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MAHATMA GANDHI:

An Adlerian Approach To His Personality.

Dr Manuel Joseph

Early Years..........................................................................................................................1
Youth ..................................................................................................................................4
In England............................................................................................................................6
In South Africa....................................................................................................................7
Back in India........................................................................................................................9

Early Years

Mohandas Karamchand Ghandhi (1869—1948), called Mahatma or the Great

Soul, is the Indian spiritual and national leader and the prophet of non-violence in the

20th century. He was born as the youngest child of his father’s fourth wife on October 2,

at Porbandar, the capital of a small principality Kathiawar in Gujarat in western India

under British suzerainty.

He came from a family known for its ruling charism. Six generations of Gandhis

were home ministers or prime ministers of Kathiawar. His father Karamchand, prime

minister of Kathiawar, was an upright, just and eminently respected person with full of

human kindness. He fervently adhered to the rigid observance of the Hindu pieties. He

was in the habit of inviting to his house friends of various faiths to discuss matters of

faith. Though he did not have much in the way of formal education he was an able

administrator who knew how to steer his way between the capricious princes, their long

suffering subjects and the headstrong British political officers in power.

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Gandhi’s mother Putlibai is always described as an ideal housewife. She was

completely absorbed in religion-Hindu Vaishnavism with a strong tinge of Jainism

whose chief tenet is ‘ahimsa’(non-injury to all living beings). She did not care much for

finery and jewelry, divided her time between her home and the temple, fasted frequently

and wore herself out in days and nights of nursing whenever there was sickness in the

family.

Gandhi was born and grew up in a joint family which was shared by his father

with his five brothers and their household. His father was the head of the clan and he

looked after the well-being of every member of his clan. This might have contributed to

the style of living created in Gandhi’s ashrams-a life of mutual observations and intricate

discipline.

The above circumstances in which Gandhi grew up in his infancy and early

childhood largely influenced his personality and specially his religious outlook. As

Putlibai nursed her infant son she sang to him of the great heroes of Hindu Epics:

Ramayana and Mahabharata. One of the first words the child learned to pronounce was

that of Ram who occupies a special place in the hearts of Hindus. Years later at the end

of his life when the assassin’s bullets had pierced his body Gandhi with his last breath

murmured to the deity “Ram! Ram!”. He took for granted ahimsa, vegetarianism, fasting

for self-purification, and mutual tolerance between various creeds and sects.

As a young boy he watched his father holding the prime minister’s court daily in

his home. His profession and function was no secret to the little boy who playfully sat

himself in the prince’s place. Erikson records that when his father was not around, he

would remove the image of the reigning Prince from its customary stool and put

himself in its place. According to Adler, the last-born possess one advantage: a high
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motivation to surpass older ones. There is no wonder why it became a consuming

passion for the young Mohan to fashion himself into a hero like the mighty characters of

Indian mythology. The religious and administrative tradition of the family paved the way

for his becoming the uncrowned king of India.

The situation of the youngest is unique in several ways. Being the last child of a

young mother and an aging patriarch gave him a central place in the family which made

him feel that his state was that of an elect being. He grew as the pet of his father and

mother and he intensely loved them. The care and love he conferred upon his ashram

members, untouchables, and the nation as a whole may be traced to the family context.

With several older models that set the pace, all of whom are bigger stronger and

more privileged than he is, the youngest is likely to experience strong feelings of

inferiority coupled with lack of independence. In the case of Gandhi, to add to this

feelings of inferiority, according to his parents, he was fragile and sickly-looking. As a

child he felt shy, timid, and awkward. He is said to have complained to his mother of his

brothers beating him. These things may explain partly why he did not participate in any

sports or games. It is his motivation to gain power and strength is what attracted him to

eat meat- to become strong like the English who ate meat.

His elder sister describes him, “as restless as mercury’’ and “full of curiosity” and

endowed with a sense of originality and creativity. From his earliest days he was inward-

looking. What he saw there puzzled him as a good deal of what goes on in the external

world puzzled him. He turned his puzzlement over and over again in his mind. But he

went to no one else for answers. He liked resolving things for himself. He was just a

passable student and books did not thrill him. Gandhi once told Edward Thomson that he

was at his profoundest when he was seven or eight years old; later education and society
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clipped his wings. His father saw to it that his curiosity and initiative is not stifled. Thus

unhindered by circumstance, the innate creativity found expression development in him

as a child. This creative self served as the source and strength in his later life to face the

challenges of life in his own unique ways.

Another conspicuous feature we find in young Mohan is his high ethical sense.

His adherence to truth is proverbial in India. He very jealously guarded his character.

