User:SevenTypesofQ

"I have nothing new to teach the world. Truth and nonviolence are as old as the hills." Mahatma Gandhi

How I See Leadership

I believe that leadership is a process. True leaders continually work to know and better themselves and those around them. They continuously interact with others so that they can understand those they represent and so that their efforts involve collaboration. They are not afraid to take risks or make mistakes, because they know that no person is perfect. Therefore, they do not attempt to be perfect or promote such an illusion.

Being completely truthful is a core component for true leaders. Effective leaders guide by their examples. Taking the lead also means doing what their morals dictate as being right, rather than doing what is popular.

Effective leaders become especially important during times of crisis. They step forward and direct the misguided masses.

Leader Whom I Would Follow

Gandhi and wife, Kasturba.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born in Porbandar, India, on October 2, 1869. His father was Prime Minister of Porbandar and his mother was a devout believer of Jainism. From an early age he learned to respect all living beings and to accept persons from other creeds and sects. Self-purification and vegetarianism were also stressed. An arranged marriage at age thirteen led to four sons. He returned to India after completing his education in England as a barrister. He had limited success there practicing law and went to South Africa. While there, he founded the Natal Indian Congress in 1894; its political influence helped to fight the discrimination experienced by Indians living there. There, he also developed his peaceful resistance philosophy, known as Satyagraha, or devotion to the truth.

Gandhi returned to India where he continued to fight for the rights of the poor and disenfranchised, especially the farmers. His weapons continued to be non-cooperation and peaceful resistance. In 1921, he was given executive authority of the Indian National Congress. The group was reorganized and resisted British rule with boycotts of British products, especially clothing. After an arduous and lengthy process, Britain finally allowed India to be a free and independent country. However, in the process, India was partitioned and struggled with ethnic divisions. This lead to his assassination by a Hindu radical that believed he had weakened India.

Mahatma Gandhi stood for peaceful, nonviolent protest to aid the poor and disenfranchised. He also believed in living a simple life with respect for all living beings. He was a strict vegetarian. He devoted himself to the Hindu faith which taught that all religions were equal as well as their followers. Truth was a central tenet of his beliefs. He believed that discovering truth was a life long process and that one had to overcome one’s own demons, fears, and insecurities.

Leading with Goals

Long Term Goal = The Continual Pursuit of Truth

Throughout his life, Gandhi affirmed that he viewed seeking truth as the guiding principle and primary goal of his life. He also noted “Whatever difficulties we encounter, whatever apparent reverses we sustain, we may not give up the quest for truth.” Whether it was his development of personal philosophies or public and political strategies, Gandhi always viewed his activities as a work in progress with the desired outcome being an increased understanding of truth. He recommended ongoing personal sacrifice and periodic retreats for contemplation to reach for truth.

He also said “Truth resides in every human heart, and one has to search for it there and to be guided by truth as one sees it. But no one has a right to coerce others to act according to his own view of truth. Thus, Gandhi recognized that there were many perspectives of truth based on experience, culture, and religion. He believed that truth would bring happiness and said, “There is no happiness like truth, no misery like untruth.” A final evidence of his search for the truth being his primary goal is the title of his autobiography Gandhi, An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth. In this book he explains his reason for entering the political world by saying “To see the universal and all-pervading Spirit of Truth face to face one must be able to love the meanest creation as oneself. And a man who aspires after that cannot afford to keep out of any field of life. That is why my devotion to Truth has drawn me into the field of politics; and I can say without the slightest hesitation, and yet in all humility, that those who say that religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion means.”

Gandhi utilized his discovery of satyagraha, the use of nonviolent civil disobedience, as a political tool and during his life developed and focused it to attain his primary intermediate tool, the independence of India. He has been known as the “Father of India” for his decades-long struggle with the British for the independence of India. From the many fasts to marches and walks to his many writings, Gandhi continuously strove for this goal of an independent India. He lived to see its independence in 1947, but ironically died during a morning prayer meeting at the hands of a Hindu extremist who felt he had politically given away too much to the Muslims in India.

Gandhi used multiple nonviolent tools to press for the freedom of India, but his use of personal fasting was his most effective. He viewed fasting as a means of increasing personal focus and self-purification. Later in his life he used it repeatedly to bend the will of the British and in attempting to forge a unified and independent India. He also used fasting to advance his support for the poor and disenfranchised including the Untouchables. In 1932, while he was in prison, the British attempted to further weaken the resolve and unity of the people of India by developing separate religious areas to be represented in the elected government. Gandhi vowed to fast to death unless the Untouchables were made a part of the Hindu component of the proposed Central Assembly. He was quoted as saying “My fight against untouchability is a fight against the impure in humanity.” This fast was temporarily successful in opening temples and wells across the country to the Untouchables.

Leading with Ethics

The Salt March To Dandi

Gandhi picking up salt at Dandi on April 5, 1930.

Throughout his life Gandhi advocated for the poor and disenfranchised, especially the Untouchables or lowest caste in India. These people were forbidden by law and culture from obtaining many jobs and even advanced education. By their birth and heredity, they were limited to low paying, manual jobs. Thus, the British tax on salt affected them disproportionately.

