Mahatma Gandhi was a noble spirit who continues to be among us and contributes to our world’s betterment. Mahatma Gandhi, known as Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, was born on 2 October 1869. He was born in Porbandar, Gujarat, India. His father, Karamchand Gandhi and mother, Putlibai, are considered to have an illustrious reputation.
So many incidents from his life show how his strong principles and ideas were rooted in his childhood. He was against the evil of a rigid caste system. He believed in peace and practised non-violence since his childhood. The seeds of ideologies such as non-violence, truthfulness, patriotism, equality for humanity and standing up for what is right were sown in his early childhood.
Mahatma Gandhi went to South Africa to start his law practice. He lived over there for 21 years. The discrimination he faced in South Africa by the white population was the turning point in his life.
He came back to India, and the term ‘Satyagraha’ was coined by him. He was a preacher of love and truthfulness.
We can pay tribute to his birth anniversary by adopting his teachings. Students can learn a lot from him. He stated that ‘Man can move mountains by faith’. If learners adopt the idea of faith and grit in their lives, no one can stop their success.
We can learn from his ideologies as he was the one who always believed in empowering others. He was a peacemaker and always presented ideas out of the box. He was an eminent personality, but people called him ‘Bapu’ because they considered him their family member. The impact of his philosophy of non-violence in inspiring leaders of the 20th century like Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan, Martin Luther King jr, and Nelson Mandela is the expression of a meaningful mode of political thinking which can be invoked as a Gandhian philosophy. All of us must read his autobiography ‘My Experiments with Truth’.
As we are witnessing so many heated arguments, quarrels and violence in today’s blighted time of hate, I wonder what Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi would have done if he were alive today.
He would have preached love, truth and equality.
By Vimaljyoti (PGT)
