"Gandhi: Voice of a New Age Revolution"

Gandhi: Voice of a New Age Revolution

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born on October 2, 1869 in Porbandar, a town on the Arabian Sea coast of India. He received the name Mahatma (Great Soul) later in his life. His family was a "family of politicians," he said, "always involved in secret alliances and mutual promotions." He was somewhat afraid of his father though he respected him all the same. His relationship with his mother was unusually close and her hopes for him very high. She-as well as his father-saw something remarkable in him.

He was a rather shy child and hated to be a part of a crowd of other boys. At the age of 13 Gandhi married and experienced a period of active rebellion against his parents, religion, and society. He recovered from this phase and passed the entrance examination to Samaldas College in Bhavnagar. He had to improve his English there in order to follow the lectures. In 1888 he went to England to join the Inner Temple, a law college in London.

In London he became involved with a group of idealists and rebels, among them Annie Besant, George Bernard Shaw, Tolstoy, and Helena Petrovna Blavatsky. Here he learned of vegetarianism and was persuaded of the wrongness of eating meat. This change was very important because it initiated many others. Among these are beliefs in ahimsa (the practice of never causing harm to any living being), fasting, and non-violent resistance. Also the concept of satyagraha, or soul-force, played an essential role in Gandhi's belief that it was only through love and non-violence that humans are truly capable of overcoming the opposition, no matter how brutal it might be.

In 1891 Gandhi returned to India with a barrister's degree. He was met with little success and so he...