Gandhi and Comparative Religion
Mahatma Gandhi was deeply interested in the comparative study of religions since the days of his youth. His interest in religious matters was due to the background of India, which was saturated with religious ideas and spirituality. Religion, to Gandhi, was not a matter of individual experience: Gandhi found God within creation. The meaning of the word 'Dharma' is 'religion' in India. This is a comprehensive term which embraces all of humanity. Gandhi referred to "God" as "Truth," which has great significance. His mission was not only to humanize religion, but also to moralize it. Gandhi's interpretation of Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity made his religion a federation of different religious faiths. His views on proselytization are also included in the paper.
The comparative study of religions has never been merely an academic concern for Mahatma Gandhi, the great Hindu spiritualist and leader. Since the days of his youth he has been existentially in the search of such studies as has been evident from his famous book "The story of my experiments with truth."
India is a country where people are predominantly religious. Religion and spirituality are firmly rooted in the minds of the Indian people. Some countries are well known for their political institutions, others for their economic prosperity while some others for their social advancement. India is well known for her philosophy and religion. According to Max Muller the study of religion is incomplete unless it is studied with reference to India. To quote him, "Take religion and where can you study its true origin, its natural growth, and its inevitable decay better than in India, the home of Brahmanism, the birth place of Buddhism and...
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...cipate in transforming the human society on its journey towards the Divine Being.
Gandhi has been killed. Physically he is no more with us. But his spirit lives amidst us and within us, with all its glory than ever before.
Notes
(1) Prof Max Muller, 'India what can it teach us.' P.13.
(2) H.G. Wells : 'A short history of the world. P.154.
(3) M.K. Gandhi, 'Young India', 5.3.1925.
(4) M.K. Gandhi, 'Harijan' , December 1936.
(5) Bhagavadgita Chap (vi). 30.
(6) M.K. Gandhi, 'Young India' 6.10.1931.
(7) M.K. Gandhi, 'Young India,' 1.10.1935.
(8) A.K. Ahluwalia 'Facts of Gandhi.' P.133.
(9) M.K. Gandhi, 'Young India,' 10.7.1924.
(10) M.K. Gandhi, 'Young India,' 10.7.1924.
(11) M.K. Gandhi, 'Young India,' 13.12.1931.
(12) M.K. Gandhi, 'In search of the Supreme' Vol III P.83.
(13) Complete works of Swami Vivekananda Vol I. P.24.
Malala Yousafzai, a young Pakistani girl, was shot and wounded by the Taliban. At eleven years old, Malala, and all other Pakistani women were told they could no longer receive any sort of education. Malala would not remain quiet, she wanted to be taught, and she made sure everyone knew the cruelty of the situation. On October 8, as Malala and many other children were riding a bus home, the bus was stopped by a masked Taliban gunman who shot Malala in the head and neck. Malala survived the shot and even wrote a book later on. This situation is much like what some of the characters in Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, and Rebecca Skloot’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, go through. Lee and Skloot demonstrate that restriction from society and others leads to injustice.
The Taliban had began targeting girls' schools in Swat valley because they believed that female education went against their extremist Islamic beliefs. When the Taliban had prevented her and several other girls from attending school, Malala publicly spoke up against the Taliban's outrageous actions. In 2008, Malala spoke to an audience at a local press club in Peshawar about the Taliban taking away her, as well as several other females, basic right to an education by destroying educational and government institutions. Her speech entitled, “How Dare the Taliban Take Away My Basic Right to an Education,” displays the passion and outrage that Malala feels about the events occurring in her hometown. While Malala's speech was well received and made her publicly known among her village, it was her blog that made her rise to world wide fame. After hearing the announcement by Mullah Fazlullah that girls' schools were to be closed by January 15th, Ziauddin Yousafzai was asked by a BBC reporter if he could search for a girl who was willing to write about life under Taliban rule (Profile: Malala Yousafzai, 1). One girl had volunteered but was later dissuaded by her parents who feared the risks and danger of going against the Taliban (Alter, 1). Malala's father encouraged Malala, who willingly accepted the challenge. In order to avoid discovery, Malala wrote under the pseudonym of
Laasby, Gitte. "Questions and Answers on Wisconsin's New Law." Concealed-carry 101. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 May 2014. .
