MAHATMA
GANDHI
His Personality and
Character
R. BANGARUSWAMI
The
first thing that struck anybody who, for the first time, saw Gandhiji was his
emaciated frail body and his rather insignificant appearance. Sarojini Naidu affectionately
called him “this little man, this tiny man, this man with a child’s body” and
almost all writers who have written about him have not failed to touch on this
aspect. But his nose was big’ and so also were his ears. A
nickel-rimmed spectacles sat on his nose. “He seemed to be all
spectacles” says a British newspaperman. “His bones positively stick out from
his body ... A large portion of his chest was protruding from his upper
garment. His mouth is shaped as if it once had prominent teeth. They have now
disappeared, leaving a gaping void.” His small eyes had a flashing lustre and a “twinkling” quality and his toothless mouth
hid a genial smile, a smile “that seemed to contain in it all the radiance of
world’s childhood.” “The eyes of a strategist, the nose of a dictator, the mouth
of a monologist”, says a writer summing up Gandhiji’s physiognomy.
It
may be said that Gandhiji’s dress underwent a metamorphosis with every landmark
in his career. As a boy he was seen wearing a dhotie,
close coat and cap. While he was in
Like
Thoreau, whom Gandhiji admired much, the Mahatma also wanted to “simplify,
simplify, simplify” life. It was an ascetic simplicity that he practised and practised it for
years and years. The Ashram huts in which he lived were like the poor men’s
huts in
As
for his food, oh, it is a subject for a whole book. When one tries to
understand Gandhiji one should never forget that he was making experiments in
every walk of life. And in nothing more was he so
assiduous and ardent as in the field of dietetics, making constant experiments
on himself. Referring to his diet said Sarojini Naidu once humorously–“grass and goat’s milk–” though it
was not so very bad as that. Beginning life as a vegetarian,
he became also a fruitarian, then for a time he dispensed with milk altogether,
dispensed with salt altogether, substituted tamarind water for lime-juice as
drink, replaced vegetable green leaves by margosa
leaves–to mention a few of his experiments. Groundnuts and goat’s milk and
dates seem to have a special preference for him. What is sought to be emphasised here is not only his simplicity but also his
assiduous efforts at simplification of the ways of existence.
Gandhiji
lived simplicity for the sake of simplicity and rejoiced in it. But the
simplicity was also based on economy, an economy of the strictest kind,
especially when it referred to his own person; Waste and extravagance of any
kind of any thing at anytime were repugnant to him. Simply they had no place in his scheme of
life. It is said that a board was put up in his kitchen–“Don’t waste salt.” If it was so about the cheapest
article of our food, one can only
imagine what he would say if he found any costlier article wasted! (Gandhiji
must have for long had a grouse against the Government for taxing the poor
man’s salt and not making it
much less cheaper. No wonder he started the Salt Satyagraha Movement.) By the
way, one is reminded in this connection of a personal reminiscence by the Rt. Hon.
Srinivasa Sastri, one of Gandhiji’s intimate friends, that
his (Sastri’s)
mother being offered a gift of mangoes for pickles, returned the same as she
could not then afford to buy the salt! To continue, Gandhiji did not throw
aside the envelopes received by him by
post. He used them as one-side paper for jotting down some notes or
other and when he found a visitor wanting a bit of paper he would give him one
or more of these slips according to the person’s need and necessity. Gandhiji
did not also throwaway the shortest stump of a pencil but preserved it for some
future use and visitors, who having got paper, when they wanted a pencil, got
one of these stumps!
Gandhiji
saw to it that all this economy
did not affect efficiency. His system and order in the keeping of the household was seen in everything–big or
small. He attended to the smallest detail. Though his correspondence was “mountainous
“, he made it a point to answer them within two or three days, writing replies
many of them in his own hand
and seeing whether they have been
correctly addressed. Finding the cost of bread purchased in large quantities
for his “heterogenous family” in
But
in all this one should not fail to note his high sense and value of time. Yes,
time is money, and much more than money. Time lost can never be regained. He
was punctual to the minute in every one of his acts. Once it happened that he
could not go to a meeting in time and he had to go a mile or two to that place.
There was a cyclist near and Gandhiji asked his help which he readily gave.
Though Gandhiji did not know cycling before, somehow he went with him on the
cycle and reached the place in time. In his scheme of things everything had its
allotted time–prayer, bath, food, spinning, work, interview. And Gandhiji found
that there was such a call on his time that he should combine two or even three
things on one occasion. Newspapers he read in the privy, interviews were given
while he was doing his daily quota of spinning, got by heart slokas of the Gita while he was taking his bath, thought
out serious problems while taking his walk, and so on. But his time-sense did
not make him a man of hurry. Thoroughness and efficiency were his keynotes in
life. And work, work, and work without end. In a letter to Sardar
Patel he writes: “I have surpassed myself in writing today. Both the waist and
the back are aching in protest but the protest must be disregarded for the
present.” Even while engaged in some mechanical work he warns that one should
not give room to any idle thoughts. To Sardar Patel
he wrote: “It is very important to learn how to keep needless thoughts out of
the mind!” Gandhiji’s cure for this is very simple. He suggests learning Gita
by heart or studying Sanskrit or reciting Ramdhun.
