Mahatma Gandhi
Mahatma Gandhi :
He bought a silk hat costing nineteen shillings, an evening dress costing ten pounds and a double watch-chain of gold. He took lessons in French and in elocution and spent three guineas to learn ballroom dancing. But soon he realized the futility of all these.
“One should rather become a gentleman by virtue of his character,” he thought to himself.
When Mohandas was about to complete his second year in London, he came across two theosophist brothers who introduced him to Sir Edwin Arnold’s English translation of the Gita. The book left a lasting impression on his mind.
“It is the supreme book for knowledge of Truth,” he felt.
Later, the verses of the Gita helped him morally in moments of gloom.
Along the same time, one of his friends introduced him to the Bible. Mohandas was deeply touched with the New Testament and especially with the Sermon on the Mount. He also read THE LIGHT OF ASIA - Sir Edwin Arnold’s rendering of Buddha’s life. Thus he developed the attitude of respect for all religions. He had a strong desire to understand the best in each one of them.
Mohandas graduated as a Lawyer from the University College - London. He was admitted to the British Bar on June 10 - 1891. Two days later, he sailed for India to set up his law practice at Bombay (now Mumbai). Reaching Bombay, he rushed to his home. But to his shock and disappointment he came to know that his mother was no more. The news had been deliberately held back from him so that he doesn’t get a shock in a distant land.
After Mohandas had overcome his grief, he decided to set up his legal practice in Bombay .But his law practice was not successful. However, he received an offer from Dada Abdulla & Co. to join them as a Legal Advisor. He was to be posted in Durban - South Africa. Mohandas did not want to lose this opportunity. So in April 1893, this timid youth of twenty-four sailed for South Africa... unaided and alone!
In those days, the non-whites were given discriminated treatment in Durban. Indians and blacks were treated as inferior races. When Mohandas reached there, he had to face this oppressive atmosphere of racial snobbishness. Once, he was traveling in a first class carriage of a train. A white passenger objected to the presence of a colored man in the compartment.
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