Arja pessa biography of mahatma gandhi

But you did say something to the effect that it was a pandering to the flesh. Gandhi: And is it not? Millie: No; that reduces the production of children to a weakness, if not an evil. If it's wrong, God himself must be wrong, for it seems to be the only way he has of creating his children, and without it human life would cease on this planet.

Gandhi: Would that be so terrible? Millie: I am not at all sure it would be right, until mankind has attained the perfection we believe it has to grow to. Gandhi: But, you do believe that people who have a great mission or work to do should not spend their energy and time in caring for a little family, when they are called to a bigger field of work?

Millie: Yes, I believe that. Gandhi: Then what are you quarrelling with me about? Millie: Only that you are still making me feel that you think it to be a higher condition of life to be celibate than to be a parent. I think it is the height of ignorance to believe that the sexual act is an independent function necessary like sleeping or eating.

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Seeing, therefore, that I did not desire more children I began to strive after self-control. There was endless difficulty in the task. We began to sleep in separate beds. I decided to retire to bed only after a day's work had left me completely exhausted. Gandhi: I took the vow of celibacy in I had not shared my thoughts with my wife until then, but only consulted her at the time of making the vow.

She had no objection. Judith Brown: It's very much embedded in Hindu tradition this, that your physical state interacts with your spiritual state, so experimentation with celibacy and sexual control is one aspect of that; but also experimentation with different kinds of food, and different foods generate desire or spirituality, so Gandhi is within a long spiritual tradition that sets great store by issues to do with food and daily living.

Getting rid of desire, getting rid of extraneous links with things that would hold you back from the path of truth: so by cutting natural links with his family he's broadening his vision of what the family and the community are. By simplifying life he's getting rid of the things that people would want to keep hold of rather than experimenting with truth.

Millie: Our dietary experiments were many and various. For some time, upon Mr Gandhi's advice, his wife and I cooked without refined sugar. Cooked fruits, puddings or cakes were sweetened with raw cane syrup. When this phase ended we had a salt-less table. Salt, Mr Gandhi contended, was bad not only for health but also for the character. Then he came to the conclusion that onions were bad for the passions, so onions were cut out.

Milk too, Mr Gandhi said, affected the 'passion' side of human life and thereafter milk was abjured likewise. I did not mind the raw onions going, but I questioned the denial of milk Millie: Why is it, if milk stimulates the passions, that it is the best food for babies and young children? Gandhi: The mother's milk is the correct food for babies, but it's not meant for adults.

Millie: I don't mind that, but I cannot see that the same argument can be used against it as a stimulant of the passions. If that were correct, a milk-fed child would be the most unnatural little brute. Think of a little child obsessed with sex because it had had a diet of milk. It's not reasonable. We talk about food probably quite as much as gourmands do.

I'm sure we talk about food more than most people: we seem to be always thinking of the things we either may or may not eat. Sometimes I think it would be better if we just ate anything and didn't think about it at all. Gandhi: Even flesh?

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Millie: A man shall be judged by what comes out of his mouth, not by what he puts into it. Millie: I had a nice healthy dog given to me, and, in accordance with the household tradition, tried to bring him up a vegetarian. He had a very great liking for grapes. We talked to all our friends of the splendid behaviour of our vegetarian dog, and Mr Gandhi was proud of him.

But one evening a member of the household, falling over something at the back door, called out for assistance. Investigation ensued, and we discovered a huge joint of uncooked venison.

Arja pessa biography of mahatma gandhi: S. Ramakrishnan is a writer from

I then found out that for months our dog had been stealing chickens and anything else he could find and eating them raw. Some of our theories were thus found to have, if nothing worse, at least weak spots. Rodney Harber: I came here a few days after that and went to Sarvadoya, I was shocked to see it like that, and found a smouldering book at the back.

It was Tolstoy's book, it had "To my dear friend Karamchand, from Leo", and I took it to the local history museum. It just shows the sort of stuff that may have been lost in the process of the turmoil. All that remained was the floor slab and the chimney; every piece apart from that was just taken and dragged away to build shacks out of.

In fact I understand there's a shabeenwhich is the local word for an illegal pub here, with the original roof of Gandhi's house. I haven't found it, no-one wants to show me, but the owner boasts that he's got Gandhi's house as his shabeen. I thought a resource like this couldn't just be cast away. Rodney Harber: Certainly this middle part [of the house] is original, the raised floor; there was a veranda on the front in some of the photographs, maybe where that cement floor is now, we don't know.

