Gandhi The Man
 Eknath Easwaran
 (Reviewer - Rebecca Brown)
 2002 Nilgiri Press
 ISBN: 0915132966

The Story of His Transformation from shy boy to world renown Mahatma.

At 23, in 1893 Mohandas Gandhi left India to be a lawyer in South Africa -- he was a shy, tongue-tied average little man whose past was full of failures.

A decade later, called a saint even by those who opposed him, he was the leader of 100,000 people in one of the most remarkable experiments ever witnessed: satyagraha, a war without violence.

He returned to India no longer M. K. Gandhi, for the world was calling him Mahatma, “great soul”, & in the next 20 years he was to become the acclaimed leader of four hundred million (read that number aloud!) Indians in their struggle to free themselves from the yoke of British colonialism & get back what once was theirs -- their country & forge it into a nation.

How did it happen?

In October, which is his birth month, everyone who has ever been affected by the teachings of the Mahatma turns to refresh themselves about who he was & what he gave to us. Because my Pater agreed with Winston Churchill's summation of “that half-naked, brown, little fakir”, I naturally wanted to know more about this rabble-rouser. It was the Mahatma's tenets that I learnt as a volunteer during the early anti-apartheid marches on the South African embassy off Trafalgar Square after Nelson Mandela was incarcerated.

When I listened to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s speeches, once I was Stateside, I could hear what he had learnt from the Mahatma. When I met the Reverend, it was about the great soul we spoke -- me with my British accent & mini skirt, he with his Southern drawl & wide grin. He was thrilled with what I'd done in London, & pleased to have me on board as we marched into Chicago's suburbs.

On the sappy side, if you have never settled down & watched the movie Gandhi, you have missed out on a very special experience particularly geared to Westerners' sentimentalities.

& if you missed the stage production of Philip Glass' Satyagraha (I bribed a good friend to drive me to Seattle by buying her a theater ticket & supper) -- then you need to read this book.

In his Foreword, Professor Michael N. Nagler, (University of California, Berkeley), describes how he met Eknath Easwaran & how Mr. Easwaran became connected with Gandhi.

“Historians of the future, I believe, will look upon this century [20th] not as the atomic age, but as the age of Gandhi.” & to that end, Eknath Easwaran tells the story of an ordinary boy who passed his childhood at Porbander (Sudamapuri). He was very shy, in fact a boy who saw himself as a coward, with no particular talents, garnering a less-than-average grade in school. Still in high school, at the age of 13, as was the custom he was married to Kasturbai, an attractive girl. & while he learnt how to be a passionate, jealous & exacting husband, she had a will of her own, a temper & a deep well of patience, endurance & forgiveness.

When he failed his studies after high school, an uncle suggested he go to London for three years to study to become a barrister. Kasturbai sold her jewelry for the passage & his older brother promised to pay his other expenses. There Gandhi learnt how to be an Englishman, until he realized he had to find out who he really was. That Gandhi came from a vegetarian family, & the English survived on meat & potatoes, proved a disaster until he found a group who were zealous vegans & he promptly read their books. Then he made a profound discovery about the taste of food.

The day after passing his examinations, & being called to the bar, he sailed for home to be with his beloved Kasturbai & his ailing mother.

What happened next? Follow in the footsteps of this great soul -- of his family life, his maturing as a husband & father; his adventures in another British Empire colony -- South Africa where the idea of satyagraha was conceived; back to India where he explored his spirituality & the outrageous concept of independent nationhood was fomented; of his endurance, his passion, & the breadth of his influence.

Many books have been written about the Mahatma. Some are so esoteric they go right over my head for I am a simple woman who must know how the simplest acts of living life can be inspirational, how to live a worthy life. I joined communes during the 1970s with Gandhi's ashram formulas in mind. I wish I'd had this book then so my comrades would have been on the same page as I was.

In Gandhi The Man, Eknath Easwaran offers a simply read primer into who the man was & how he came to his way of life. Definitely for those who have wondered.

A word about Nilgiri Press: it is the publishing arm of the Blue Mountain Center for Meditation which brings out books, audio & video tapes to support & inspire individuals to put their own highest ideals to work in their daily lives. www.nilgiri.org

More from Eknath Easwaran:
Love Never Faileth: on St. Francis, St. Augustine, Mother Teresa and St. Paul
The Upanishads
The Dhammapada
Nonviolent Soldier of Islam: Badshah Khan, a Man to Match His Mountains
God Makes the Rivers to Flow: Sacred Literature of the World & many, many more!
(10/05/03)

Rebecca