Gandhi and his followers have removed
many longstanding feuds between Hindus and Mohammedans; hundreds
of thousands of Moslems look to the Mahatma as their leader.
The untouchables have found in him their fearless and triumphant
champion. "If there be a rebirth in store for me," Gandhi wrote,
"I wish to be born a pariah in the midst of pariahs, because thereby
I would be able to render them more effective service."
The Mahatma is indeed a "great soul," but it was illiterate millions
who had the discernment to bestow the title. This gentle prophet
is honored in his own land. The lowly peasant has been able to rise
to Gandhi's high challenge. The Mahatma wholeheartedly believes in
the inherent nobility of man. The inevitable failures have never
disillusioned him. "Even if the opponent plays him false twenty times,"
he writes, "the SATYAGRAHI is ready to trust him the twenty-first
time, for an implicit trust in human nature is the very essence of
the creed." {FN44-18}
"Mahatmaji, you are an exceptional man. You must not expect the
world to act as you do." A critic once made this observation.
"It is curious how we delude ourselves, fancying that the body can
be improved, but that it is impossible to evoke the hidden powers
of the soul," Gandhi replied. "I am engaged in trying to show that
if I have any of those powers, I am as frail a mortal as any of
us and that I never had anything extraordinary about me nor have I
now.
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