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Message: <blockquote data-quote="G.D.1.nirmal" data-source="post: 11519324" data-attributes="member: 80976">Simplicity <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gandhi_and_Mountbatten_drink_tea.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ee/Gandhi_and_Mountbatten_drink_tea.jpg/220px-Gandhi_and_Mountbatten_drink_tea.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gandhi_and_Mountbatten_drink_tea.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://bits.wikimedia.org/skins-1.18/common/images/magnify-clip.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a>Gandhi earnestly believed that a person involved in public service should lead a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simple_living" target="_blank">simple life</a>.  He first displayed this principle when he gave up wearing western-style  clothing, which he associated with wealth and success. When he returned  to India he renounced the western lifestyle he led in South Africa,  where he had enjoyed a successful legal practice. Gandhi dressed to be accepted by the poorest person in India, advocating the use of homespun cloth (khadi). He and his followers adopted the practice of weaving their own clothes from thread they themselves spun on a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charkha" target="_blank">charkha</a>,  and encouraged others to do so. While Indian workers were often idle  due to unemployment, they had often bought their clothing from  industrial manufacturers owned by British interests. The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swadeshi_movement" target="_blank">Swadeshi movement</a>  held that if Indians made their own clothes, it would deal an economic  blow to the British establishment in India. Gandhian simplicity was a  sign and expression of swadeshi principles. Consequently, the charkha was later incorporated into the flag of the Indian National Congress. He subsequently wore a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhoti" target="_blank">dhoti</a> for the rest of his life to express the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simplicity" target="_blank">simplicity</a> of his life. The practice of giving up unnecessary expenditure, embracing a simple  lifestyle and washing his own clothes, Gandhi called "reducing himself  to zero".<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi#cite_note-94" target="_blank">[95]</a> On one occasion he returned the gifts bestowed to him from the Natals for his diligent service to the community.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi#cite_note-95" target="_blank">[96]</a> Gandhi spent one day of each week in silence. He believed that abstaining from speaking brought him <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inner_peace" target="_blank">inner peace</a> and made him a better listener. This influence was drawn from the Hindu principles of mauna (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanskrit" target="_blank">Sanskrit</a>:मौनं — silence) and shanti (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanskrit" target="_blank">Sanskrit</a>:शांति —  peace). On such days he communicated with others by writing on paper.  For three and a half years, from the age of 37, Gandhi refused to read  newspapers, claiming that the tumultuous state of world affairs caused  him more confusion than his own inner unrest. After reading <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ruskin" target="_blank">John Ruskin</a>'s <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unto_This_Last" target="_blank">Unto This Last</a>, he decided to change his lifestyle and create a commune called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Phoenix_Settlement&action=edit&redlink=1" target="_blank">Phoenix Settlement</a>.  Faith Gandhi was born a Hindu and practised <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinduism" target="_blank">Hinduism</a>  all his life. As a common Hindu, he believed all religions to be equal,  and rejected all efforts to convert him to a different faith. He was an  avid theologian and read extensively about all major religions. He had  the following to say about Hinduism: Hinduism as I know it entirely satisfies my soul, fills my whole  being...When doubts haunt me, when disappointments stare me in the face,  and when I see not one ray of light on the horizon, I turn to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhagavad_Gita" target="_blank">Bhagavad Gita</a>,  and find a verse to comfort me; and I immediately begin to smile in the  midst of overwhelming sorrow. My life has been full of tragedies and if  they have not left any visible and indelible effect on me, I owe it to  the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gandhi_Smriti.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b1/Gandhi_Smriti.jpg/220px-Gandhi_Smriti.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a>  <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gandhi_Smriti.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://bits.wikimedia.org/skins-1.18/common/images/magnify-clip.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birla_House" target="_blank">Gandhi Smriti</a> (The house Gandhi lodged in the last 4 months of his life has now become a monument, New Delhi)   Gandhi wrote a commentary on the Bhagavad Gita in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gujarati_language" target="_blank">Gujarati</a>.  The Gujarati manuscript was translated into English by Mahadev Desai,  who provided an additional introduction and commentary. It was published  with a Foreword by Gandhi in 1946.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi#cite_note-96" target="_blank">[97]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi#cite_note-97" target="_blank">[98]</a> Gandhi believed that at the core of every religion was truth and love (compassion, nonviolence and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethic_of_reciprocity" target="_blank">the Golden Rule</a>).  