MAHATMA GANDHI
THE MAN WHO BECAME ONEWITH THE UNIVERSAL BEING
BY
ROMAIN HOLLAND
TRANSLATED BY
CATHERINE D. GROTH
THE CENTURY CO.
New York&London
MOHANDAS KARAMCHAND GANDHI.
In connection with the present essay I wish to tender my affectionatethanks to my faithful collaborator, my sister, and to my friend, KalidasNag, whose deep knowledge and indefatigable kindness have guided mysteps through the forest of Indian thought.
I also wish to thank the publisher, S. Ganesan of Madras, for havingplaced, spontaneously, his publications at my disposal.
The literal translation of Mahatma, the name which the people of Indiagave to Gandhi, is "the great Soul," maha, great; atma, soul. Theword goes back to the Upanishads, where it is used in speaking of theSupreme Being, and, through communion of Knowledge and Love, of thosewho become One with Him:
"He is the One Luminous, Creator of All,
Mahatma,
Always in the hearts of the people enshrined.
Revealed through Love, Intuition, and Thought,
Whoever knows Him, Immortal becomes...."
Tagore, on a visit to Ashram, Gandhi's favorite retreat, quotedthis stanza, referring to the Apostle.
MAHATMA GANDHI
PART ONE
§ 1
Dark, tranquil eyes. A small frail man, a thin face with largeprotruding ears. His head covered with a little white cap, his bodyclothed in coarse white cloth, barefooted. He lives on rice and fruitand drinks only water. He sleeps on the floor—sleeps very little, andworks incessantly. His body does not seem to count at all. There isnothing striking about him, at first, except his expression of "greatpatience and great love." W. W. Pearson, who met him in South Africa in1918, instinctively thought of St. Francis of Assisi. There is an almostchildlike simplicity about him.[1] His manner is gentle and courteouseven when dealing with adversaries,[2] and he is of immaculatesincerity.[3] He is modest and unassuming, to the point of sometimesseeming almost timid, hesitant, in making an assertion. Yet you feel hisindomitable spirit. He makes no compromises and never tries to hide amistake. Nor is he afraid to admit having been in the wrong. Diplomacyis unknown to him; he shuns oratorical effect or, rather, never thinksabout it; and he shrinks unconsciously from the great populardemonstrations organized in his honor. Literally "ill with the multitudethat adores him,"[4] he distrusts majorities and fears "mobocracy" andthe unbridled passions of the populace. He feels at ease only in aminority, and is happiest when, in meditative solitude, he can listen tothe "still small voice" within.[5]
This is the man who has stirred three hundred million people to revolt,who has shaken the foun