But in the process of reconstructing it we had to work with what we knew was true for sure. So it was like this inwhich of course was already fourteen years after Gandhi had gone. We reconstructed it to what it was in the photographs we could find. It was fascinating forensic architecture, that's the only way to describe it, scratching looking for paint colours, finding old photographs, blowing them up digitally, producing working drawings for plasterers, finding where the framework was by looking for the drive screws on the outside of the sheeting, it was great from that point of view.

This was the living room Millie: My first view of Phoenix disappointed and depressed me. Mrs Gandhi, too, did not feel happy at being transplanted from the town, with its domestic and human amenities, to the more primitive conditions which prevailed at the settlement. She and I shared a little room the first night we arrived, and lay awake talking and grumbling for hours.

Millie: One day, suspended from an overhanging bough of a tree at the spot where water was fetched daily, was observed a big green mamba, one of the deadliest snakes found in South Africa. The colonist who first saw it did not know what to do. Non-killing was a fundamental principle at Phoenix; but no one could argue or reason with a snake, and the snake seemed absolutely disinclined to go away.

Eventually an Indian colonist, Mr S. He was an old hand at the gun, which he fetched and then shot the snake. He was the father of two little girls and believed that the safety and life of the children were of greater importance than those of a snake. But all of us thought about it, and some of us secretly believed Mr S. The incident, however, was not allowed to be used as a precedent.

Millie: The printing press had no mechanical means at its disposal, for the oil-engine had broken down, and at first animal power was utilised, two donkeys being used to turn the handle of the machine. But Mr Gandhi, ever a believer in man doing his own work, soon altered this, and four hefty Zulu girls were procured for a few hours on printing day.

These took the work in turns, two at a time, while the other two rested: but every able-bodied settler, Mr Gandhi included, took their turn at the handle, and thus the copies of the paper were ground out. The habit of smoking among boys is undoubtedly harmful. It undermines their constitution and weakens their mental capacity. It is sham Europeanism that Indians have to be warned against, and every son of India who falls into the sin of intemperance is a traitor to the race from which he springs.

Cholera germs are killed in fifteen minutes by lemon-juice or apple-juice, and typhoid fever germs in half an hour by these acids, even when considerably diluted. Instead of telling a man to have his stomach washed out, we can now tell him to drink orange juice. Millie: Here, every Sunday evening, in that little lamp-lit corrugated-iron roomall the members gathered for a kind of religious service.

Mr Gandhi usually opened the proceedings with a reading from the 'Bhagavad Gita' and would also read passages from the New Testament. Then there would be English hymns, and some Gujarati sacred music. Mr Gandhi thoroughly enjoyed the hymn-singing. He had two great favourites of which, through all the arja pessa biographies of mahatma gandhi I knew him, he never wearied.

Inhe was thrown off a train at the railway station in Pietermaritzburg after a white man complained about Gandhi travelling in first class. This experience was a pivotal moment for Gandhi and he began to represent other Indias who experienced discrimination. As a lawyer he was in high demand and soon he became the unofficial leader for Indians in South Africa.

It was in South Africa that Gandhi first experimented with campaigns of civil disobedience and protest; he called his non-violent protests satyagraha. Despite being imprisoned for short periods of time, he also supported the British under certain conditions. During the Boer war, he served as a medic and stretcher-bearer. He felt that by doing his patriotic duty it would make the government more amenable to demands for fair treatment.

Gandhi was at the Battle of Spion serving as a medic. An interesting historical anecdote, is that at this battle was also Winston Churchill and Louis Botha future head of South Africa He was decorated by the British for his efforts during the Boer War and Zulu rebellion. After 21 years in South Africa, Gandhi returned to India in He became the leader of the Indian nationalist movement campaigning for home rule or Swaraj.

Gandhi successfully instigated a series of non-violent protest. This included national strikes for one or two days. The British sought to ban opposition, but the nature of non-violent protest and strikes made it difficult to counter. Gandhi also encouraged his followers to practise inner discipline to get ready for independence. Gandhi said the Indians had to prove they were deserving of independence.

This is in contrast to independence leaders such as Aurobindo Ghosewho argued that Indian independence was not about whether India would offer better or worse government, but that it was the right for India to have self-government. Gandhi also clashed with others in the Indian independence movement such as Subhas Chandra Bose who advocated direct action to overthrow the British.

