Mahatma Gandhi

“ Let critics of Mahatma Gandhi then look to History before they condemn him for trying to bring this much belauded Modern Civilisation down to the common starting point of all great civilisations. We are at the dawn of a New Era, and Mahatma Gandhi is the one leader who shows to us the right path. He at least is watering the roots, while all others who try to keep alive the Civilisation of the Western nations are like foolish gardeners who lavish water on the withering leaves of a dying tree and never think of watering its roots. ”

“ We are met together today to honor one of the greatest men of human history. The world has been aware of Mahatma Gandhi for scores of years. While he was living, people did not always understand him, nor appreciate him, but they always knew that he was a force in our times, indomitable in his high purpose, unshakable in his integrity, persistently undefeated. ”

“ What we have here in the case of Gandhi, as always in the case of the non-resistant, is a religious leader, a man not of local, or national, but of universal significance. It is in the realm of the spirit that Gandhi “lives and moves and has his being.” It is not primarily with the kings and premiers, but with God and the soul of man, that he does business. Above and beyond the political liberation of his own or any other people, he seeks the spiritual redemption of mankind. ”

“ Gandhi may have wanted to arrive at the dignity of the individual, freedom, peace, Justice and plenty in another way, by another route. But this quiet man’s strength, his vision, his spiritual wealth, his practised belief in human goodness symbolized and crystalized for the people of the United States the hopes, the never-ending struggle for the betterment of man. When Gandhi spoke, the people of this land listened, and millions said to themselves, ‘Yes, that is right, that is good, that is true’. ”

“ WARREN R. AUSTIN, Representative of the United States of America to the Security Council of the United Nations:
“Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, the tragic death of Mahatama Gandhi on January 30th evoked instantaneous expressions of regret and high tribute throughout the world. These expressions confirmed — if indeed confirmation were necessary -- the greatness of his role. Mahatma Gandhi not only was a national leader; he was also a symbol of the aspirations towards which men everywhere strive. ”

“ These remarks can very well be applied to Mahatma Gandhi, the greatest living personality in the world to day and certainly one of the most prominent characters in the world’s history. Few persons have been able, as he has been, to cut down their bodily wants to such an amazing extent. None have succeeded, as he has done, in following truth with such absolute devotion. Rarely do we witness, as we do in him, such an embodiment of love and sacrifice. ”

“ At once Gandhi appeared in public, on the country highways and even in the cities, clad in nothing but a loin-cloth, that no man in all the land should be embarrassed by a poverty greater than his own. Such deeds are a commonplace in Gandhi’s life. His whole career reveals a positive passion for community of experience with mankind. When his people look upon him, therefore, they see not a leader merely but a comrade and a brother, one who is in all things like unto themselves ”

“ With the incarceration of Mahatma Gandhi, his writings in Young India have passed beyond the pale of polemical politics and entered the realm of the “classic” literature. Far more than their practical value to India, at present or hereafter, is their value to the world at large, embodying in them a philosophy of life and practical conduct elaborated by the experience of the life time of a soul which will undoubtedly rank in history as that of one of the world’s greatest of men. ”

“ We mourn his passing. It strikes us to the heart that this great good man, who, believing in non-violence never did harm to any creature, should yet have died by violence from one of his fellow men. This death, powerful and world-shaking, crystalizes the eternal meaning of Mahatma Gandhi’s life. Now we see plainly the necessity for the fundamental human truth which he spent his life to proclaim. We accept the challenge. We uphold the brotherhood of humanity, as the essence of peace, the affirmation of freedom. ”

“ Centuries of foreign rule and oppression have failed to make him a dangerous member of society. Wherever he goes, and under whatever conditions he is placed, he bows to the decision of the majority represented by those in authority over him. For, he knows no one can be in authority over him, unless he is tolerated there by a majority of the body to which he belongs. This principle is so ingrained in the Indian heart that even the most despotic princes of the Indian States feel that they are to rule for the people. ”

“ The death of Mahatma Gandhi is a catastrophe, not only for India, but for people of good will everywhere, and I know that countless numbers are sharing our deep regret at his passing and of the loss of wide influence which he has exercised for good and for peace. ”

“ Gandhi’s triumph did not end when India was free. On the day of its independence, he won anew perhaps a greater triumph. The first government of free India endorsed his principles and declared that the policy of hundreds of millions of human beings would be based upon his faith.
“They said, on that fateful day, ‘We have proclaimed that we, as a nation and people, stand for world peace and cooperation amongst nations. We stand for democracy. The method of democracy is to find peaceful solutions for all problems.’ That is the way of a free people. By violence and hatred, no problem is solved. ”

“ It is the testimony of Lord Lloyd, the Governor at that time of the Province of Bombay, that in 1921 and 1922 Gandhi came within the breadth of an eyelash of securing the emancipation of his people. So unconquerable is the non-resistant, so powerful the man who wields not the sword of steel but the sword of the spirit! Remember, dear friends, that Britain, like the Roman Empire yesterday, knew exactly what to do with a man who came armed against her. Every empire, every military power, knows how to handle an attack of violence. ”

“ He sees it victorious in Japan, he sees it invading China, he sees it planted at the heart of India—and he declares war against it! He fights the opium trade, he battles against the liquor traffic, he substitutes the domestic spindle for the factory loom, he denounces the railroad, the automobile, and the machine in general. What Gandhi is attempting to do is to save India from the blight of western materialism by restoring her own native civilization and culture before it is too late. ”

