The Life of Mohandas Gandhi, Essay Example

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, also known as Mahatma Gandhi (“The Great Soul”) and Bapu (“Father”) was a spiritual leader in India on the verge of the 19^th and 20^th centuries and who gave a strong incentive, inspiration and ideology for the majority of civil rights leaders in the upcoming epochs. He was a proponent of his “satyagraha” philosophy, which meant the civil disobedience type and the “ahimsa” principle – it stands for the total non-violence principle of protesting. His deeds and strategy of achieving wellness for people and with the help of people, by means of public protests without any military or violent interactions has been taken as a global pattern for peaceful civil rights struggle that helped preserve peace and wellness of the nation. For this reason contemporary outstanding political figures called him their main inspirer who managed to achieve extraordinary results with non-violence methods, only through the ethical influence.

Gandhi took his inspiration from strong religious principles and honored the Bhagavad-Gita the sacred Hindu poem that gave him wisdom, strength and humbleness. Gandhi suffered much grief and discrimination in his life, but still his immutable struggle for equality, justice and peace marked his life and ensured his eternal place in the world’s history. In his own words, Gita played a vital role in his life in terms of inspiration and teaching – Gandhi repeatedly noticed that these verses helped him get relief from mundane tragedies that were plentiful in his life and relieved him from sadness and hardships. He assumed that the writing was very grateful to those who took it the right way, and it always awarded careful readers by joy and peace. It also gave him the singleness of mind that was essential for him to manifest freedom and equality and to pursue these eternal values with a clear mind and soul and non-violently.

Gandhi started his non-violent civil disobedience path at an early age, since he witnessed discrimination and injustice both in the foreign lands and at home, in India. By his entire lifestyle and activity he showed how lucid his philosophy was and how strongly he kept to it. Being a vegetarian both in terms of religious canons and as a type of a protest, never turning to violence and inspiring people to fight for their rights without massacre, violence and bloodshed Gandhi showed a new way of protest, a new kind of a fight for rights that is not likely to create a new evil. The ethical approach to the political, social and civil struggle was so inspiring from the point of view of humanity and constructiveness of the approach that it continues finding its followers until present times.

Gandhi’s impartial approach to the fight for the rights of all people and for the success and progress of his native country impressed all peer observers and profound political figures afterwards. The most powerful civil right movement leaders such as Martin Luther King or Nelson Mandela were the most dedicated followers of Gandhi due to his love of freedom and peace. His ethical approach to reforming the country and eliminating its evils was the strategy pursued by civil right movements – Gandhi’s ideology propagated elimination of discrimination and establishment of justice, thus helping people achieve their goals in a peaceful way. Which is even more important, Gandhi showed that outstanding results can be achieved with the hands of ordinary people, which was also essential for civil rights fighters like King or Mandela.

As one can see, Gandhi was the historical figure of a tremendously profound importance for all civil rights movements. His inspiration continues to guide people on the path of justice, equality and success. Through a coherent, non-violent strategy of ethical change and progress Gandhi managed to achieve profound success in India, showing that it was possible for anyone to do this. His philosophy guides contemporary groups and nations on their way to wisdom, well-being and peace, showing the true power of a simple human being on the way to goodness.