Gandhi frequently called off strikes and non-violent protest if he heard people were rioting or violence was involved. InGandhi led a famous march to the sea in protest at the new Salt Acts. In the sea, they made their own salt, in violation of British regulations.

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Many hundreds were arrested and Indian jails were full of Indian independence followers. On March 12,Gandhi began a mile march from his ashram in Sabarmati to the coastal village of Dandi on the Arabian Sea. His aim was to produce salt from the sea, which was a direct violation of British laws. Over the course of the day march, thousands of Indians joined him, drawing international attention to the Indian independence movement and the injustices of British rule.

The march culminated on April 6, when Gandhi and his followers reached Dandi, and he ceremoniously violated the salt laws by evaporating sea water to make salt. This act was a symbolic defiance against the British Empire and sparked similar acts of civil disobedience across India. The Salt March marked a significant escalation in the struggle for Indian independence, showcasing the power of peaceful protest and civil disobedience.

In response, the British authorities arrested Gandhi and thousands of others, further galvanizing the movement and drawing widespread sympathy and support for the cause. The impact of the Salt March was profound and far-reaching. It succeeded in undermining the moral authority of British rule in India and demonstrated the effectiveness of non-violent resistance.

Gandhi vehemently opposed the age-old practice of untouchability in Hindu society, considering it a moral and social evil that needed to be eradicated. He believed that for India to truly gain independence from British rule, it had to first cleanse itself of internal social evils like untouchability. This stance sometimes put him at odds with traditionalists within the Hindu community, but Gandhi remained unwavering in his belief that social reform was integral to the national movement.

By elevating the issue of untouchability, Gandhi sought to unify the Indian people under the banner of social justice, making the independence movement a struggle for both political freedom and social equality. He argued that the segregation and mistreatment of any group of people were against the fundamental principles of justice and non-violence that he stood for.

The talks were often contentious, with significant disagreements, particularly regarding the partition of India to create Pakistan, a separate state for Muslims. Gandhi was deeply involved in these discussions, advocating for a united India while striving to alleviate communal tensions. Despite his efforts, the partition became inevitable due to rising communal violence and political pressures.

On August 15,India finally gained its independence from British rule, marking the end of nearly two centuries of colonial dominance. The announcement of independence was met with jubilant celebrations across the country as millions of Indians, who had longed for this moment, rejoiced in their newfound freedom. Gandhi, though revered for his leadership and moral authority, was personally disheartened by the partition and worked tirelessly to ease the communal strife that followed.

His commitment to peace and unity remained steadfast, even as India and the newly formed Pakistan navigated the challenges of independence. The geography of the Indian subcontinent was dramatically altered by the partition, with the creation of Pakistan separating the predominantly Muslim regions in the west and east from the rest of India.

This division led to one of the largest mass migrations in human history, as millions of Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs crossed borders in both directions, seeking safety amidst communal violence. Gandhi spent these crucial moments advocating for peace and communal harmony, trying to heal the wounds of a divided nation. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi married Kasturba Makhanji Kapadia, often referred to as Kasturba Gandhi or Ba, in an arranged marriage inwhen he was arja pessa biography of mahatma gandhi 13 years old.

Kasturba, who was of the same age as Gandhi, became his partner in life and in the struggle for Indian independence. He supported the British war effort in World War I but remained critical of colonial authorities for measures he felt were unjust. He backed off after violence broke out—including the massacre by British-led soldiers of some Indians attending a meeting at Amritsar—but only temporarily, and by he was the most visible figure in the movement for Indian independence.

The iconic Indian activist, known for his principle of nonviolent resistance, had humble beginnings and left an outsized legacy. As part of his nonviolent non-cooperation campaign for home rule, Gandhi stressed the importance of economic independence for India. He particularly advocated the manufacture of khaddar, or homespun cloth, in order to replace imported textiles from Britain.

Invested with all the authority of the Indian National Congress INC or Congress PartyGandhi turned the independence movement into a massive organization, leading boycotts of British manufacturers and institutions representing British influence in India, including legislatures and schools. After sporadic violence broke out, Gandhi announced the end of the resistance movement, to the dismay of his followers.

British authorities arrested Gandhi in March and tried him for sedition; he was sentenced to six years in prison but was released in after undergoing an operation for appendicitis. Inafter British authorities made some concessions, Gandhi again called off the resistance movement and agreed to represent the Congress Party at the Round Table Conference in London.