The least little blemish drew tears from his eyes. Once when the educational inspector

visited the school, the teacher noticed a mistake on Mohandas’ spelling sheet and eager

to present a perfect record, hinted him to copy the exact spelling from his neighbor. He

did not. All except him were found to have spelt every word correctly.

Youth

In his youth with his father’s permission he went to see a play ‘Harishchandra’

(Harishchandra is a legendary embodiment of truthfulness and sacrifice)which captured

his heart. In his autobiography he writes, “I could never be tired of seeing it. It haunted

me and I must have acted Harishchandra to myself times without number ‘why should

not all be truthful like Harishchandra’ was the question I asked day and night. To follow

truth and to go through all the ordeals Harishchandra went through was the one ideal it

inspired in me”.

Prompted by his friend Mehtab and as part of his experiments he visited a brothel.

There he found himself unable to say or do anything; he was in trepidation and was

forced out of the room by the prostitute. He went home and apologized to his wife

Kasturba (whom he married at the age of thirteen). It is the strong moral sense that

curbed his curiosity for experimentation with the unethical. The adolescent phase of
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Mohandas was also marked by petty thefts, furtive smoking, and meat-eating. “Never

again” was his promise to himself after each escapade and he kept his promise. Indeed he

had a burning passion for self- improvement.

Commitment to Truth was the governing principle of his life which gave his life

direction and unity. His way to overcome inferiority and was

Satyagraha(literally-‘holding on to truth’). His striving for perfection consisted in his

constant search for truth and living it. He believed in the power and efficacy of truth

which served as his fictional finalism. Indeed this shaped his style of life- the unique

pattern of traits, behaviors and habits which, when taken together, define the particular

route we have charted for ourselves in order to reach our life goal.

Gandhi aware of his physical limitations resorted to strive for spiritual strength

(soul force)to overcome his inferiority. With the same weapon, he prevailed against the

might of the British empire later in his adult years. In Gandhi this lifestyle was firmly

implanted in the early years of his life influenced by his own heredity, family and socio-

cultural background. He continued to learn new ways of expressing this life style

determined by the vicissitudes of life and his own creative self.

As Gandhi grew up in an environment steeped in love, mutual give and take and

societal concerns, his own innate social instinct easily directed him to the selfless service

of fellow human beings. This led to the development of social interest in him. He

enjoyed helping his mother in house hold chores and took upon himself the privilege of

nursing his father in his old age. He habitually acted as peacemaker whenever his friends

quarreled. This social feeling and sense of solidarity later enabled him to identify with

the humankind and an empathy for each member of the human race. He personally went

to the millworkers of England to apologize for the inconvenience caused to them because
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of his swadeshi movement (refusal to buy clothes imported from Britain and to use self-

made clothes). Then the millworkers became unemployed. Gandhi could feel the misery

of those workers.

Ramrajya -an ideal community was his dream in life. He committed himself

totally and selflessly to the service of his fellowmen without expecting anything in

return.(nishkamakarma- disinterested action -a teaching of Bhagavadgita which

influenced him radically). Even when national leaders were busy celebrating the

Independence in the imperial city of Delhi, Gandhi was not there; he was in the remote

villages of Bengal trying to establish Hindu-Muslim unity. Though he was forced to

accept any position in the independent India, he politely refused and continued to work

for peace and harmony.

Based on life-style attitudes Adler has formulated four personality types. Gandhi

evidently belongs to the fourth category-the socially useful type. This type of individual

is the epitome of psychological health in Adler’s system. such a person embodies both a

high degree of social interest and a high level of activity. Gandhi was a man of untiring

energies. The collected edition of his writings which run to ninety volumes bears ample

testimony to his untiring work. Amidst the stormy struggle for freedom he managed to

write prolifically. Even when he discussed serious matters with political leaders he could

work on his charka(apparatus for weaving clothes).

In England

At the age of 19, Gandhi arrived in London to study law. Gandhi took his studies

seriously, but during the three years of stay there his main preoccupation was with
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personal and moral issues. After three months of lesions in elocution, dancing and violin

to become an “English gentleman”, he gave it up and returned to an austere life.

There he was introduced to the Bible, Bhagavadgita and the English vegetarians

who included socialists and humanitarians like Edward Carpenter, Fabians like George

Bernard Shaw, and Theosophists like Annie Besant. The interaction and ideas from these

sources contributed substantially to the shaping of Gandhi’s personality and, eventually,

to his politics.

In South Africa

One way of understanding the life-style is to observe the individual in a personal

crisis. During stressful times the true life-style emerges, and a person is seen for what he

or she is. A person who possesses inner strength and courage will likely use these

qualities effectively to solve stress-related problems. By contrast a person with a

pampered style of life will act in socially ineffective ways, no matter how socially

oriented he or she appears to be at other times. The behavior can then be seen for what it

is: self-centered and self-seeking.