Women in America do not have to worry about a terrorist group coming and taking their rights away. They have a government that protects them from these groups and makes sure they have the same rights as others. In the Middle East, especially Afghanistan and Pakistan, women are scared to speak too loudly. These women live in fear each day of their lives because if they make one small mistake it could mean their life. Yet, there are some people who are fighting for women’s rights, especially women’s education. Malala Yousafzai is a girl who fought for women’s education. At the age of eleven, Malala began writing a blog for BBC Urdu. The blog described how she was upset that women’s education under the Taliban would be forced to stop. Malala also appeared on national television talking about women’s education. She has become a symbol of resistance against the Taliban. Even after Malala was put on the Taliban’s hit list, she continues to speak out about what she felt needed to be said. Malala would give her life for this cause, and she almost did. On October 9, 2012, Malala was on her way home from her morning classes when a man walked on to her bus and asked, “Who is Malala”. When she said it was her he shot her. The bullets hit her head and her leg. The Taliban ordered for her to be shot because she was promoting western culture in Pashtun areas. In another case Mukhtar Mai stood up for women’s rights and was sexually assaulted by multiple men with orders from the tribal council. The tradition in Mukhtar’s tribe was that a woman who is sexually assaulted by multiple men should kill herself, but instead of committing suicide she fought for her cause (Samira 28-30). Although the Taliban restricts women’s education for religious reaso...
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Mohandas Gandhi began life as the fourth son in his family— hardly the child typically expected to bring about greatness, even though his father was the small state’s Diwan, or prime minister. He was born on October 2, 1869 in Porbandar, India. From an early age, he exhibited the gentleness and compassion that he would come to cherish later in life. One story about him says that he loved nature enough to climb a mango tree and bandage its branch. Like the vast majority of Indian families, Gandhi’s was a member of the Hindu religion and its associated culture. As was tradition for many at the time, he was wed at the age of thirteen to Kasturba, another child of the same age. A few years later, when he was sixteen, Gandhi’s father passed away. This left a deep impression on the boy, and he would always remember him with fondness, as we can see from his later ...
Religion was partly created in an effort to answer the questions that couldn’t be answered in any other way; to provide an explanation for the unexplainable. Each religion in turn has it’s own version of a higher being in which to believe. Giving this higher being a name or title such as “God” implies that it is a person rather an entity. Bhikhu Parekh (2001) states how “for Gandhi, Truth and cosmic spirit was beyond all qualities including moral. As he put it…‘beyond the personal God there is a Formless Essence which our reason cannot comprehend’. Although the cosmic power was without qualities including personality, Gandhi argued that human beings often found it difficult to avoid personalizing it” (p. 36). This personalization makes it easier for people to depend on the entity they believe in for everything. Parekh (2001) also declares that Gandhi believed that if “the individual were to shed the illusion of particularity and selfhood and become a transparent medium of cosmic spirit, he would be able to mobilize enormous spiritual energy within himself and exercise great moral and spiritual power over his fellow men” (p. 56). In order to find peace and become a moral compass one had to find the peaceful and calm energy that is said to have surrounded the gods.
Most of Southern Asia is centered upon one religion, it’s Hinduism. With 900,000,000 followers, there are 780,000,000 in India. That’s an insane amount of people, and they all believe and practice this religion. There are many aspects and guidelines that you must follow in order to receive the fullest achievement and not be a disgrace to the people. The following will be what Hinduism is, the rules and elements, and their way of life.
Since she was 11 years old, Malala has been writing a blog on the Urdu BBC website to show her hope and determination to become a doctor in spite of her fear against the Taliban. Her story of courageous actions created a big sensation in the public(weird grammar). From then on, she is referred to as a symbol of courage and inspiration for all young women, who want to relish the chance to go to school.
In the fall of 2012, a young Pakistani female was shot in the head by the Taliban while riding the bus home from school, but being shot was only one of the trails Malala Yousafzai was to overcome. Malala’s injuries were too great to be dealt with in hospitals in Pakistan; thus, she was transferred to England to undergo surgery. While in England Malala’s story became so popular that the United Nations heard of how she was shot and as a result, she had become an advocate for education; therefore, on July of 2013, at the age of sixteen, Malala, was invited to speak about her experience at the United Nation’s headquarters in New York. Her speech was intended to inform people of an epidemic that has invaded not only the Middle East but also
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