Page 44 - GANDHI A Biography for Children and Beginners

GANDHI – A Biography for children and beginners

the good. It did not lie through violence and war, but through the renunciation

of attachment to desires and the fruits of action. A human being cannot escape

action. He should wear himself out in action, not with attachment to the fruits
of his action, but by dedicating them to all, by renunciation. He called the Gita

the yoga of the non- attachment. He also saw in the Gita the message that all

human beings had to earn their bread by their own work, looking upon all such

work as a link in the sacrificial effort that maintained society and sustained
nature. This he called the spirit of Yajna. He accepted the Gita's idea that one

who wanted to serve others or even himself should control his desires and

emotions and become a Sthitaprajna or a man of abiding wisdom. He had to
overcome his ego and the temptation of the senses, and live by the sweat of his

brow.

All these thoughts and beliefs were surfacing and milling in his mind when, on
one of his journeys from Johannesburg to Durban, his friend and colleague,

Polak gave him a book to read on the train. It was Ruskin's Unto This Last. He

started reading, and found that he could not lay the book down. The book

confirmed many of his thoughts:

1. The good of the individual is contained in the good of all, — since all human

beings are interdependent.

2. All socially useful work, — whether that of the lawyer or barber has the same

value.

3. A life of labour, particularly productive labour related to basic needs — like

agriculture or handicrafts - was the life worth living.

Gandhi believed in practising whatever he accepted as true or desirable. So, he
decided to lead the life of a farmer and craftsman, while devoting his life to

the struggle for justice. He bought a farm near Phoenix, 14 miles from Durban,

and moved to this farm which was named the Phoenix Settlement. This was in
1904 when he was 35 years of age. He often trekked from Durban to Phoenix

and back. He invited his colleagues - Indian, European, Chinese and others to

go and settle in the Phoenix Settlement. The printing press of the Indian

Opinion was shifted there. The Settlement became Gandhi's laboratory to

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