Mahatma Gandhi's Political Activism & Spirituality

Gandhi was born Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi in India on October 2, 1869. Although his family was not wealthy, they lived a comfortable life as members of India's middle class. The Gandhis belonged to the Bania caste, a social subdivision that included merchants, tradesmen, landowning farmers, and government officials. Gandhi's father was a respected official in the court of local royalty. Gandhi probably inherited his love for austerity from his father: "My father never had any ambition to accumulate riches and left us very little property." Gandhi inherited his spirituality from his mother, who he described as deeply religious. Both Gandhi's parents were Hindus, and the whole family were strict vegetarians.

At the time of Gandhi's birth, India was ruled by the British. The British had been in India since the early seventeenth century when they set up trading posts by force, bribery or agreement with the Mogul Emperor and the local princes. When the Mogul court in Delhi collapsed in the 1700s, the British minority took more control of Indian political affairs, as well as the land and its resources. India was declared an official colony in 1858, and Great Britain placed its eleven provinces under

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Hinduism's philosophy in regard to the Untouchables, the poor and vilified outcasts of Indian society. Gandhi believed that no person should be regarded as evil, even one who had committed evil deeds, "'Hate the sin and not the sinner' is a precept which, though easy enough to understand, is rarely practised, and that is why the poison of hatred spreads in the world." Gandhi found wisdom in some of Buddha's teachings as well as parts of the New Testament of the Christian Bible: "He plowed through the Old Testament 'with much difficulty and without the least interest or understanding,' but the New Testament, especially the Sermon on the Mount, appealed to him and invited comparison with the Gita." His curiosity and his desire to understand and improve himself led Gandhi to spend hours studying religious books and contemplating philosophical ideas. For Gandhi, the search for morality and truth were a lifelong, ongoing process. After finishing his studies in England, Gandhi returned to India. He was a member of the bar, and licensed to practice law, but he knew more about English law and Western civilization than about Indian law. Gandhi set up a legal office in Bombay where he struggled to find legal work to support his f
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