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132 "But," said I, "surely the Bhagavad Gita came first?"

"No," he replied, "of course I knew the Bhagavad Gita in Sanskrit tolerably well, but I had not made its teaching in that particular a study. It was the New Testament which really awakened me to the rightness and value of Passive Resistance. When I read in the "Sermon of the Mount" such passages as "Resist not him that is evil but whosoever smiteth you on the right cheek turn to him the other also," and "Love your enemies and pray for them that persecute you, that ye may be sons of your Father which is in heaven," I was simply overjoyed, and had my own opinion confirmed where I least expected it. The Bhagavad Gita deepened the impression, and Tolstoi's "The Kingdom of God is Within You" gave it permanent form."

Undoubtedly Count Tolstoi has profoundly influenced him. The old Russian reformer, in the simplicity of his life, the fearlessness of his utterances, and the nature of his teaching on war and work, has had a warm-hearted disciple in Mr. Gandhi. I think, too, very probably, the Count's representation of the Christian Church has had its weight with him, and his own experience of Christian Churches has