Romain Rolland - Mahatma Gandhi: The Man who Became One with the Universal Being

Mahatma Gandhi: The Man who Became One with the Universal Being — read online for free the complete book (whole text) full work

Below is the text of the book, divided by pages. System saving the place of the last page read, allows you to conveniently read the book "Mahatma Gandhi: The Man who Became One with the Universal Being" online for free, without having to search again every time where you left off. Put a bookmark, and you can go to the page where you finished reading at any time.

Light

Font size:

↓

↑

Georgia Tahoma Arial Verdana

Reset

Interval:

↓

↑

Bookmark:

Make

1234567...24

Routledge Revivals

Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi

The Man who became one with the Universal being

by
Romain Rolland

Translated by
Catherine D. Groth

First published in 1924 The Swarthmore Press Ltd

This edition first published in 2019 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

1924 by Taylor and Francis

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Publisher's Note
The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent.

Disclaimer
The publisher has made every effort to trace copyright holders and welcomes correspondence from those they have been unable to contact.

A Library of Congress record exists under ISBN:

ISBN 13: 978-0-367-25471-1 (hbk)

ISBN 13: 978-0-429-28797-8 (ebk)

MAHATMA GANDHI

MAHATMA GANDHI

THE MAN WHO BECAME ONE WITH THE UNIVERSAL BEING

BY
ROMA IN ROLLAND

TRANSLATED BY
CATHERINE D. GROTH

LONDON: THE SWARTHMORE PRESS LTD. RUSKIN HOUSE, 40 MUSEUM STREET, W.C.

COPYRIGHT IN THE U.S.A.
BY THE CENTURY CO. 1924

First published in Great Britain in 1924

(All rights reserved)

Printed in Great Britain by
UNWIN BROTHERS, LIMITED, LONDON AND WOKING

Contents

Guide

In connection with the present essay I wish to tender my affectionate thanks to my faithful collaborator, my sister, and to my friend, Kalidas Nag, whose deep knowledge and indefatigable kindness have guided my steps through the forest of Indian thought.

I also wish to thank the publisher, S, Genesan, of Madras, for having placed, spontaneously, his publications at my disposal.

The literal translation of Mahatma, the name which the people of India gave to Gandhi, is " the great Soul," maha, great; atma, soul. The word goes back to the Upanishads, where it is used in speaking of the Supreme Being, and, through communion of Knowledge and Love, of those who become One with Him:

"He is the One Luminous, Creator of All, Mahatma, Always in the hearts of the people enshrined, Revealed through Love, Intuition, and Thought, Whoever knows Him, Immortal becomes...."

Tagore, on a visit to Ashram, Gandhi's favourite retreat, quoted this stanza, referring to the Apostle.

SOFT dark eyes, a small frail man, with a thin face and rather large protruding eyes, his head covered with a little white cap, his body clothed in coarse white cloth, barefooted. He lives on rice and fruit, and drinks only water. He sleeps on the floorsleeps very little, and works incessantly. His body does not seem to count at all. There is nothing striking about himexcept his whole expression of "infinite patience and infinite love." W. W. Pearson, who met him in South Africa, instinctively thought of St. Francis of Assisi. There is an almost childlike simplicity about him.

As C. F. Andrews says, He laughs like a child and adores children."

"Few can resist the charm of his personality. His bitterest enemies become courteous when confronted with his beautiful courtesy" (Joseph J. Doke).

"Every departure from truth, no matter how trifling, is intolerable to him" (C. F. Andrews).

"He is not a passionate orator; his manner is calm and serene and he appeals particularly to the intelligence. But his serenity places the subject he discusses in the clearest light. The inflexions of his voice are not varied, but they are intensely sincere. He never makes any gestures with his arms, in fact he rarely even moves a finger. But his luminous words, expressed in terse, concise sentences, carry conviction. He never abandons a subject before he feels that he has made it perfectly clear" (Joseph J. Doke).

