In Porbandar, India, a small...
Illustration
In Porbandar, India, a small, remote, seaside town in the Kathiawar Peninsula, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born. Biographer Louis Fischer called Gandhi a blundering boy whose "origin was ordinary, his childhood normal, his student days uneventful, and his early professional career a failure.* Yet, throughout the course of his life, this small-statured brown man clad in loincloth toppled a government, inspired a nation, and became one of the world's greatest leaders without ever holding public office or wielding military might.
His strategy can be summarized in the following lines of Shelley's poem:
Stand ye calm and resolute
Like a forest close and mute,
With folded arms and looks which are
Weapons of unvanquished war --
With folded arms and steady eyes,
And little fear, and less surprise,
Look upon them as they slay,
Till their rage has died away.
This anomaly who was called Mahatma ("Great Souled One") by all was said by Martin Luther King, Jr. to be "... the first person in history to lift the love ethic of Jesus above mere interaction between individuals to a powerful effective social force on a large scale." At his death, he was hailed as the conscience of humanity and nearly all governmental and religious leaders the world over paid homage to the great leader of humble beginnings.
-- Gandhi: His Life and Message for the World
His strategy can be summarized in the following lines of Shelley's poem:
Stand ye calm and resolute
Like a forest close and mute,
With folded arms and looks which are
Weapons of unvanquished war --
With folded arms and steady eyes,
And little fear, and less surprise,
Look upon them as they slay,
Till their rage has died away.
This anomaly who was called Mahatma ("Great Souled One") by all was said by Martin Luther King, Jr. to be "... the first person in history to lift the love ethic of Jesus above mere interaction between individuals to a powerful effective social force on a large scale." At his death, he was hailed as the conscience of humanity and nearly all governmental and religious leaders the world over paid homage to the great leader of humble beginnings.
-- Gandhi: His Life and Message for the World