He also questioned what he saw as hypocrisy, malpractices, and dogma in  all religions, including his own, and he was a tireless advocate for  social reform in religion. Some of his comments on various religions  are: Thus if I could not accept Christianity either as a perfect, or the  greatest religion, neither was I then convinced of Hinduism being such.  Hindu defects were pressingly visible to me. If untouchability could be  a part of Hinduism, it could but be a rotten part or an excrescence. I  could not understand the raison d'être of a multitude of sects  and castes. What was the meaning of saying that the Vedas were the  inspired Word of God? If they were inspired, why not also the Bible and  the Koran? As Christian friends were endeavouring to convert me, so were  Muslim friends. Abdullah Seth had kept on inducing me to study Islam,  and of course he had always something to say regarding its beauty. —<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Story_of_My_Experiments_with_Truth" target="_blank">Gandhi's autobiography</a> As soon as we lose the moral basis, we cease to be religious. There  is no such thing as religion over-riding morality. Man, for instance,  cannot be untruthful, cruel or incontinent and claim to have God on his  side. The sayings of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad" target="_blank">Muhammad</a> are a treasure of wisdom, not only for Muslims but for all of mankind. Later in his life, when he was asked whether he was a Hindu, he  replied, "Yes I am. I am also a Christian, a Muslim, a Buddhist and a  Jew." Gandhi met the Indian spiritual teacher <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meher_Baba" target="_blank">Meher Baba</a>  aboard the S.S. Rajputana on his way to the second Round Table  Conference in London in 1931, saying that he was very happy to meet Baba  and asking him to break his silence.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi#cite_note-98" target="_blank">[99]</a> In spite of their deep reverence to each other, Gandhi and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabindranath_Tagore" target="_blank">Rabindranath Tagore</a>  engaged in protracted debates more than once. These debates exemplify  the philosophical differences between the two most famous Indians at the  time. On 15 January <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1934_Bihar_earthquake" target="_blank">1934, an earthquake</a> hit <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bihar" target="_blank">Bihar</a>  and caused extensive damage and loss of life. Gandhi maintained this  was because of the sin committed by upper caste Hindus by not letting  untouchables in their temples (Gandhi was committed to the cause of  improving the fate of untouchables, referring to them as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harijan" target="_blank">Harijans</a>).  Tagore vehemently opposed Gandhi's stance, maintaining that an  earthquake can only be caused by natural forces, not moral reasons,  however repugnant the practice of untouchability may be.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi#cite_note-99" target="_blank">[100]</a> Gandhi took a keen interest in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theosophy" target="_blank">theosophy</a>. He empathised with theosophy's message of "universal brotherhood and consequent toleration", as he put it in 1926.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi#cite_note-100" target="_blank">[101]</a>  Swaraj, Self-Rule Main article: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swaraj" target="_blank">Swaraj</a>  <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tagore_Gandhi.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Tagore_Gandhi.jpg/220px-Tagore_Gandhi.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a>  <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tagore_Gandhi.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://bits.wikimedia.org/skins-1.18/common/images/magnify-clip.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a> Gandhi with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabindranath_Tagore" target="_blank">Rabindranath Tagore</a>, 1940   Gandhi was a self-described <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophical_anarchism" target="_blank">philosophical anarchist</a>,<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi#cite_note-101" target="_blank">[102]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi#cite_note-102" target="_blank">[103]</a> and his vision of India meant an India without an underlying government.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi#cite_note-103" target="_blank">[104]</a> He once said that "the ideally nonviolent state would be an ordered anarchy."<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi#cite_note-104" target="_blank">[105]</a>  While political systems are largely hierarchical, with each layer of  authority from the individual to the central government have increasing  levels of authority over the layer below, Gandhi believed that society  should be the exact opposite, where nothing is done without the consent  of anyone, down to the individual. His idea was that true <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swaraj" target="_blank">self-rule</a> in a country means that every person rules his or herself and that there is no state which enforces laws upon the people.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi#cite_note-105" target="_blank">[106]</a>  This would be achieved over time with nonviolent conflict mediation, as  power is divested from layers of hierarchical authorities, ultimately  to the individual, which would come to embody the ethic of nonviolence.  Rather than a system where rights are enforced by a higher authority,  people are self-governed by mutual responsibilities. On returning from  South Africa, when Gandhi received a letter asking for his participation  in writing a world charter for human rights, he responded saying, "in  my experience, it is far more important to have a charter for human  duties."