ABSTRACT
In a world still darkened with intolerance, greed and hatred despite two major catastrophes, the life and teachings of Mahātmā Gāndhi shine as a solitary beacon of light. The suffering and destruction resulting from two World Wars waged during the span of twenty-five years would, one might expect, have sufficed to induce a sense of sobriety in the minds of the nations, and incline them to the pursuit of the ideals of purity, self-denial and non-violence which Mahātmāji practised and propagated. But the end of World War II merely seemed to have signalled a return to the selfishness, intolerance and disunity which caused the War itself. In his own country, Mahātmā Gāndhi’s lofty idealism and practice of his teachings raised the fight for freedom to a spiritual level, and made India’s claim to independence irresistible by all standards. In the world at large, his teachings constituted a challenge to the law of the jungle and greed for the neighbour’s land which largely characterized man’s actions in the international sphere. His death at the hands of a fanatic thus stunned not only India but the world; it seemed as if the edifice of love and peace which he had so carefully built up would crash and the harmony which he had inspired disappear. But the potency of his idealism proved far stronger than death at the assassin’s hand and Mahātmā Gāndhi’s teachings continue to inspire the lives and emotions of millions all over the world and millions yet unborn will in their turn derive the same inspiration therefrom.
