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Gandhi : A Biographical Sketch
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were the same for all and all were to practice what they preached. Life was to be wholesome and balanced. Just as the body needed food and exercise to be healthy, so also did the mind and spirit. The emphasis of development, accordingly, was on all the three. Physical labor in particular was emphasized and glorified by Gandhi and all were to engage in physical labor and earn livelihood through the sweat of labor irrespective of the occupational pursuits. When Gandhi conducted this experiment, he was too busy with the demands of the Satyagraha struggle, available help was meager, resources were few, and other people were not at par with Gandhi in terms of their integrity and spiritual strength. The experiment, therefore, did not succeed as expected and was abandoned after a short run.
Satyagraha Struggle in India
The Satyagraha struggle in South Africa was concluded in 1914 and Gandhi returned to India via London at the instruction of Gokhale. Gandhi reached London on August 6, 1914 and discovered that the Great European War had been declared just two days before his arrival. Like he had done in the Boer War and Julu Rebellion in South Africa, Gandhi offered his services to help and nurse the wounded. This he did in the presence of his own dilemma that he was indirectly cooperating with the forces of violence and also against the advice of some friends who emphasized that the weak position of the British should be used to gain better conditions for India. Gandhi chose not to take advantage of the weak position of the British. He at that time had faith in the British rule of India and felt that prevalent injustices and corruption were the fault was of individual British officers and not of the British ruling system as such. This opinion of Gandhi changed quickly when he started traveling from London to India and noticed firsthand the arrogance of British officers and the way they behaved as masters and treated Indians as inferiors.
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