equality can give us all something to pursue. We all can try to live a life where we seek equality for everyone around us, where we encourage religious equality and we try to support local producers and communities.

We can all live the life of non-violent protest over the mistreatment and unfair conditions of people in our community. Perhaps one of the most powerful messages for us today came in one of the final notes left by Gandhi in Whenever you are in doubt, or when the self becomes too much with you, apply the following test. Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man [woman] whom you may have seen and ask yourself if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him [her].

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Will he [she] gain anything by it? Will it restore him [her] to a control over his [her] own life and destiny? In other words, will it lead to swaraj [freedom] for the hungry and spiritually starving millions? Then you will find your doubts and your self melt away. Amy Taylor-Kabbaz is a writer, speaker and creator of happymama. Tidrick's work on Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi 's life has received much attention.

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In her book Tidrick argues that Gandhi's student life in London was his decisive and formative period where he acquired the ideas which would be put to use till his death. This point of view differs from more conventional understandings of Gandhi's intellectual inheritance that locates his ideas in Ancient India. Gandhi's political actions and even aging process were the result of putting in practice the ideas gathered during his time in London, "Tidrick discovers a recursive genetic order which explains why certain books were the mute canons of the thinker and why certain events of life continued to discharge these thoughts: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

London Review of Books. Economic and Political Weekly. Retrieved from " https: All articles with dead external links Articles with dead external links from July Infobox person using alma mater Articles with hCards Year of birth missing living people All stub articles.

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