Mahatma Gandhi
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Mahatma Gandhi.
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, popularly known as the Mahatma, a Divine Soul, emerged as the leader of the Indian National Congress. He was like a powerful current of fresh air that made Indians stretch themselves and take deep breaths; like a beam of light that pierced the darkness and removed the scales from their eyes; like a whirlwind that upset many things, but most of all the working of people's minds. He did not descend from the top; he seemed to emerge from the millions of Indians. Speaking their language and incessantly drawing attention to them and their appalling condition.
Gandhiji (1869-1948) was born in Gujarat into a family of the Bania (a merchant) caste who were devout Vaisnavas. His religion context was therefore bhakti with Islamic as well as Jain influence. Gandhiji studied law in London where he communicated with Tolstoy and met with Theosophy, a European movement which sought spiritual wisdom in the East. It was with a couple of Theosophists that Gandhiji read Edwin Arnold's translation of the Bhagavad Gita which deeply affected him. There is a famous story of how Gandhiji, who was traveling in a first-class compartment of a train with a first-class ticket, was forcibly ejected due to South Africa's apartheid policies at the time...