The Beliefs Of Gandhi, Gandhi And Gandhi

Niloufer Bhagwat’s “The Political Relevance and Global Impact of Mahatma Gandhi” conveys her stance on Gandhi’s influence on how different groups of people combated forms of oppression. Bhagwat says “wherever the political, economic, social, and ecological future of humanity and… earth is debated and discussed, Gandhiji with his simple precepts provides a guidance for all generations” (Bhagwat 33). I believe that her argument successfully convinces the reader that the principles Gandhi followed and the strategies he used, non-violent civil disobedience and non-cooperation, not Gandhi himself, left a lasting impact on the world.

Mohandas Gandhi was the first recorded individual to adopt a non-violent method based form for change. His primary objective was for people of all ethnicities and social class to live freely amongst each other, even those inflicted upon by India’s ancient caste system.

The essential of Gandhi is anthology of his life. It is separated into two parts. One as Gandhi the man and the other as the Mahatma meaning Great Soul. I was very much well interested in the readings of The Essential Gandhi. What I was most interested in was that he spoke with so much determination and compassion. His firm belief in nonviolence was presented very strongly. “I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent. Gandhi believed strongly in non-violent civil disobedience, so he states that violence provides only temporary relief or satisfaction, but the pain it causes people and societies is much greater. There is so much violence in the world today and some believe you have to fight violence with violence but Gandhi was very successful with his method of not acting upon violence in such of as in a hatred way. He solely helped India become independent with his method of nonviolence. Before I read this story I knew very little details of him, but the main thing that always puzzled me, what gave Gandhi the courage to make such a difference in the world?

Gandhi was an Indian lawyer, politician, social activist and writer who would lead the independence movement of India to free the country of British rule (“Mahatma Gandhi,” 2017). He would prove that a single person could change the course of history and take on the entire British Empire. Gandhi’s principles of nonviolence and civil disobedience are attributed to his success in gaining independence for India. The act of passive resistance allowed Gandhi to generate more support for his movement for independence while making it difficult for the British to find reasons to arrest them. He argued that although violence could be more effective than peaceful

Mohandas “Mahatma” Gandhi was a spiritual leader from India. Dr. King was inspired by Gandhi after hearing a delivery by Dr. Mordecai Johnson president of Howard University. His words about Gandhi inspired King to want to learn more about him. He purchased all the books he could find and grew more passionately about Gandhi’s beliefs. Gandhi believed in non-violence. Gandhi tested various methods of non-violence. He felt that having high standards and morals did not make one weak. Gandhi felt that good should prevail over evil.

Non-violence is another imperative feature of civil disobedient acts whereby the act of resistance is done without consideration of any extremist measure such as damaging property or harming other civilians. This element of non-violence corresponds with the public nature of the civil disobedience that are normally undertaken such as peaceful march, candlelight vigil , hunger strike and the famous Salt Satyagraha which was undertaken by Mahatma Gandhi and is deemed as one of the most effective and influential part of his civil disobedience actions in his fight for India`s independence.13

Throughout history, many conflicts have happened, some with resolution, and other without. We often tend to think of solving conflicts with war, since most of our history classes are based around World War I, World War II, and so forth, but many conflicts were fought, and successfully won using nonviolent resistance. Many people would use Gandhi as a well known example. Gandhi’s plan of civil disobedience revolved around this big idea called “satyagraha,” which he explains as, “a satyagrahi should always possess civility and humility, qualities that indicated self-control and an humble approach to truth” (Gandhi 50). He later explains that satyagraha is “truth-force” and that truth is soul and spirit, or “spirit-force.” “It excludes the use of violence because man is not capable of knowing the absolute truth and, therefore, not competent to punish” (51). He used this strategy to fight for indian independence. Many other incidents in the world have been fought using civil disobedience, including Women’s Suffrage.

When Gandhi was trying to prove a point he did two main things, he would get arrested or he would stop eating. One of the main ways he got the Indians to stop using violence against the English was through not eating. He would not eat for days and sometimes weeks just to get his people to stop fighting. Although the founding father of civil disobedience was Henry David Thoreau but Gandhi was the first to really adopt the lifestyle of non-violence, he took constant beatings to show that being violent wa snot the answer. There was two different ways that Gandhi looked at violence, passive and physical. Passive meaning that you get under someone's skin and provoke the physical violence from the person. Physical obviously meaning physically harming someone or something. Gandhi used the term “Ahimsa”, which translates to nonviolence in english, when talking about nonviolence. The term means that no violence is okay passive nor physical. Gandhi also believed that violence was not a natural thing of humans, he believed it was learned through experience.

He believed that truth and nonviolence, above all were of the highest value. Raghavan Iyer, in discussing the writings of Gandhi states “Gandhi teaches that Truth is God, and that it is our sacred duty to seek it. If Truth was to Gandhi the Ultimate End, then ahimsa (nonviolence) was the perfect means of attaining that end.” Gandhi truly believed that the greatest power that any individual has is the power of non-violence.

During King’s earlier years, he thought that nonviolence was only useful in the context of group conflicts within nations. Later, as he delved deeper into the nonviolent philosophy of Gandhi, and how it worked in the struggle for independence of India, he expanded this belief in nonviolent conflict resolution to an international scale as well. Nonviolence aligns with the principle of love that King lives by, and violence stands directly against it. King also associates violence with hatred and bitterness, and believes that responding to one wrong with another succeeds only in intensifying the hatred that exists in the world.

The idea of non violence has stemmed off Gandhi in many forms. Gandhi once quoted “Non-violence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man” and he fulfilled what he said.

Aroused by the massacre of Amritsar in 1919, Gandhi devoted his life to gaining India’s independence from Great Britain. As the dominant figure used his persuasive philosophy of non-violent confrontation, he inspired political activists with many persuasions throughout the world (Andrews 23). Not only was Mahatma Gandhi a great peacemaker, but also his work to achieve freedom and equality for all people was greatly acknowledged. Gandhi’s unconventional style of leadership gained him the love of a country and eventually enabled him to lead the independence movement in India.

Early environment, family tradition, and study of both Gandhi and King, at some points similar but at most points different, shape their characters and form their expectations for their societies and their people . Both Gandhi and King believed that their aims could be achieved through non- violent means. They held a common ideology of non-violence. This common ideology on non-violence was not to be understood as a failure to act. It should be understood as a direct resistance which is grounded in love force or agraha.

When oppression, repression, and suppression is all there is in a society, citizens have the right and must revolt against such tyranny, and they do, but often they counteract violence with more violence. Often, they retaliate with the same principle of injustice that creates enmity and separation from truth, harmony and justice. And much more often, they ignore the evil and corruption that now conquers their hearts, making them the new tyrants. Yet, Mahatma Gandhi, a humble man whose weapon was more powerful than all the guns and man’s power combined, showed us that non-violence is the most effective weapon to combat violence and transform enmity into friendship and hate into love, and ultimately find a truthful justice within a society.

Reading an excerpt from Gandhi’s “Satyagraha” we find many similarities to the ideas found in Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience”. One of these similarities would be how Gandhi is for the non-violence. Just like in “Civil Disobedience” Gandhi emphasizes on doing the right thing, and standing up for what you believe in. He states with full confidence, “Award us for it what punishment you like, we will put up with it. Send us to prison and we will live there as in a paradise” (Gandhi 401). He goes on and talks about all the terrible things they could do to them, but Gandhi stands his ground. He is willing to die for what’s right. Just like how Thoreau stood up to the law Gandhi did the same. He told them that “We will gladly die and will not so much as touch you. But so long as there is yet life in these our bones, we will never comply with your arbitrary laws” (Thoreau 401). Both