During the almost full measure of a man’s life that he lived, he made every day
do the work of one week. Jail life was utilised for
intensive study. Ship journeys and the waiting time at stations were utilised for picking up new languages. This incessant activity
of body and mind was regulated by a strict adherence to time and programme, to
order and routine.
And
Gandhiji loved doing his own things himself. However trivial it might be, he
seldom asked another to do a thing which he could attend to by himself.
Self-help at all time and in all places was his motto. It gave one
self-reliance, saved time and money. He learnt washing, shaving, midwifery, nursing–oh, the list seems endless. And he the biggest
leader of a very big nation, leading it in a tussle with a major power in world
politics, found time and energy for doing many little things, little deeds of
kindness, speaking little words of comfort and encouragement to those who came
to him and poured forth their sorrows,
He
valued silence as much as he valued speech. To him the weekly day of silence
meant more time and intensity of work. God never takes rest, the Sun never
takes rest and man too has no right to idleness but must do something useful, that’s
how he thought.
Fearlessness
was an important attribute of his character. And with fearlessness went
frankness, the character of calling a spade a spade. It is all easy to praise
these virtues but when it comes to acting, many difficulties may crop up. But
not even for courtesy’s sake Gandhiji would not give up his frankness. It should not be forgotten that
frankness itself is a mark of fearlessness. When to the consternation of those
assembled, among whom were some Rajahs and Maharajahs, he rated these
Highnesses for their jewelled pedantry and silken
pomp which could be better utilised for the benefit
of the poor, when he asked high British officials to resign their posts and
join him in his fight for India’s Swaraj, he carried
his frankness to a degree. But the fearlessness which he showed in all his
action astonished the world. Speaking of his fearlessness said G. S. Arundale that it was natural to him and “because it is
natural it is gracious, it is chivalrous to all who are in his way!” It was “fearlessness
which makes friends not foes, which makes peace and not war.” Not only was he
utterly fearless himself but also made all others who came in contact with him
likewise fearless. As Viscount Samuel said: “He taught the
Indian to straighten his back, to raise his eyes, to face circumstance with a
steady gaze.” Under Gandhiji’s lead many a countryman of his lost the fear of losing property, the fear of going to
gaol, the fear of undergoing hardship, the fear of separation
from his near and dear ones, the fear of
even death itself.
This abhaya came
to him because of his infinite trust in
God and in his kindness and alertness in doing good
and in saving those who put their
trust in him. Because he was fearless it became possible for Gandhiji to build
all life’s activities on the strong foundations
of Truth and Non-violence, the two sentinel stars that guided all his activities. What Tolstoi said of himself applies with greater
emphasis to Gandhiji. “The hero of my tale, whom I love with all the power of
my soul, whom I have tried to
portray in all his beauty, who has been, is, and will be, beautiful is–Truth.” Truth and nothing but truth, as
the witness is made to swear in the witness box, Truth which gives no loophole of
exception, Truth in its highest sublimation as God and in all its ordinary and
special usage. To Gandhiji even secrecy is against Truth. After Truth comes
non-violence, non-violence in it’s amplified meaning of Love, not only to human beings but to all God’s creation, the
birds of the air and the beasts born and brought up on the same earth, mother
to us all. Like many a really pious
Hindu imbued with the spirit of Ahimsa and love of his religion and Dharma,
Gandhiji would not even hurt an
adder. His doctrine of non-violence as a practical article of faith to be practised in this world came
under violent criticism. Gandhiji’s answer to this was that everyone could practise it to the extent that he can go. Gandhiji’s
Contribution to ethical or poltical or moral warfare
against evil was his doctrine of Satyagraha which analysed would come to Satya plus Ahimsa plus fearlessness in a good
mixture. And Gandhiji showed that this decoction was a very potent force to
fight any formidable evil.
Gandhiji
practised non-possession in the right spirit of the
Gita. He called himself once a mendicant and his earthly property was
practically nil. Even while he was in
Allied
to non-possession came his vow of Brahmacharya even
while living a married state and that too when he was in middle ’Thirties.
