Both Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. were goal-oriented leaders. Gandhi desired self-rule for India. King wanted first class citizenship for African Americans. Instead of separating religion and politics, both men mixed the two. Both leaders chose nonviolence as their strategy, partly because it was the only practical solution capable of achieving their objectives.
Gandhi's goal for India was swaraj, a self-rule based on complete independence from Great Britain. Gandhi believed that self-rule was only possible if his country was empowered to overthrow the "fourfold disaster" that centuries of British rule had imposed on the economic, political, cultural, and spiritual life of India (Shirer 30). Gandhi realized that only the most practical of weapons would prevail. For this reason, he chose the Hindu principle of satyagraha, or soul-force, "I know that it is the right of the citizen to withdraw his cooperation from the state when that cooperation means his degradation. It is a tangible form of showing one's displeasure at the acts of one's government" (Clement 62).
The principle of satyagraha is found in the Hindu sacred text, the Bhagavad-Gita, which contains lessons in discipline and selflessness, mercifulness, and freedom from greed or jealousy. Inspired by this text, Gandhi sought truth, rejecting anything hypocritical or false. He cultivated love and tolerance of others and was himself usually loved and deeply respected, even by the people he opposed. He became known by the beloved term, "Mahatma," which means "great soul."
Ahimsa, or nonviolence to all living things, is another great principle of Hinduism. Ahimsa means noninjury to everything that lives. A vegetarian, Gandhi would not eat animals or hurt them. He hated violence in all forms, and refused even to kill deadly animals, such as poisonous snakes.
Gandhi studied many religions in his search for the ultimate meaning of life. Th...