Having returned to India in 1891, his efforts to practise law met with almost no

success. So he was forced to accept an year’s contract from an Indian firm Natal South

Africa. Africa was to present Gandhi challenges and opportunities that he could hardly

have conceived. Almost immediately upon his arrival in south Africa Gandhi became the

victim of racial discrimination. while traveling to Pretoria he was thrown out of a first

class railway compartment because he was a non-white. He spent the whole night

shivering and brooding over what happened, at Pietermaritzburg station. In the further

course of the journey he was beaten up by the whit driver of a stagecoach because he
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would not travel on the footboard to make room for a European passenger. These

humiliations were the daily lot of Indian traders and laborers in Natal. What was new

was not his experience but his reaction. As insults heaped upon him he decided not to

accept injustice and pledged to defend his dignity as an Indian and as a man. Later he

recalls this journey from Durban to Pretoria as one of the most creative experiences of

his life. Perhaps the ‘Making of the Mahatma’ starts here.

Neither as a student in England nor as a budding barrister in India had he evinced

much interest in politics. He studied the conditions in which his countrymen lived and

tried to educate them on their rights and duties. In 1894 he founded the Natal Indian

Congress to organize the Indian community. In 1906 Gandhi concluded that devotion to

community service required him to relinquish the desire for children, wealth and live the

life of one retired from the household cares. He considered his vow of brahmacharya-

abstinence sex a necessary step toward self-fulfillment by making available maximum

energy for public work.

The struggle in South Africa lasted for more than seven years. There he first

applied the novel techniques of non-violent resistance and satyagraha and found its

effectiveness. Though south Africa did not treat him kindly, by drawing him into the

vortex of its racial problem, it provided him with a setting in which his unique creative

self could unfold itself. It transformed him into a leader of men freeing him from

shyness, nervousness and cowardice. He left South Africa in 1914 as a seasoned political

leader.
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Back in India

By 1920 Gandhi emerged as the dominant figure on the political stage

commanding an influence never attained by any political leader in India or perhaps in

any other country. He refashioned the Indian National Congress into an effective political

instrument of Indian Nationalism. In 1922 he started non co-operation movement. In

1924 he tried the weapon of fasting to arouse the people into following the path of non-

violence. In 1930 he launched a satyagraha against the tax on salt which led to the arrest

of more than 60,000 persons. Gandhi brought together the major strands in India’s

nationalist movement—the reform objectives of political moderates, an activist technique

that proved more effective than revolutionary violence, and a mode of revitalizing

traditional ideals that provided sanction for fundamental change. He exercised his

influence through a set of principles emphasizing the identification with the

impoverished, through constructive work on behalf of the disadvantaged and through

creative, supportive effort in winning over opponents. Thanks to his vision and moral

force India achieved Independence but against his advice partition of India was accepted

. He threw heart and soul into the task of healing the scars of communal riots touring

the riot-torn areas. When persuasion failed he went on a fast. He won at least two of

spectacular triumphs in Calcutta and in January 1948 in Delhi. A few days later on

January 30 while he was on his way to his evening prayer meeting in Delhi, he was shot

down by Nathuram Godse, a young Hindu fanatic.

Casting aside all earthly glory and sacrificing his own self to the point of

forgetting his family, he achieved true Mahatmahood and became the uncrowned king of

India by seeking his peace in the happiness of others. He was the catalyst if not the

initiator of three of the major revolutions of the 20th century: the revolutions against
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colonialism, racism and violence. It was inevitable that Gandhi’s role as a political

leader loom larger in public imagination but the main spring of his life lay in religion. In

his autobiography, ‘The Story of my Experiments with Truth’, he writes, “What I have

been striving and pining to achieve these thirty years is to see God face to face.

In short, Gandhi’s own innate qualities, family-background, socio-cultural milieu,

spiritual quest, exposure to various philosophies, and concrete historical situations

influenced the shaping of his personality. His creative self organized and integrated these

multiple elements into a unique combination. The constant search for and surrender to

Truth(God) was the governing goal that provided unity and direction for this integration.

The result was Gandhi, ‘the Great Soul’.

REFERENCE

1. Americana Encyclopedia (1996) CD, Gandhi, Mohandas Karamchand

2. Encyclopaedia Britannica(1996)CD, Mahatma Gandhi

3. Erikson, E. (1969) Gandhi’s Truth. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.

4. Shahani, R. Mr. Gandhi (1961) , New York: The Macmillan Company