This small, frail-looking man had one determined goal: to achieve, through nonviolent civil disobedience, freedom for India from oppressive British rule. Gandhi had given up a successful law practice and Western ideals in South Africa, and for seven years had tested his spiritual principles of satyagraha ("holding on to truth", or "soul force") and ahimsa (nonviolence) in a struggle to repeal laws discriminating against Indians. He returned to India with the dedication to apply these beliefs on an immense scale: to inspire millions of both poverty-stricken and wealthy Indians, Brahmins and "untouchables," to resist the British, not with arms, but with love and active non-cooperation. For over thirty years he led innumerable satyagraha actions and, despite imprisonment and violence from the English, never bore his oppressors any malice. Finally, following World War II, it became an untenable proposition for the British to maintain their domination over India; they granted independence in 1947.
Gandhi's principles of satyagraha and ahimsa have inspired many other leaders in liberation struggles around the world as well, such as Martin Luther King Jr.'s direction of the American civil rights movement. Gandhi has been called by Lewis Mumford "the most important religious figure of our time." When Gandhi was once asked his secret, he responded simply: "renounce and enjoy."
