E-Book - Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi – His Life & TimesEven as a lawyer his primary impulse was to change men. He respected noprecedent, tradition, enactment, or habit that obstructed a change he aspiredto introduce. He changed his own habits with the greatest alacrity.Gandhi suffered from occasional rheumatic inflammation, headaches andconstipation. Though a vegetarian he was a heavy eater. He concluded that heoverate. Having heard of the formation in England (Manchester) of a No-Breakfast Association, he dispensed with the morning meal and the headachesand other physical ailments disappeared. Thereafter he took no more laxativesor medicines. Instead, if necessary he applied a poultice of clean earthmoistened with cold water to his abdomen; this worked alimentary -miracles.Simultaneously, he adopted a diet based on sun-baked fruits and nuts. Grapesand almonds, according to his researches, were adequate nourishment for thetissues and nerves.He walked to and from his law office. As long as the family was in Johannesburgthe children accompanied him — a distance of five miles in all. In the office hebecame an expert typist.Once a white barber refused to cut Gandhi's hair. Without blaming the barber('There was every chance of his losing his custom if he should serve black men.We do not allow our barbers to serve our untouchable brethren'). Gandhibought a pair of clippers and thenceforth cut his own hair and that of the boys.Gandhi wore stiff white collars, but the laundry was expensive and, besides, itreturned work so slowly that he had to have several dozen collars. He took towashing and starching them himself. The first time he did it he used too muchstarch and the iron was not hot enough. In court, the starch began dropping offthe collar and Gandhi's colleagues laughed. 'But in the course of time I becamean expert washerman'. He saw 'the beauty of self help'.In 1903 Gandhi joined a group of Christians and Theosophists called the Seeker'sClub. They frequently read the Bhagavad- Gita together. Spurred by thisactivity Gandhi began studying the Gita again. His morning toilet requiredthirty-five minutes, 'fifteen minutes for the toothbrush', an old Indian custom,and twenty minutes for bathing. While cleaning his teeth, he memorized thewww.mkgandhi.org Page 76