“ When I lectured on Gandhi in India—and it lifts up my heart to remember this day that I had the blessed opportunity of going to India and talking to great Indian audiences in love and homage of their great prophet—I used to think at the time of how impudent it was, that I, a man from the militant West, should come to India to talk to Indians about Gandhi. ”

“ Gandhi was like a bird with eager outstretched wings longing to annihilate the time and distance that lay before her and her far-off India, and impatient of the brief and necessary interruption in her homeward flight. ”

“ Gandhi a favourable journey to his native land and to congratulate him upon the triumphs he had achieved. Nor did they forget Mrs. Gandhi—hear, hear—who had also suffered in the good cause. Those labours and those sacrifices were over. Mr. Gandhi had practically won the battle he had been fighting and was returning to India to resume as they all hoped, the practice of his profession under happier auspices than it had been his fate to enjoy in South Africa, and to meet the thousands of his countrymen by whom his name would never be forgotten. ”

“ Gandhi at least nothing is or ought to be more practical. To turn the left cheek when the right is beaten; to bless those that curse; to suffer for righteousness’ sake; these are the very ideals to which he has surrendered his whole being. And by impassioned devotion to them he has developed a character before which men stand in awe. To the self-discipline of the ascetic he adds the sweetness and simplicity of a saint. The hero's will is in him wedded to the heart of a child. The service of man answers to the love of God. ”

“ Ladies and gentlemen, it is superfluous for me or any other speaker to introduce the greatness of Mahatma Gandhi to any audience over the whole world. The 20th century has produced so many big names who have achieved great things in the world — statesmen, invaders, defenders, scientists, discoverers, inventors of all sorts — hut none of them occupies the place which Mahatma Gandhi occupies in the hearts of the world, and none of them got the fame, the undying fame and the noble name which Mahatma Gandhi obtained. ”

“ They knew what Gandhi meant by non-violent non-cooperation. They had been taught the discipline of that kind of a life, and there they were as his representatives and his followers to obey his word and do his work. It can be said that, after a period of years, Gandhi had organized the whole Indian people around himself in the great undertaking of national independence, and the power of such organization, led by such a personality, was indeed, as it proved to be, irresistible. ”

“ And not only all India but all the world, for the world was standing still and silent, in reverence of this one man, as his frail body was burned, and his mighty soul liberated into eternity. I say to you, and I say it advisedly, measuring my words, that the greatest statesman who ever lived, and the mightiest soldier, never received such a tribute as this, and I venture to prophesy never will. Gandhi had captured the heart of mankind. There wasn’t any man anywhere who did not love—him such is the power of the spirit. ”

“ One year ago last December the All-India Congress formally endorsed his program of non-violence and non-cooperation. This last December, less than three months ago, the congress reaffirmed the program by an overwhelming majority, and named Gandhi as the leader of the movement for independence. This man holds absolutely in his hands today the destinies of his people. When Gandhi speaks, it is India that speaks. When Gandhi acts, it is India that acts. When Gandhi is arrested, it is India that is outraged and humiliated. ”

“ Chairman, the passing of Mahatma Gandhi is a great loss to every man in the world who has a part in the betterment of mankind. Nor it was Gandhi, more than any man of our age, who Intended by his life and doc¬ trines to become a man by whose teachings the world should rise to the highest levels for which it is designed by its creator. ”

“ But what was Gandhi really doing? He was teaching the unnumbered millions of his fellow-countrymen that here was something that they could do for independence. That if everyone would make a spinning-wheel to whirl within the home, and all of them give themselves thus to the manufacture of cotton cloth, India upon the instant would be delivered from the economic tyranny of the British cotton trade, and economically if not politically, would be free. He gave the Indians something to do, and millions of spinning-wheels have turned and turned for years, in obedience to the example of the Mahatma. ”

“ There, in Mahatma Gandhi, we have a volcanic personality, a moral genius of the first order, who has revealed to us all the hidden power of a living freedom from within, who has taught us to depend, not on any external resources, but on ourselves. ”

“ It is as the embodiment of Satyagraha, as a veritable lamp burning upon the altar, that Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi stands to-day before his countrymen. Truth-force or love-force, as he himself has translated the term into English, is to him the greatest of all powers. In proportion as individuals and nations alike fulfil the law of this power and fit themselves into it they live and grow: the rest is death. ”

“ Today we of the Republic of Indonesia join the citizens of India and residents of New York in mourning the death of Mahatma Gandhi. The tragedy has cast a shadow over the whole world. Humanity has lost one of its greatest men. Indonesia has lost a guide, a mentor whose courage and example have long been of strength to us. We are proud to know that Gandhi supported our struggle for independence. We are proud to know that he recognized independence as a prerequisite for Justice.
“Gandhi, the teacher of non-violence, lost his life by violence. ”

“ The affront has been put in breach of the letter and the spirit of the solemn declaration of the Prime Minister. We consider it to be inconsistent with our self respect any longer to brook the spirit of superiority and dominance which has systematically ignored and disregarded the sentiments of thirty crores of the innocent people of India on many a vital matter. It is humiliating to us, it cannot be a matter of pride to you, that thirty crores of Indians should live day in and day out in the fear of their lives from one hundred thousand Englishmen and therefore be under subjection to them. ”

“ When yesterday we thought of nothing but New Delhi and the dead Gandhi, it was with penitence within our souls that he should have walked the way of life alone, or a few of us, perhaps, following afar and wishing unto God that we had the strength and courage and patience and long-suffering to be even as he. Yes, Gandhi is the immortal and omnipotent conqueror, for he possesses the hearts of men forever, and as long as there is a human race upon this planet, will be remembered and revered. ”