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Gandhi
In a newly designed edition, this stunning illustrated tribute to the life of Gandhi features the words and images of the man, his people, and his country.
- GenresBiography
Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 19, 2024
"It was Polak who brought to Gandhi's attention John Ruskin's UNTO THIS LAST, which in effect demanded that the rich should place their wealth at the service of the community, especially the poor. Gandhi found in the book principles that fit into his own and from which he would never deviate: that the good of the individual is contained in the good of all; that all work has the same value; that a life of labor as a farmer or craftsman is the best life" (48).
"To this end, he felt, one had to forgo all personal pleasure and indulgence, including sex. Therefore, with a long tradition of Hindu holy-man's celibacy to support him, he decided to adopt brahmacharya--permanent celibacy--as one of the tenets of faith, along with ahimsa, nonviolence to all living things, and satyagraha, the force of truth and love, his own invention" (50).
"Tagore and Gandhi could not have been more unlike, though each recognized in the other the stamp of greatness, and it was Tagore who soon dubbed Gandhi 'Mahatma,' or Great Soul, a traditional Indian honorary title by which Gandhi became known throughout the world. Tagore had no taste for Gandhi's ascetic temper and was disturbed by what he regarded as Gandhi's streak of violence. For Tagore, the science and culture of the West were admirable things to be embraced, while Gandhi, although admiring much in western culture, was marching toward a rejection of western influence as detrimental to India.
Even Gandhi's obsession with food and diet found no sympathy in the poet, who loved fine, rich foods. Once when Gandhi objected that bread fried in oil was like poison, Tagore replied that it must be a very slow poison, as he had been eating it all his life and it hadn't harmed him yet" (54).
"He vowed never to eat more than five articles of food in any twenty-four hours--a vow he kept to the end of his life" (55).
"A final image, from Gandhi's autobiography, the image of the seeker he always was: 'To see the universal and all-pervading Spirit of Truth face to face one must be able to love the meanest of creatures as oneself'" (145).
"To this end, he felt, one had to forgo all personal pleasure and indulgence, including sex. Therefore, with a long tradition of Hindu holy-man's celibacy to support him, he decided to adopt brahmacharya--permanent celibacy--as one of the tenets of faith, along with ahimsa, nonviolence to all living things, and satyagraha, the force of truth and love, his own invention" (50).
"Tagore and Gandhi could not have been more unlike, though each recognized in the other the stamp of greatness, and it was Tagore who soon dubbed Gandhi 'Mahatma,' or Great Soul, a traditional Indian honorary title by which Gandhi became known throughout the world. Tagore had no taste for Gandhi's ascetic temper and was disturbed by what he regarded as Gandhi's streak of violence. For Tagore, the science and culture of the West were admirable things to be embraced, while Gandhi, although admiring much in western culture, was marching toward a rejection of western influence as detrimental to India.
Even Gandhi's obsession with food and diet found no sympathy in the poet, who loved fine, rich foods. Once when Gandhi objected that bread fried in oil was like poison, Tagore replied that it must be a very slow poison, as he had been eating it all his life and it hadn't harmed him yet" (54).
"He vowed never to eat more than five articles of food in any twenty-four hours--a vow he kept to the end of his life" (55).
"A final image, from Gandhi's autobiography, the image of the seeker he always was: 'To see the universal and all-pervading Spirit of Truth face to face one must be able to love the meanest of creatures as oneself'" (145).
October 28, 2010
I think that this book was easy to read and that it was really well written to understand and it was a great bio. If you need a bio to get on Gandhi and that easy and short get this one...it was a great book and it was something that i an read in just less than a week.:)
April 19, 2015
I first learned of Gandhi when my Mom took me to see the movie when I was 12. I enjoyed learning a lot more about him in this book. It is a nice, short, comprehensive view of his life.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews