The renowned biographer of Mahatma Gandhi, B.R. Nanda makes a significant observation: "It is a strange paradox that though Gandhi's attitude to religion holds the key to the understanding of his life and thought, its nuances and significance have been often missed by his admirers as well as his critics."
Tracing the evolution of Gandhi's religious thought, Nanda attempts to disentangle its basic strands, evaluating their impact on his personal and public life, and by reassessing their true significance in the historical perspective. He says, "Strange as it may seem, even though Gandhi grew up in a devout Hindu household, steeped in Vaishnavism, and was also exposed to strong Jain influences, his acquaintance with religion - even with the religion of his birth- was merely superficial almost till he was nineteen and arrived in London to study law".
It was in England too that a fellow-vegetarian enthusiast introduced young Gandhi to the Bible. The New Testament, particularly, the Sermon on the Mount, went straight to his heart. The verses, "But I say unto you that Ye resist not evil but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also", reminded him of the lines of the Gujarati poet Shamal Bhatt, which he used to hum as a child: "For a bowl of water give a goodly meal". Gandhi tells us in his autobiography that the idea of returning love for hatred and good for evil captivated him: yet he did not comprehend it fully.
But the truth is that though Gandhi's interest in religion was awakened, it was not yet deep, and might have faded were it not for the "happy accident" which took him to South Africa in 1893.
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Mahatma Gandhi (372)
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