India

"We must be the change we want to see."

freed his country from the British control.

Mohandas Gandhi was educated in Great Britain and received a law degree from University College in London. After he was admitted to the British bar, he practiced law in Bombay , India, and later in Durban, South Africa. While in South Africa, he was treated as a member of an inferior race, which inspired him into his lifelong quest to achieve civil rights for all races.

Gandhi, Mohandas Karamchand (1869-1948), he was the man who struggled all his life for freedom. He was an Indian nationalist leader, who established his country's freedom from the British control through his method of nonviolent. He was also known as the Mahatma (great soul).He was honored by Indians who considered him as the father of their nation. Gandhi's moral strength was without any limits –although his body was weak , The great scientist ((Albert Einstein)) said to him: "Generations to come will scarcely believe that such a one as this walked the earth in flesh and blood."

He was born in Porbandar, the state of Gujarat on October 2, 1869 India. Young Gandhi grew up with tolerance and he was a very shy, neat, polite, serious boy who did not even try to cheat or lie. At the age of 19, he travelled to study law at University College, London. When he returned to India, he tried to establish a law practice in Bombay, with little success. Two years later an Indian company working in South Africa employed him as legal adviser in its office in Durban. South Africa was then under the British control. Gandhi found himself treated so badly and in an injustice way just because he was an Indian who asked for his rights. He then decided he would find the strength to help people to say no to injustice. He led many campaigns for Indian rights there and edited a newspaper ((Indian opinion)). His first victory was convincing many

Indians to join him. The government was trying to take away the civil rights of the South African Indians, and to end Indian communities forever. Gandhi hallenged a great crowd to refuse to obey, stay strong in their beliefs, but without violence. From there the movement begun. His job was for only one year, but he stayed in South Africa for 21 years to struggle –with all his power- for primary rights for Indians.Gandhi continued to make his life simpler, got back to his Indian roots, and stopped dressing as an Englishman. While he was looking for happiness, he realized that he had to start with himself. You may have heard one of his famous sayings, "we must be the change we want to see" Gandhi was willing to change his whole lifestyle, in which he was successful and wealthy, to another simple one in order to know his own heart and reach the heart of others.

Gandhi believed that the truth was god and so in searching for the truth we are searching for god, his aim in life was to make people convinced with there beliefs, and word. He also believed we could find truth in others, as all men are brothers. Since we all come from God we all have God inside us, and we are all coming from the same source. Therefore, we can find truth, and therefore God. "I believe in the absolute oneness of God and, therefore, of humanity. What though we have many bodies? We have but one soul. The rays of the sun are many through refraction. But they have the same source. I cannot, therefore, detach myself from the wickedest soul nor may I be denied identity with the most virtuous." Here Gandhi is saying that if the sun is God, the rays of the sun will be the people. All people are connected to God -the "good" people as well as the "bad"-. If we try to disconnect ourselves from one person, we will disconnect ourselves from the whole unit. Therefore, we need to be together and help each other. You might wonder where then does evil come from, if all people come from God? The answer is, it comes from us, because we are human. The fact that we are human means that we are not perfect, but inside us our souls still of God. The fact that we make mistakes and do "bad" things does not make us bad people, it just makes

us human. Ahimsa (non-violence) was his way in fighting the British control. Gandhi taught that to be nonviolence required great courage. He overcame fear in himself and showed others how to do so. Gandhi lived a simple life and believed it was wrong to kill animals for food or for clothing. Gandhi devised a method of direct social action based upon principals of courage, nonviolence, and truth, which he called SATYAGRAHA (truth-force). In this method, he said that it is not important what people had achieved as long as they act in a good way. This special method was the greatest gift from Gandhi to mankind. The SATYAGRAHA proved itself when India gained independence from England. The method has –since then-been used in many other parts of the world. For example, Martin Luther King used it to fight the racial discrimination in the United States.Gandhi knew that fear and hatred will cause more of the same, so he fought his wars with nothing more than courage and peace, to be always true to himself. This showed that he and his followers were more truthful and courageous than the biggest army; for an army, to use weapons on an unarmed crowd that shows that it is a weak one.

Gandhi was a man of great strength and beliefs. When walking, he would walk over 12 miles in one day. He made all his own clothes and did all his own housework just with his wife. He always rode in the third class on the trains, and when he was once asked why, he said; "because there is no fourth".

After Gandhi had returned to India in January 1915, he became involved in labor organizing. Within a year, he was the one who is in charge of the INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS, which he devised a policy of non-cooperation with the British in 1920-22.Gandhi wanted to do an organized campaign of non-cooperation. Indians in public office gave up their work, government agencies such as courts of law were boycotted, and Indian children did not go to the government schools. Although

total non-cooperation did not fully success, Gandhi continued civil disobedience, organizing protest. Gandhi was arrested, but the British- soon- had to release him.In 1932, Gandhi began new civil-disobedience campaigns against the British. Arrested twice, the Mahatma fasted for long periods several times; these fasts were effective against the British, because revolution might will have broken out in India if he had died. In 1934, Gandhi gave up politics, traveled through India, teaching ahimsa.in 1939, he –again- returned to active political life because of the federation of Indian principalities with the rest of India. He began very fast; he designed to force the ruler of the state of Rajkot to modify his dictatorial rule. The Mahatma again became the most important political leader in India.When World War II broke out, the Congress and Gandhi announced a declaration , the party decided not to support Britain in the war unless they give them their independence. The British refused, offering some promises that were rejected. He was imprisoned-for the last time- in 1942 but was released two years later because of his bad health. By 1944, the Indian struggle for independence was in its final stages, the British government having agreed to independence on condition that the two competing nationalist groups, the (Muslim League) and the (Congress Party), should fight no more. Gandhi stood strongly against the partition of India but finally he had to agree, in the hope that peace would be achieved

On January 30 he was assassinated. A shocked India and a saddened world announced Gandhi's death.Everybody considered Gandhi's death as an international disaster. His place in humanity was measured not in terms of the 20th century but in terms of history.

We can't find enough words that can describe this great man." We must be the change we want to see". Gandhi said that and we think that this statement was one of his secrets. He began with him self always and tried to inspire others to do what is best for their countries which means that his way SATYAGRAHA (truth-force) helped many people to achieve the victory for justice all over the world ,he also said "the moment the slave resolves that he will no longer be a slave, his fetters fall. He frees himself and shows the way to others. Freedom and slavery are mental states". He was a man with inner power and beliefs which led him to achieve freedom for his country. He proved that as long as you have principles and that you believe in something you can do it.