Gandhi wanted freedom for India from the oppressive rule of Great Britain and objected to their laws and legal jurisdiction. Throughout much of his adult life, he organized nonviolent movements to bring about an end to this rule.

However, in early April 1930 at sixty-one years of age, Gandhi walked 241 miles from the Sabarmati Ashram, his residence, to Dandi, a city on the coast. This walk became known as the salt march, since Gandhi went to Dandi to scoop saltwater from the sea to make salt. His initial following of seventy-eight grew to thousands as many along his journey joined the walk, while millions around the world followed via daily newscasts.

The march was a symbolic gesture that gained attention and support throughout India. Following his example, millions collected salt from salt water in defiance of the British tax on salt. This was the beginning of the end for British rule of India. Gandhi was arrested for his role, as were thousands of his followers.

The most awful consequence that immediately followed was an attempt through peaceful means by the Indians to take over the government’s Dharsana saltworks, north of Bombay. Despite offering no resistance, hundreds were beaten by native police officers with five-foot clubs with metal tips. Reports of this bloody episode caused Britain to lose the support of other European countries for its colonial control over India. V.J. Patel who led the self-rule movement following the arrest of Gandhi arrived during the midst of this attempt at peaceful resistance. He noted, “All hope of reconciling India with the British empire is lost forever. I can understand any government’s taking people into custody and punishing them for breaches of the law, but I cannot understand how any government that calls itself civilized could deal as savagely and brutally with nonviolent, unresisting mean as the British have this morning.”

The salt march was an important part of the ongoing effort by Gandhi to free India from British rule. However, it was also a key example of his leading with ethics. The disproportionate impact of the British tax on salt unfairly burdened the Untouchables and other poor Indian people. His leadership and direction in bringing about this peaceful defiance of the British tax enlightened and strengthened the moral and will of the downtrodden millions. Millions of them followed his example, not only by producing their own salt, but much more importantly by also recognizing their ability to resist oppression.

Morals

Gandhi's Eleven Vows

Ahimsa Nonviolence Satya Truth Asteya Non Stealing Brahmacharya Self Discipline Aparigraha Non Possession Sharishrama Bread Labor Aswada Control of the Palate Sarvatra Bhayavarjana Fearlessness Sarva Dharma Samantva Equality of All Religions Swadeshi Use Locally Made Goods Sparshbhavana Remove Untouchability

Cover of Time

March 31, 1930 January 5, 1931 June 30, 1947

Gandhi Delivers a Speech at Kingsley Hall, London, on October 17, 1931.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/audiointerviews/profilepages/gandhim1.shtml

Gandhi: Pilgrim of Peace

Part One http://youtube.com/watch?v=W-_hnwjK_dg

Part Two http://youtube.com/watch?v=KkCH2uWNC18

Part Three http://youtube.com/watch?v=BwH7Q1cOncI

Part Four http://youtube.com/watch?v=uj1QTs5Lm0Q

Part Five http://youtube.com/watch?v=UqI4wE2isRQ

Quotes

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world."

"Religions are different roads converging to the same point. What does it matter that we take different roads so long as we reach the same goal?"

"There are many causes that I am prepared to die for, but no causes that I am prepared to kill for."

"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind."

"Fair means alone can produce fair results."

"Terrorism and deception are weapons not of the strong but of the weak."

"The policy of retaliation has never succeeded."

"Truth nourishes the soul. Untruth corrodes it."

"Outward peace is useless without inner peace."

"The essence of religion is morality."

"Truth is God."

Works Cited

Brown, Judith M. Gandhi: Prisoner of Hope. New Haven and London: Yale UP, 1989."Gandhi's 11 Vows." 21 Oct. 2007 <http://www.gandhi-

    manibhavan.org/gandhiphilosophy/philosophy_11vows.htm>. 

Gandhi. Dir. Richard Attenborough. Perf. Ben Kingsley. Videocassette. Columbia Pictures, 1982.

Gandhi, Mohandas K. Gandhi an Autobiography: the Story of My Experiments with Truth. Boston: Beacon P, 1957.

---. "Satyagraha.” Leadership Development Studies: a Humanities Approach. Ed. Monika S. Byrd. Jackson: Phi Theta Kappa. 122-125.

Gibb, Cameron, Annatjie Matthee, and Carolyn Lewis. Peace: the Words and Inspiration of Mahatma Gandhi. 1st ed. Boulder: Blue Mountain P, 2007.

Gold, Gerald, and Richard Attenborough. Gandhi, a Pictorial Biography. 1st ed. New York: Newmarket P, 1983.

Graham, Scott. "The Salt March to Dandi." Spring 1998. Emory U. 21 Oct. 2007 <http://www.english.emory.edu/Bahri/Dandi.html>.

"Mahatma Gandhi." Wikipedia. 21 Oct. 2007 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahatma_Gandhi>.

McGeary, Johanna. "Person of the Century Runner-Up: Mohandas Gandhi." Time. 3 Jan. 2000. 21 Oct. 2007

    <http://www.time.com/time/time100/poc/magazine/mohandas_gandhi12a.html>.

Mehta, Ved. Mahatma Gandhi and His Apostles. New York: The Viking P, 1977.