{"id":1359,"date":"2008-10-02T06:30:00","date_gmt":"2008-10-02T06:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/10\/mahatma-gandhi\/"},"modified":"2011-11-01T15:12:14","modified_gmt":"2011-11-01T19:12:14","slug":"mahatma-gandhi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/10\/mahatma-gandhi.html","title":{"rendered":"Mahatma Gandhi"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

<\/iframe>\n<\/p>(Gandhi\u2019s life was an epic, so a movie trailer does feel right for my purposes today\u2026<\/span>)<\/p>\nThe Indian spiritual and political leader <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mahatma_Gandhi\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi<\/a> was born on this day in 1869 in Porbander, a town in present day Gujarat. Later called Mahatma, or Great Soul, a title bestowed by the poet Rabindranath Tagore, Gandhi would become a singular figure on the twentieth century public stage.<\/p>\nFor me a compelling figure as a spiritual presence whose life and teachings had profound political consequences, but also one who lived at the dawn of modern communications and therefore with the details of his private life very transparent. He was a complicated man with a simple message, <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Satyagraha\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Satyagraha<\/a>, soul power, the ability of simple people to resist tyrany through radical non-violence.<\/p>\nAt the Unitarian Universalist Association <a href=\"http:\/\/www.uua.org\/socialjustice\/issuesprocess\/currentissues\/peacemaking\/resourceguide\/44229.shtml\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">web page<\/a>, there\u2019s an interesting guide to Gandhi as an exemplar for those who wish to become peacemakers.<\/p>\nStudying Gandhi\u2019s life grounds UU peacemakers in the common story of a spiritually-motivated and fallible person whose \u201cexperiments with truth\u201d identified the power of nonviolent activism. The feminist critique of Gandhi\u2019s inadequate parenting and sexual dis-ease can be acknowledged without destroying his value to peace making. Familiarity with Gandhi\u2019s life and creative approaches gives a common framework and Language for linking with global nonviolent activists.<\/p>\n<ul style=\"font-style: italic\">\n<li>Gandhi: His Life and Message for the World<\/em>, by Louis Fischer, The New American Library, 1954. This brief, journalistic account of Gandhi\u2019s life and philosophy was the basis fo the movie \u201cGandhi\u201d. Fischer was the first respected biographer. <\/li>\n<li>Gandhi the Man<\/em>, by Eknath Easwaran, Nilgiri Press, 1978. The reflective narrative, black and white photos, as well as many brief quotations bring Gandhi to life. Easwaran\u2019s spiritual guidance and meditation method is useful for many UUs. The author\u2019s spiritual and practical nature comes through. Flinders\u2019 appendix in the 1978 edition is an excellent description of \u201csatyagraha\u201d. <\/li>\n<li>Gandhi\u2019s Pilgrimage of Faith<\/em>, by Uma Majmudar, State University of NY, NY, 2005. Fowler\u2019s stages of faith development is familiar to many UUs; Majmudar\u2019s application of the theory to Gandhi\u2019s life concentrates on his active and public spiritual journey. This approach maintains Gandhi\u2019s humanity and shows the possibilities for development by every spiritual seeker willing to surrender to ever-expanding awareness of Truth. As Gandhi said, \u201cIt is by a process of trial and error, self-search and austere discipline, that a human being moves step by painful step along the road to fulfillment.\u201d (p. 234 in Majmudar) <\/li>\n<\/ul>\nThe translated language and style of Gandhi\u2019s original writings can be tedious for contemporary U.S. readers. Beacon Press published his autobiography, My Experiments with Truth<\/em>, in 1957. UU minister Homer Jack compiled The Wit and Wisdom of Gandhi, published by Beacon in 1951 and The Gandhi Reader: A Sourcebook of His Life and Writings, in 1956.<\/p>\nOne spiritually-oriented collection of his words is The Way to God<\/em>, Berkeley Hills Books, Albany, CA, 1999.<\/p>\n<div class=\"blogger-post-footer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" src=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/tracker\/33904114-5367011481760711485?l=monkeymindonline.blogspot.com\" alt=\"\"><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Gandhi\u2019s life was an epic, so a movie trailer does feel right for my purposes today\u2026) The Indian spiritual and political leader Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born on this day in 1869 in Porbander, a town in present day Gujarat. Later called Mahatma, or Great Soul, a title bestowed by the poet Rabindranath Tagore, Gandhi […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":120,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n<title>Mahatma Gandhi<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"(Gandhi's life was an epic, so a movie trailer does feel right for my purposes today...)The Indian spiritual and political leader Mohandas Karamchand\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/10\/mahatma-gandhi.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mahatma Gandhi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"(Gandhi's life was an epic, so a movie trailer does feel right for my purposes today...)The Indian spiritual and political leader Mohandas Karamchand\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/10\/mahatma-gandhi.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Monkey Mind\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/james.ford.1029\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-10-02T06:30:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-11-01T19:12:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/tracker\/33904114-5367011481760711485?l=monkeymindonline.blogspot.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"James Ford\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"James Ford\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/10\/mahatma-gandhi.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/10\/mahatma-gandhi.html\",\"name\":\"Mahatma Gandhi\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2008-10-02T06:30:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-11-01T19:12:14+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#\/schema\/person\/3f37f475fb5078d1e7faa93a63a0fddb\"},\"description\":\"(Gandhi's life was an epic, so a movie trailer does feel right for my purposes today...)The Indian spiritual and political leader Mohandas Karamchand\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/10\/mahatma-gandhi.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/10\/mahatma-gandhi.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/10\/mahatma-gandhi.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Mahatma Gandhi\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/\",\"name\":\"Monkey Mind\",\"description\":\"Easily distracted...\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#\/schema\/person\/3f37f475fb5078d1e7faa93a63a0fddb\",\"name\":\"James Ford\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fa18971b225a3bb79f0c4c381a5fae20?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fa18971b225a3bb79f0c4c381a5fae20?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"James Ford\"},\"description\":\"James Ishmael Ford is a writer and spiritual director. 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