(The Woman Who Told History – No. 689) Gold has no feet, and no one is perfect. Even if he is a great man or a saint, his evaluation may be different at a certain historical stage or within a certain geographical range, and there must be praise and depreciation. The man today is Mahatma Gandhi, the great man of the east of the world, who is revered as the Father of the Nation in his country of India, but has mixed reviews around the world. For example, in China, some people say that he is a great national hero, and some people say that he is a coward. This is especially true in the West, such as Mahatma Gandhi in Britain, who was once despised by the famous Prime Minister Churchill, but at the same time, another great man in the West, Einstein, praised him greatly. So what kind of person was Mahatma Gandhi? Why did Churchill say that he was disgusting, while Einstein said that he was the representative of the conscience of mankind? Today we will take a comprehensive look at this legendary figure.
Married to an illiterate girl at the age of 13, Gandhi was a cowardly man.
Born on October 2, 1869, to a Hindu family in India, Gandhi was shy, shy, conformist, and even cowardly. At the age of 13, he married an illiterate girl of the same age at the behest of his parents. Unfortunately, his father died when he was 16 years old, and his first child died shortly after birth. Gandhi loved to read since childhood, had great ambitions, and was determined to fight for the independence of the Indian people very early on.
From the mid-17th century onwards, britain began to have colonies in India. Later, the area under direct British control grew larger and larger, eventually occupying two-thirds of India's territory. By Gandhi's time, the British had ruled India for two centuries, which was a disgrace to the Indians, but the strength of the British made it impossible for the Indians to strive for independence despite their efforts. This burden was borne by a shy and even cowardly Gandhi, and no one seemed to believe it. But in the end, this kind and weak teenager worked wonders.
In 1888, in order to seek a way to save the country, the 19-year-old Gandhi, at the expense of being expelled from the caste, did not hesitate to abandon his wife and daughter, traveled to London to study law, and studied law at the University of London. He embraced British legal ideas, obtained a law degree from the University of London, and qualified as a solicitor. During his studies, he had a great admiration for Western civilization, but after a certain degree of confusion and exploration, he finally gave up blind imitation of Western civilization and adhered to the original religious beliefs.
After Gandhi returned home from his studies, he began practicing law in Mumbai, but suffered setbacks. The first time he fought a lawsuit for someone, he was afraid of the stage because of his cowardly personality, resulting in failure. Half a year later, he returned to his hometown and relied on the financial support of his brother and relatives and friends to maintain his legal career. But the lawyer's business still did not improve, making him feel bitter and depressed. Later, when he was asked to deal with a case from an Indian in South Africa, he simply left his hometown and embarked on a journey to South Africa without hesitation.
Gandhi created the Non-Violent Non-Cooperation Movement to fight tirelessly for India's independence.
Of course, South Africa is also a British colony, and the racial discrimination is more serious, so Gandhi and the Indians here are even more discriminated against and even insulted in South Africa. However, this stimulated his national pride and made him firmly embark on the path of leading the Struggle of Indians in South Africa against racial discrimination, and soon became a prominent figure. Here he cultivated his ability to engage in public work, mastered the secret of being a successful lawyer, and basically formed his religious, life outlook, social and political outlook.
Gandhi combined the Hindu ideas of benevolence, vegetarianism, and non-killing with the benevolent ideas in the Bible and quran, and absorbed the essence of the ideas of Solon, Tolstoy, and others, and gradually formed the theory of non-violent non-cooperation.
He set aside the mysticism and tedious rituals of religion and elevated moral and ethical preaching to the position of God, believing that truth is God. In the search for truth to approach God, Gandhi believed that the only means of achieving truth was non-violence, which essentially meant that love is human nature, and that the principle of truth was actually the principle of love, even to the enemy. Gandhi believed in the power of the spirit and insisted on using nonviolent means to overcome all evil, even to influence all evil actions and things.
In 1915, Gandhi returned to India. He traveled across India to gain insight into his long-lost homeland. He gave speeches, propagated his ideas, engaged in nonviolent struggle, and soon became the de facto leader of the Indian Congress Party, making "non-violent non-cooperation" the guiding ideology of the Congress Party and beginning to run for India's independence.
Gandhi believed that British rule in India was violent and immoral. However, the British, as rulers, are also human, not enemies, and can therefore be waged in a non-violent way and prompted to correct their mistakes. At first he had illusions about Britain, when World War I took place and Gandhi openly supported the British side in exchange for British grace and autonomy for India. But this was only his wishful thinking, and the british colonial authorities still ruled India after the war, which made Gandhi determined to stop supporting Britain and began to break with the British authorities, that is, openly not cooperating.
In 1919, Gandhi launched a nationwide nonviolent resistance movement, mobilizing the masses to resist the colonial government's legislatures, courts, schools, titles and foreign goods, and then promoting the national anti-imperialist struggle. On December 31, 1929, the Congress Party's Annual Meeting in Lahore passed a resolution for India's independence, authorizing Gandhi to lead the new non-cooperation movement.