These two by themselves would have been sufficient to stamp him with asceticism
but along with his dedicated life of service for the poor masses and his
sacrifices they made him really into a saint and a Mahatma. And the real beauty
of the whole thing was that Gandhiji loved and rejoiced in this career of a
political asceticism because it gave him an opportunity to serve humanity,
which according to him was serving God in the most acceptable form. He set a
high value on social work and never spared either energy or time for its
devotion. He had himself trained in scientific nursing and while he was in
Though
there was a tinge of pugnacity in his temperament, the many restrictions that
he placed on himself curbed his outbursts to a very large degree. Still, as has
been avowed by closest disciples, it was no easy task to attend on him. He was,
for all his kindness and all his love, a terrible disciplinarian, a very hard
taskmaster. Tears, even lovely women’s tears, did not move him. Nilla Prem Cook, an American girl, left the Ashram because “Gandhi
is a tyrant.” Kasturbai was the worst to suffer under
his tyranny and Gandhiji admitted it in his frank and open-hearted manner. Past
middle age he found fault with her once for going to the Puri temple not thrown
open to Harijans then, and she had to apologise, and Mahadev Desai had
to take the blame on himself for taking her, and then Gandhiji turned the query
inward and blamed himself for neglecting her education! And on another occasion
he turned his angry glance at her and reproached her for giving an additional
sweet to her grandchildren! For a strictly impartial man, a man of the highest
integrity, for one who regards all the world as a
family, this grandmotherly triviality of affection was out of the way! Still on
another occasion out of solicitude for his wife’s health, when she was ill and
had to travel in train, Gandhiji with some difficulty had to stifle his sense
of truth a little and allow her to use the second class privy when they had
only third class tickets with them! No wonder a friend of him once said that he
was ‘‘as cross-grained as a hickory nut.”
His
way of dealing with indiscipline was also a bit curious and out of the way. On
one occasion an Ashram girl, when she was detected in her loose conduct, was
made to part with her hair on the head. Or more usually he fasted himself for
anybody else’s offence in the Ashram!
But
abstemious life, rigorous discipline, unceasing work, the weight of a nation’s
worry in its travail–these things ingrained in him a high voltage of patience: “patience
with opponents, patience with an alien Government, patience with his endless
visitors and patience with his own, at times disturbing, disciples.”
Silence,
fasting and prayer became his safety valves of escape, During
the ‘Twenties he kept a vow of silence for one whole year. His fasts were legion and all these fasts were
undertaken mostly for public ends and achieved a good measure of the objectives
for which they were undertaken.
His
memory was as prodigious as his faith in God, and his mission
as strong and enduring as his will and as wonderful as his work. His aptitude
for remembering faces and facts and figures and names, especially for a man of
his stature moving with so many people and dealing with so many things, was
amazing. And whoever corresponded with him did not fail to get his reply. No,
nothing appeared trivial to this great man whose one aim on earth was to find a
lasting solution to all human ills by Satya and Ahimsa. He never failed to pay
his tribute of praise even to the lowliest of the low when he or she exhibited
marks of heroism, be it young girl like Valliamma who
died of a fatal fever after returning from jail or an old man like Harbat Singh. “Valliamma left us the
heritage of an immortal name” and Gandhiji says his “head bowed in reverence
before this illiterate
sage”, Harbat Singh.
Gandhiji
found an admirable way of turning defects into advantages. During his early
life he found he was tardy in expression. He utilised
it to think out his words in precision; he never repented or recalled what he
said. He found living in cities costly, He shifted to rural surroundings and
founded Ashrams, and so on.
Gandhiji
had a phenomenal love for children. Though a strict disciplinarian he liked
playing with them and spending sometime daily in their company, if he can help
it. He laughed and felt much amused even when they made fun of him.
He
has a high sense of humour and many of his humorous
remarks and witty statements have found their way in print. Sarojini
Naidu was one of those few admirers who took great
liberties with him, taking the liberty of cracking many a joke with him all of
which he enjoyed immensely. Has he not stated–“I can laugh even with those who
laugh at me. That’s what keeps me young.” Genuine Ananda
is a prerequisite for healthy life and an optimistic outlook even when life’s
sky is covered with dark dense clouds, is enjoined by
our Shastras. Rightly Gandhiji calls himself an “incorrigible
optimist” and an incorrigible optimist he was in the face of the greatest
dangers that threatened him or his movement. Whatever happened or might happen
he never lost hope, the hope that springs eternal in human breast.
Nor
did he lose faith in the justness of his cause or in the Satyagrahic
qualities that abided in his followers or in his inner voice that ultimately called
to his timely help. Nothing, nothing in the world could shake his faith in God nor his trust in Him that He would come to him in time with
a helping hand and a healing word of counsel.
Gandhiji
was an amalgam of opposite forces strangely but strongly blended together. He
was a realist of realists, practical to the spending of even a pie and yet his
ideals were Himalayan in their grandeur, appearing like them so big and
baffling, distant and yet near, looming far high into the horizon and yet
looming as a permanent feature into the far distant future. He himself said
that he did not hope to reach those ideals, though he was walking on the path
that led to them. He was a politician and a saint–what a strange combination,
and yet how effective! He was a doctor and a lawyer, a preacher and a
propagandist, a man of letters and a man of action!
No
wonder such a man as he was called by many epithets by many people. Here is a
haphazard collection of a few: Public Fool 1; Micky
Mouse; Naked Fakir: Loincloth Saint; Cooly Barrister;
Karmavir Gandhi; Village clown. On the other hand
there were people who saw in him the many great qualities that made a Jesus, a
Buddha, a Mahomed. Many
comparisons have been drawn between him and Abraham Lincoln, Switzer Tolstoi, Kagowa and other kindred
spirits.
Yet,
to us, in