<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi#cite_note-106" target="_blank">[107]</a> A free India for him meant the existence of thousands of self-sufficient small communities (an idea possibly from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Tolstoy" target="_blank">Tolstoy</a>)  who rule themselves without hindering others. It did not mean merely  transferring a British established administrative structure into Indian  hands which he said was just making Hindustan into Englistan.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi#cite_note-Chapter-107" target="_blank">[108]</a> He wanted to ultimately dissolve the Congress Party after independence and establish a system of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_democracy" target="_blank">direct democracy</a> in India,<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi#cite_note-108" target="_blank">[109]</a> having no faith in the British styled parliamentary system.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi#cite_note-Chapter-107" target="_blank">[108]</a>  Literary works  <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Young_India.png" target="_blank"><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/63/Young_India.png/220px-Young_India.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a>  <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Young_India.png" target="_blank"><img src="http://bits.wikimedia.org/skins-1.18/common/images/magnify-clip.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a> Young India, a journal published by Gandhi   Gandhi was a prolific writer. For decades he edited several newspapers including <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harijan" target="_blank">Harijan</a> in Gujarati, in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindi" target="_blank">Hindi</a> and in the English language; <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Opinion" target="_blank">Indian Opinion</a> while in South Africa and, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_India" target="_blank">Young India</a>, in English, and Navajivan, a Gujarati monthly, on his return to India. Later, Navajivan was also published in Hindi.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi#cite_note-109" target="_blank">[110]</a> In addition, he wrote letters almost every day to individuals and newspapers. Gandhi also wrote several books including his autobiography, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Story_of_My_Experiments_with_Truth" target="_blank">An Autobiography of My Experiments with Truth</a> ((Gujarātī "સત્યના પ્રયોગો અથવા આત્મકથા")), of which he bought the entire first edition to make sure it was reprinted.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi#cite_note-GreatSoulReview-42" target="_blank">[43]</a>[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Disputed_statement" target="_blank">dubious</a> – <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi#Dubious" target="_blank">discuss</a>] His other autobiographies included: Satyagraha in South Africa about his struggle there, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hind_Swaraj_or_Indian_Home_Rule" target="_blank">Hind Swaraj or Indian Home Rule</a>, a political pamphlet, and a paraphrase in Gujarati of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ruskin" target="_blank">John Ruskin</a>'s <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unto_This_Last" target="_blank">Unto This Last</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi#cite_note-Unto_this_last-110" target="_blank">[111]</a>  This last essay can be considered his programme on economics. He also  wrote extensively on vegetarianism, diet and health, religion, social  reforms, etc. Gandhi usually wrote in Gujarati, though he also revised  the Hindi and English translations of his books. Gandhi's complete works were published by the Indian government under the name <a href="http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Collected_Works_of_Mahatma_Gandhi" target="_blank">The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi</a>  in the 1960s. The writings comprise about 50,000 pages published in  about a hundred volumes. In 2000, a revised edition of the complete  works sparked a controversy, as Gandhian followers argue that the  government incorporated the changes for political purposes. The Indian  government later withdrew the revised edition.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi#cite_note-111" target="_blank">[112]</a>  Legacy and depictions in popular culture See also: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_artistic_depictions_of_Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi" target="_blank">List of artistic depictions of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi</a> The word <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahatma" target="_blank">Mahatma</a>, while often mistaken for Gandhi's given name in the West, is taken from the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanskrit_language" target="_blank">Sanskrit</a> words maha (meaning Great) and atma (meaning Soul). <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabindranath_Tagore" target="_blank">Rabindranath Tagore</a> is said to have accorded the title to Gandhi.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi#cite_note-112" target="_blank">[113]</a> In his autobiography, Gandhi nevertheless explains that he never valued the title, and was often pained by it.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi#cite_note-113" target="_blank">[114]</a>  Followers and international influence  <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:USSR_stamp_M.Gandi_1969_6k.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7f/USSR_stamp_M.Gandi_1969_6k.jpg/190px-USSR_stamp_M.Gandi_1969_6k.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a>  <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:USSR_stamp_M.Gandi_1969_6k.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://bits.wikimedia.org/skins-1.18/common/images/magnify-clip.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a></blockquote>

Verification: Hath warak paha keeyada? (hatha wadikireema paha)

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