Gandhi
In the twentieth century Gandhi stimulated fresh expressions of Hinduism in independent India. Gandhi was a Hindu leader who was against the British government, served time in British jails, and in 1947 became one of the leaders of a new India where Hinduism is still Gandhi studied in Britain and practiced law in South Africa. He was keenly aware of the injustices imposed by the British, and of the the injustices imposed by Hindus on untouchables. In Hinduism an untouchable is a person, often a Shu
Before anyone can correct the impurities and injustices within the world, they must purify themselves. There is no room for hatred or violence among any humans. In life he worked for their welfare, in death he inspired continuing care for them. For Gandhi this meant that to love God is also to love the being in whom God dwells. Ahimsa is "non-injury" or "nonviolence" but can also mean "love". " He said that having rejected the sword, he had nothing to offer his opposition but love. He lived in expectation that in some future life he would be able to hug all humanity as friends. Influenced by Isha Upanishad, two doctrines shaped his personal commitments and public actions, satyagraha and ahimsa. " Gandhi's spiritual approach was influential in moving the British government to grant independence to India in 1947. The masses of Hindus loved Gandhi for his organization of mass demonstrations, nonviolent resistance and emphasis on fasting in prison until others did his bidding which the British did not appreciate. Gandhi influenced such people as Martin Luther King, Jr. But Gandhi referred to them as Harijans or "Children of God". Satyagraha, or "truth force" meant to Gandhi that God is truth. with his nonviolent resistance methods, which won recognition of the Civil Rights movement of African-American people in the United States.
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