If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. This is the divine mystery supreme.

Mohandas K. Gandhi

The Divine Mystery

Topic: Spiritual Growth & Practice

We but mirror the world. All the tendencies present in the outer world are to be found in the world of our body. If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. This is the divine mystery supreme. A wonderful thing it is and the source of our happiness. We need not wait to see what others do.

Mohandas K. Gandhi

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, known universally as Mahatma Gandhi, was born on October 2, 1869, in Porbandar, a small town on the western coast of India. He hailed from a Hindu merchant caste family and his father served as the chief minister of Porbandar state. Gandhi's youth was shaped by deeply spiritual influences that stemmed from his mother's devout Jainism, which instilled in him beliefs in non-violence, fasting, meditation, and vegetarianism. As a young man, Gandhi travelled to London to study law, an experience that further broadened his perspective and exposed him to Western ideas of justice and equity.

Returning to India after completing his studies, Gandhi found himself dissatisfied with the legal profession and soon moved to South Africa to work on a legal case. It was in South Africa, faced with rampant racial discrimination, that Gandhi began to refine the philosophy of non-violent resistance, or Satyagraha, a principle deeply rooted in his religious beliefs. For nearly 21 years, Gandhi strove for the civil rights of Indians in South Africa, successfully employing methods of civil disobedience and passive resistance.

In 1915, Gandhi returned to India, bringing with him his deeply entrenched ideas of Satyagraha. He assumed leadership of the Indian National Congress and led nationwide campaigns for easing poverty, expanding women's rights, ending untouchability, and achieving Swaraj, or self-rule. His role in the Indian independence movement was monumental, with his leadership and doctrines of non-violent resistance culminating in India's independence from British rule in 1947. However, his life was tragically cut short when he was assassinated on January 30, 1948. His legacy, nonetheless, continues to inspire peace movements globally, securing his place as one of the most significant figures of the 20th century.

(1869-1948) Hinduism
The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi

Mackenzie, Don, et al. Finding Peace through Spiritual Practice: the Interfaith Amigos' Guide to Personal, Social, and Environmental Healing (Chapter 1) p. 13. SkyLight Paths Publishing, 2016 [Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi].

Mohandas K. Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), commonly known as Mahatma Gandhi (“Great Soul”). In India he is generally regarded as Bapu (“father”); he was an advocate and pioneer of nonviolent social protest and direct action in the form he called Satyagraha. He led the struggle for India’s independence from British colonial rule.

—Mahatma Gandhi [The Wikiquote website].

From Original Goodness by Eknath Easwaran

Trust is a two-way street. It is the same with our other judgments about life: it’s amazing how quickly the world we live in conforms itself to our ideas about it. You can test this intriguing law in the laboratory of your own life. If someone at work absolutely seems to enjoy making things rougher for you, try treating that person with extra respect—and go on showing him respect no matter how he acts. In a surprising short time, I predict, his behavior will begin to verify your faith in his better side.

—Eknath Easwaran in Original Goodness by Eknath Easwaran.

Additional Mohandas K. Gandhi Quotes

“It is beyond my power to induce in you a belief in God. There are certain things which are self proved and certain which are not proved at all. The existence of God is like a geometrical axiom. It may be beyond our heart grasp. I shall not talk of an intellectual grasp. Intellectual attempts are more or less failures, as a rational explanation cannot give you the faith in a living God. For it is a thing beyond the grasp of reason. It transcends reason. There are numerous phenomena from which you can reason out the existence of God, but I shall not insult your intelligence by offering you a rational explanation of that type. I would have you brush aside all rational explanations and begin with a simple childlike faith in God. If I exist, God exists. With me it is a necessity of my being as it is with millions. They may not be able to talk about it, but from their life you can see that it is a part of their life. I am only asking you to restore the belief that has been undermined. In order to do so, you have to unlearn a lot of literature that dazzles your intelligence and throws you off your feet. Start with the faith which is also a token of humility and an admission that we know nothing, that we are less than atoms in this universe. We are less than atoms, I say, because the atom obeys the law of its being, whereas we in the insolence of our ignorance deny the law of nature. But I have no argument to address to those who have no faith.”

—Mohandas K. Gandhi [Young India (24 September 1931); also in Teachings Of Mahatma Gandhi (1945), edited by Jag Parvesh Chander, p. 458 archive.org].

“For me the voice of God, of Conscience, of Truth or the Inner Voice or ‘the still small Voice’ mean one and the same thing. I saw no form. I have never tried, for I have always believed God to be without form. One who realizes God is freed from sin for ever…. But what I did hear was like a Voice from afar and yet quite near. It was as unmistakable as some human voice definitely speaking to me, and irresistible. I was not dreaming at the time I heard the Voice. The hearing of the Voice was preceded by a terrific struggle within me. Suddenly the Voice came upon me. I listened, made certain that it was the Voice, and the struggle ceased. I was calm. The determination was made accordingly, the date and the hour of the fast were fixed…. Could I give any further evidence that it was truly the Voice that I heard and that it was not an echo of my own heated imagination? I have no further evidence to convince the sceptic. He is free to say that it was all self-delusion or hallucination. It may well have been so. I can offer no proof to the contrary. But I can say this — that not the unanimous verdict of the whole world against me could shake me from the belief that what I heard was the true voice of God.”

—Mohandas K. Gandhi [Harijan (1933, July 8); also in Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (Vol. 61), and in The Mind of Mahatma Gandhi (Prabhu and Rao, eds., 1967, pp. 33-34)].

Be the Change

“Be the change you wish to see in the world.” These words are usually attributed to Mahatma Gandhi, and frequently appear on bumper stickers. His actual words, however, were [see quote in Context above]. This statement is less suited to bumper stickers but conveys even more deeply the reality that true change starts inside ourselves.

—Mackenzie, Don, et al. [Finding Peace through Spiritual Practice: the Interfaith Amigos’ Guide to Personal, Social, and Environmental Healing].

The Divine Mystery

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