In 1930, the Indian colonial authorities enacted the Salt Monopoly Act, which significantly increased the price and taxation of salt, causing strong dissatisfaction among the people. In this situation, Gandhi resolutely led the struggle of the "salt march".
One morning in March of that year, Gandhi led 80 devotees to a monastery to take the oath, and then lined up in a neat line to hike under the scorching sun and began the "salt march". They had to go to the distant seashore to boil salt, forcing the colonial authorities to make concessions.
On the way, in every village he passed, Gandhi held mass meetings to propagate his long-standing strategy of struggle of "non-violent non-cooperation", that is, peaceful opposition to the authorities. His ideas won the support of many people, and as a result, the team grew stronger and stronger. It took them 24 days to reach their destination. By this time, there were already more than a thousand people accompanying him. That night, they went on a hunger strike and prayed, and swore an oath: "Unless India is free and the authorities no longer implement the Salt Monopoly Act, they will live by the sea forever." ”
Gandhi's actions drew widespread support from the Indian people. In this way, the coastal areas of India have launched the operation of self-made salt, while demonstrations have been held everywhere in India, and a mass anti-British struggle has been vigorously launched.
The colonial authorities were so angry that they sent police everywhere to suppress the unarmed populace, arrested Gandhi, and ordered the banning of Gandhi's Congress party. However, the broad masses of the people did not give in, and the nationwide demonstrations became more vigorous. The authorities dispatched armed police to suppress it, and the demonstrators fought with the police. The demonstrations then turned into armed uprisings.
The colonial authorities were terrified, and in January 1931, had to release Gandhi and the arrested masses and revoke the order to ban the Congress party, recognizing the legalization of the coastal people's boiling of salt. The "Salt March" has finally achieved initial victory.
Gandhi led the Indian people to achieve national independence and was revered as the "Mahatma".
In April 1942, under the situation of the rising anti-British sentiment of the masses in India and the imminent approach of the Japanese invaders to India, Gandhi put forward the slogan of "withdrawing from India" of the British and launched a third non-cooperation movement, but it was suppressed by the British. Gandhi was imprisoned and did not release until May 1944. After the end of World War II, the British government, which was in internal and external difficulties, was intimidated by the pressure of india's national liberation movement and agreed to India's demands for independence.
However, due to the long-standing differences and antagonisms between Hinduism and Muslim religion, coupled with the influence of the British policy of divide and rule, the partition of India and Pakistan has become a foregone conclusion. Gandhi worked tirelessly to maintain the unity of India, but he had no power to return to heaven and had to accept the partition of India and Pakistan. However, India was freed from British rule and gained independence. Gandhi, who fought for India's independence, received great respect from the People of India and the Congress Party.
Under Gandhi's leadership, India eventually won independence. However, the significance is not only this, Gandhi's contribution to India, but also in the strong spiritual power he has shown, he has influenced almost an entire generation of Indians, and the unique ideological system of non-violent non-cooperation he created has deeply affected all aspects of Indian politics, economy, literature and so on.
For Gandhi's great deeds, he earned the title of "Mahatma", a title given to him by the great Indian poet Tagore, meaning saint and hero. Gandhi deserved the title. In 1999, Time magazine selected the 20th century figures. The first was Einstein, the second was Roosevelt, and the third was Mahatma Gandhi.
Gandhi was despised by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and praised by Einstein.
Gandhi, who is known by Indians as the Father of the Nation and Mahatma, but was despised by former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, once said of Gandhi, "It is disgusting to see that the lawyer who graduated from the London Law School, who was good at incitement, is now pretending to be the ascetic common to the Orientals, half-naked, skinny, and even sitting at an equal level with the Deputy King (the Governor-General of India), going in and out of the palace, pretending to dine and drink tea with the representatives of the British King." ”
Why would Churchill say that to Gandhi? First of all, he was the spokesman for British interests, and Gandhi's Indian independence movement was exactly the opposite of the British interests. Churchill, who fought in India with the British army at a young age and knew India well, participated in the suppression of an Indian national uprising as a war correspondent in 1897. He spent two years in India, and since then he has been very disgusted with Indians and has publicly expressed discrimination against Indians, who seem to him to be a bunch of barbarians.
Gandhi waged a non-violent non-cooperation campaign throughout India and went on more than a dozen hunger strikes to protest British colonialism, and Churchill, then Minister of British Colonial Affairs, told his men: "Gandhi should be tied up and placed at the gates of Delhi, and then let the governor ride an elephant and trample him." Churchill also criticized Indians for not having a controlled reproduction, and the population multiplied and caused great poverty.
Moreover, churchill was difficult to understand and identify with indians and Gandhi in terms of culture and belief, and he once said that the religion of Indians was a cruel religion, so he also hated Indians, especially Gandhi's harsh abstinence habits.
According to the British historian Adams's book Gandhi: Naked Ambition, Gandhi's abstinence reached a point that ordinary people could not understand. For example, at the age of 37, he solemnly made a vow of abstinence to his wife, announcing that his sex life was officially over.
