Gandhi’s Key Concepts of Passive Resistance, Non-violence, and Self-rul

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi- 2 October 1869 - 30 January 194 was the pre-eminent political and spiritual leader of India during the Indian independence movement. He is also known as Mahatma which means â€Å"The Great Soul†. He was committed to pacifism, that there should be no violence.(1) He had three concepts to follow in his life for independence of India: Satyagraha, Ahimsa and Swaraj. Gandhi introduced the concept of â€Å"Satyagraha† that means â€Å"passive resistance†. This passive resistance also means ‘soul force’ or ‘truth force’. The words satya means truth and Agraha means insistence, or holding firmly to (2). For Gandhi, Satyagraha is more likely a method which is the idea of practicing in non-violence. Gandhi says, â€Å"Truth (satya) implies love, and firmness (agraha) engenders and therefore serves as a synonym for force. I thus began to call the Indian movement Satyagraha, that is to say, the Force which is born of Truth and Love or non-violence.† (3) Gandhi devoted himself for Satyagraha in order to decolonize India from British without violence. In his book Home Rule he says,† Passive resistance is a method of securing rights by personal suffering, it is the reverse of resistance by arms. When I refuse to do a thing that is repugnant to my conscience, I use soul-force† (5). He deployed this concept in Indian Independence Movement. For him, Satyagraha has three essentials meaning: â€Å"Satyagraha is a weapon of the strong; it admits of no violence under any circumstance whatsoever; and it ever insists upon truth† (6). Also, he presented some rules for this â€Å"soul-force† to the individuals of India as a campaign to follow and to reach the independency. For instance, these are the rules that he wanted his people to obey without viole... ...ed States and South Africa. Works Cited (1) http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Who_was_Mahatma_Gandhi#ixzz17wt8byMT (2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satyagraha (3) Satyagraha in South Africa, 1926 from Johnson, p. 73. (4) Gandhi, M.K. â€Å"Letter to Mr. ——† 25 January 1920 (The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi vol. 19, p. 350) (5) http://www.mkgandhi.org/swarajya/coverpage.htm (6) Gandhi, M.K. â€Å"Some Rules of Satyagraha† Young India (Navajivan) 23 February 1930 (The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi vol. 48, p. 340) (7) http://www.kamat.com/mmgandhi/ahimsa.htm (8) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swaraj (9) http://www.mkgandhi.org/swarajya/coverpage.htm (10) http://www.swaraj.org/whatisswaraj.htm (12) King, Jr., Martin Luther (1998). Carson, Clayborne. ed. The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.. pp. 23–24 (13) http://www.sa-venues.com/nelson_mandela.htm