Page:Report on the Memorial Meeting for Mahatma Gandhi.djvu/6

 importance of the dignity and freedom of the individual human being. Thoreau hated political tyranny in any form, and the great Indian leader showed in a lifetime of sacrifices and struggle that he, too, was an enemy of tyrants.

“Mahatma Gandhi’s concern with the individual rather than with the outward forms of a political state was shown time and time again. These convictions he demonstrated not only in his personal way of life, but in his espousal of the moral doctrines of truth and non-violence as the only enduring basis of peace among men.

“There were still other aspects of Mahatma Gandhi’s life that made him a particularly attractive figure in American eyes. One was that he had a sense of humor which enabled him, exalted though his position was morally and politically, to strike the chord of human fellowship with those around him.

“Related to this capacity was his deep understanding of the motivations of the hundreds of millions of persons who inhabited India’s broad lands. He did not seek to impose upon them an alien doctrine. Instead, he sought the simple but enduring truths of Indian life, and used them as a foundation on which to build a freer and more prosperous India. Gandhi realized that the only revolutions which have meaning are those which spring from the human heart and not from the machinations of politics and war.

“When one of the greatest of our American leaders, Abraham Lincoln, died — also by the hand of a mad man — one of his closest associates murmured. ‘He now belongs to the ages.’ We can say the same of the passing of Mahatma Gandhi.”

N. GOPALASWAMI AYYANGAR. Minister Without Portfolio of the Government of India, Head of the Delegation of India to the Security Council:

“Sisters and brothers, I do not want to make any long speech on an occasion of this nature. Both parts of the sub-continent of India are