Mohandas Gandhi: Experiences and Influences :: Mohandas Gandhi Essays

Mohandas Gandhi born(p) into a merchant family in 1869, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi wasunder the influence of powerful people. Members of his family had served asprime ministers of an Indian state for several generations. His parentswere strong in their religion, world devout and earnest Hindus. They were apart of a Hindu sect that worshipped Vishnu and promoted non-violence. Apparently, he was most influenced by his mother, a gentle and respectable person. According to Hindu custom, he married at an early mount upand grew to love his wife greatly. Together, they had four children andadopted a fourth. Later, in 1888, he travelled to England to become a barrister-at-law.There were several important influences that he encountered here theWestern material style of life, which he decided non to follow, and in thesimple Russian steering of living he shew the New Testament, and theBhagavadgita, the bible of the Hare Krishna figurehead. It was here that hedeveloped a sens e of the presence of God in his life and the lives of men. Gandhi then returned to India and study law in Bombay, but hequickly denounced it, feeling that it was libertine and could not satisfyones conscience. Despite this, he used his schooling to support plead forIndian settlers in South Africa that were being oppressed by the whitepopulation. His personal experiences, including being ejected from a trainin Maritzburg, of not being allowed the same rights as others lead him tobegin a movement to help his people. While in South Africa, Gandhi made himself poor so that he couldidentify with his the peasants. He then proceeded to start a addiction thatconsisted of abused labourers. The colony became very large and many an(prenominal) citieswere crippled by the lack of labourers. The government reacted to this byjailing Gandhi several times along with many other of his followers. Thewar he fought was one without weapons, already Gandhi was on his way tostarting his career of non-violent campaigns. The main idea behind Gandhis teachings was non-violence. The words ofthe Sanskrit diction ahinsa and sayagraha clearly express Gandhisbeliefs. The former means non-killing, non-destructive and the latter meansthe throw of universal truth. He believed that the killing of man or beastis an inexcusable sin. Many who promoted these teachings of Gandhi simplybelieved that it was their only option for resisting imperialism rather