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Gandhi fully developed his philosophy of life in South Africa. He was greatly influenced by Leo Tolstoy's essay, "The Kingdom of God Is Within You," and John Ruskin's book Unto This Last. But the greatest influence on him was the Bhagavad-Gita, which became an unfailing source of inspiration. Gandhi believed that all life was a part of one ultimate spiritual reality. The supreme goal was self-realization, the realization that one's true self was identical with ultimate reality. He believed that all religions contain some elements of truth, and this accounted for his own religious tolerance. For him, the best guide to self-realization was the Gita. The Gita advocates action without desire. Such action leads to nonpossession and equability (even-temperedness)--two virtues practised by Gandhi with increasing zeal throughout his life. Gandhi experimented with communal living at the Phoenix Farm and the Tolstoy Farm in South Africa, and later at Sabarmati Ashram, in India. There he practised voluntary simplicity, a way of life designed to offer an alternative to the increasingly competitive, stressful, and violent atmosphere of Western civilization. Voluntary simplicity means reducing material wants to a minimum and reaping spiritual rewards instead; emphasizing service; and practising manual labour. Gandhi himself served as teacher, cook, nurse, and even scavenger. As a social reformer, he fought for the emancipation of women, the removal of the tradition of Untouchability (low caste or class status), and for Hindu-Muslim unity. In his social philosophy, Gandhi replaced the Marxist emphasis on class struggle with the theory of trusteeship. Landowners were to see themselves as trustees, honour-bound to use their property for the benefit of society. In this way, class struggle would yield to sarvodaya (welfare of all). In politics, Gandhi taught that everybody should take part in a democratic system having its roots in villages or neighbourhoods. In his speech and writing he used everyday language that was simple to understand. Gandhi's independence campaigns. In 1915, Gandhi returned to India. Within five years, he became the leader of the Indian nationalist movement. In 1919, the British imperial government introduced the Rowlatt bills to make it unlawful to organize opposition to the government. Gandhi led a satyagraha campaign that succeeded in preventing passage of one of those bills. The other was never enforced. Gandhi called off the campaign when riots broke out. He then fasted to impress the people with the need to be nonviolent. His belief in the cruelty of imperial rule became more intense after the Amritsar Massacre of April 13, 1919. A British general ordered his men to fire on an unarmed crowd, and almost 400 Indians were killed. This made Gandhi even more determined to develop satyagraha and to win independence through nonviolent resistance.
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