Page:Report on the Memorial Meeting for Mahatma Gandhi.djvu/15



“He was the greatest Indian since Buddha, the greatest man that the world has seen since Jesus Christ,

“In the second place, this universal homage paid Gandhi on the occasion of his death suddenly reveals the love for him that had found its way into every heart around the world. I can remember when Gandhi was a Joke. He seemed to be so queer, and was doing such queer things with his fellow countrymen.

“Then, little by little, as the years went by, we began to discover that in his purity of heart and singleness of purpose and humility of spirit, here was a saint, and the Jeering and contempt that were present in many hearts found themselves transformed into reverence.

“Then, little by little, as the years went by, the reverence seemed to change itself into a kind of personal affection, so that when this man died it seemed as though to everybody the world around there had been suffered a deep personal loss, and the millions that gathered to say farewell to him on that last day were but a token, so to speak, of the hundreds of millions around the world that were weeping.

“Lastly, it seemed to me this homage is explained from the standpoint of the consciences of men. Our consciences have gotten to work years ago on the problem of Gandhi. We began to suspect year after year, as he won one great victory after another, that this man was not so crazy after all in the principles he was espousing and the things he was doing.

“We began to suspect that possibly he was right, and what was a suspicion was, at the moment of his death, suddenly and transcendently trans¬ formed into a deep conviction. Gandhi was right. Jesus was right. Buddha was right. Gandhi, like the other great souls, had been sitting in Judgment on humankind.

“Yes, my dear friends, there are two ways of life. One is the