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RELIGION OF MAHATMA GANDHI 199 Their Lordships will further humbly advise His Majesty that a petition lodged by the appellants for a stay of execution of the decree of Judicial Commissioner be also dismissed with costs.
Religion of Mahatma Gandhi.
BY
J. K. Mehta, M.A. THE personality and principles of Mahatma Gandhi have
attracted so much world-wide interest that the question as to what is the exact religious belief of this unique figure in the present-day world would prove interesting.
Mahatma was born of parents who were Vaishnavas (a Hindu Sect following Shri Krishna) and were orthodox. He himself never appears to have been orthodox and even at an early age manifested that love for abstract truth which in later life was to serve the purpose of religion. Beyond this love of truth and a rigid vegetarianism Mr. Gandhi had not any of the distinguishing signs of an orthodox Hindu when he was in London studying for the bar.
He began to study the Bhagvadgita in fact at that very time. His keenly analytical mind and his ruthless self-introspection were not a fit preparatory ground for evolving a religious or a mystical personality,
He remained in India and practised as a Barrister for a few years, after which he went to South Africa and settled there.
Throughout all this period he remained a devoted lover of truth, but in religious matters was more or less eclectic. In South Africa he came under the influence of Christian missionarises and friends, and the Message of the Man of Sorrows must have struck some responsive chord in his heart as he himself admits he was on the point of being converted to Christianity.
One thing with Mahatma Gandhi always is his transparent, reckless and courageous honesty, and the delects and deficienShree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
www.umaragyanbhandar.com
