Page:Report on the Memorial Meeting for Mahatma Gandhi.djvu/12

 achieved great things in the world — statesmen, invaders, defenders, scientists, discoverers, inventors of all sorts — hut none of them occupies the place which Mahatma Gandhi occupies in the hearts of the world, and none of them got the fame, the undying fame and the noble name which Mahatma Gandhi obtained.

“In my country all of the people since early in this century have been reading the life of Mahatma Gandhi, repeating his statements and the dogmas of his teaching. They are so spread out that when the name of Mahatma Gandhi is mentioned anywhere, they consider it as a sacred name, as a saint, as a prophet, an apostle of peace.

“This leader of the world, Mahatma Gandhi, was eager to die. Facing the event of his death, he never hesitated to die. He tried to die several times in support of his principles, in support of his teachings, convincing the world that his teachings were right. He had no force, no fortune, but his life; he had nothing else. He was ready to offer his life in support of that principle, and he tried it several times by fasting, in order to support his principles which he espoused to the world.

“He was murdered by a mad man who belongs to a clan of men of nature and principles of which happily there are few. The great majority of the land and the continent of India appreciate what Gandhi was and know what his value is to the world.

“The four hundred million people of that subcontinent know that he gave them freedom without drawing a sword or shedding a drop of blood, and by his way of resistance — by his noble way — he let one of the greatest powers of the world relinquish that empire and give it liberty.

“This is one of the humilities of Gandhi which is not less than any other miracle made even by prophets. He was not a prophet. He never came to be a prophet. He never said that he gave divine revelations in any way.