Young India, March 2, 1922. The dates cited in the notes of this volume refer to the date of publication of Gandhi's articles in Young India.

This is the man who has stirred three hundred million people to revolt, who has shaken the foundations of the British Empire, and who has introduced into human politics the strongest religious impetus of the last two thousand years.

His real name is Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. He was born in a little semi-independent state in the north-western part of India, at Porbandar, the "White City" on the sea of Oman, October 2, 1868. He comes of an ardent and active race, which to this day has been split by civil strife; a practical race, commercially keen, which established trade relations all the way from Aden to Zanzibar. Gandhi's father and grandfather were both leaders of the people and met with persecution because of their independent spirit. Both were forced to flee for safety, their lives in peril. Gandhi's family was well-to-do and belonged to a cultivated class of society, but it was not of superior caste. His parents were followers of the Jin school of Hinduism, which regards ahimsa,

A, privative, himsa, to do evil. Hence, ahimsa, principle of not harming aL, y form of life, non-violence. It is one of Hinduism's most ancient precepts, proclaimed by Mahavira, the founder of Janism, by Buddha, as well as by the disciples of Vishnu.

He attended the elementary school of Porbandar till the age of seven and then the public school of Rajkot till ten. After that he went to the high school of Katyavar until, at the age of seventeen, he entered the University of Ahmedabad.

He described his childhood in a speech at the Pariah Conference, April 13, 1921.

while still a boy he passed through a severe religious crisis. Shocked at the idolatrous form sometimes assumed by Hinduism, he became, or imagined he became, an atheist, and to prove that religion meant nothing to him he and some friends went so far as to eat meat, a frightful sacrilege for a Hindu. And Gandhi nearly perished with disgust and mortification. At nineteen he was sent to England to complete his studies at the University of London and at the law school. Before his leaving India, his mother made him take the three vows of Jan, which prescribe abstention from wine, meat, and sexual intercourse.

Long afterward he told Joseph Doke of the anguish he had suffered after eating meat. He was unable to sleep; he felt like a murderer.

He is not in favour of child marriages, however, and made a campaign against them, on the ground that they weaken the race. In exceptional cases, however, he says that such unions, sealed before the individual's character is moulded, may build up between husband and wife an exceptionally beautiful relationship of sympathy and harmony. Gandhi's own wife is an admirable example of this. Mrs. Gandhi shared all her husband's trials and adversities with unfailing steadfastness of purpose and indomitable courage.

Next page

1234567...24

Light

Font size:

↓

↑

Georgia Tahoma Arial Verdana

Reset

Interval:

↓

↑

Bookmark:

Make

Similar books «Mahatma Gandhi: The Man who Became One with the Universal Being»

Look at similar books to Mahatma Gandhi: The Man who Became One with the Universal Being. We have selected literature similar in name and meaning in the hope of providing readers with more options to find new, interesting, not yet read works.

M. K. Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi Autobiography: The Story Of My Experiments With Truth (The Story of My Experiments with Truth: An Autobiography)

Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi at Work: His Own Story Continued

Mahatma Gandhi

A Guide to Health

Romain Rolland

Mahatma Gandhi - the Man Who Became One With the Universal Being: Biography of the Famous Indian Leader

Romain Rolland

Collected Works of Romain Rolland

Rajmohan Gandhi

Why Gandhi Still Matters: An Appraisal of the Mahatma’s Legacy

Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi Edited by Louis Fischer

The Essential Gandhi

Mahatma K. Gandhi

Non-Violent Resistance

Swami Nikhilananda

Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

Romain Rolland

Musicians of To-Day

Romain Rolland

Handel

Discussion, reviews of the book Mahatma Gandhi: The Man who Became One with the Universal Being and just readers' own opinions. Leave your comments, write what you think about the work, its meaning or the main characters. Specify what exactly you liked and what you didn't like, and why you think so.