Description
Gandhi's importance lies in his fearless preaching of the doctrine of non-violence. He believed that permanent good can never be the outcome of force, and in this he saw himself as more than a visionary. 'I claim', he wrote, 'to be a practical idealist.'
In the years since his assassination in 1948 Gandhi's ideas have acquired an international appeal: his determination that conflicts of interest could, and should be resolved without violent confrontation has increasingly been shared by individuals and by peace movements throughout the world.
Ronald Duncan's selection of Gandhi's writings contrasts the doctrines of the religious thinker with the details of the daily life of the modern prophet. Exponent of the Bhagavad Gita, the gospel of selfless action, and the Satyagraha, the philosophy of non-violence, Gandhi can be seen in correspondence with his friends and disciples, like Mira Behn, and his political adversaries, the Viceroys Lord Linlithgow and Lord Mountbatten.
And in every situation, he elucidates the universal truth at the centre of his life: that 'the dignity of man demands obedience to a higher law-the strength of the spirit.'
ISBN:9780006366942