In order to completely eradicate all desires in his body, Gandhi further strengthened his opportunities for contact with women. He looked for opportunities to have some young women massage him, or some young sexy women to bathe with him, or even to sleep in the same bed, as a way to test and strengthen his abstinence, including him and his niece Manu slept with him for several nights, but Gandhi kept his vows of abstinence and sat still. Gandhi once said, "For true abstinents, their genitals play only symbolic roles and must not produce other functions." A perfect abstinent must be able to sleep next to naked beauties, but not waver in the slightest by their glamorous appearance. ”
These were things that Churchill could not understand, so he despised Gandhi. But the great scientist Albert Einstein was very positive about Gandhi and publicly praised gandhi. why?
Gandhi was assassinated on Good Friday, and his words from his assassination touched Einstein and the world.
Friday, January 30, 1948, was Good Friday and the last day of Gandhi's life. Gandhi received many guests on this day, and at 4 p.m., Gandhi dealt with one of the last and most intractable problems of his day. India's arrogant Interior Minister Padil was unable to work with prime minister Nehru in an idealistic government, and Padil offered to resign. Gandhi tried to persuade Padil to change his mind, so Gandhi, who had always been punctual, delayed for 10 minutes before arriving at the vespers venue.
At 5:10 a.m., Gandhi, with the support of his attendants Manu and Abba, walked to the lawn leading to the evening vespers venue, and Gandhi often put his hands on Manu and Abba's shoulders when he walked on weekdays, and when he approached the crowd, he would habitually withdraw his arms, and then walk up the steps alone, folding his hands to greet the crowd. At this moment, at the moment when Gandhi withdrew his hands and was about to walk to the platform, suddenly a man ran to Gandhi, bowed to him, and whispered, "Hello Holy Father!" The attendant Manu thought that the man wanted to touch Gandhi's feet, and reached out to politely block him, and the man pushed Manu away violently, took the pistol from his pocket steeply, and fired several shots at Gandhi's naked chest!
Yin Hong's blood immediately flowed out. Gandhi folded his hands, as if trying to take one last step, and muttered, "God! Please forgive this poor man..." then fell slowly to the ground. When he fell to the ground, Gandhi's posture with his hands folded remained unchanged. The old man, who had advocated "non-violence" all his life, died at the gunpoint of the violence of the fanatics, ending his great life.
Instead of fleeing after killing Gandhi, the Assassins shouted at the police and tied their hands. The killer, named Nathuram Goldson, was an avid Hindu who had worshipped Gandhi in his early years, practiced vegetarianism, abstinence, and was imprisoned for his non-violent non-cooperation movement. But then he attended Hindu congresses with the goal of reviving Hindu dominance and founded the "National Servants Corps". He bought a newspaper, the Indian National Newspaper, in 1944, and as its director, he promoted anti-Gandhi and anti-Islam and other non-Hindu political ideas, sparing no effort to promote violence and racial supremacy.
After Gandhi's death, people cleaned up his belongings: a wooden spinning wheel, a pair of slippers, 3 statues of small monkeys, a copy of the Bhagavad Gita, a pocket watch, a spittoon and a metal footbasin brought back from The Yalavoda prison. It's a pitifully small amount of nothing of value.
Let's look again at how Einstein praised Gandhi, saying, "Gandhi is the representative of the human conscience, a man who fights against cruelty with pure human dignity and does not yield at any time... I think Gandhi's views were the wisest of all the politicians of our time. We should work in his spiritual direction: not to achieve our ends through violence, but not to ally with any evil force. ”
Einstein considered Gandhi to have a conscience, greatly appreciated his spirit of non-violence, and strongly admired Gandhi's human dignity and perseverance. In addition to being a great scientist, Einstein was also a man who vigorously maintained the peace of mankind. He and Gandhi can be said to have a sharp heart, and he hung a portrait of Gandhi in his study before his death, and he signed a declaration with Gandhi on his refusal to perform military service.
He particularly admired Gandhi's beliefs and personality. Despite their different beliefs, both were advocates of fraternity, both men of great love, so they opposed violent revolutions, believing that all men should be saved, whether poor or rich, good or bad. So when Gandhi was assassinated, the moment the murderer struck the bullet into his chest, he said with his last strength: God, please forgive this poor man...
Apparently, the Assassin was an evil man, but Gandhi finally asked God to forgive him and save him. In this regard, Gandhi's belief (mainly Hinduism) is the same as Einstein's belief in God, that is, to save all the people in the world with great love. In fact, Gandhi already possessed the martyrdom of Christ.
Then there is Gandhi's personality. After winning national and national independence for India, Gandhi did not serve as a national leader, did not become prime minister, nor did he serve as the leader of the Congress Party, and he was almost a commoner. why? He positioned himself as an ordinary man who was not interested in any power, not in any wealth. Just look at his relics. So Gandhi was a great man, and Einstein had to obey, had to praise. (Text/One meter warm sun)
References: Gandhi: A Symbol of Freedom and Harmony Around the World, etc.