How Gandhi Turned to Non-Violence

‘I was passing through a severe crisis of skepticism and doubt. . . I came across Tolstoy’s book The Kingdom of God is Within You, and was deeply impressed by it. I was at that time a believer in violence. Its reading cured me of my skepticism and made me a firm believer in [nonviolence]. What has appealed to me most in Tolstoy’s life is that he practiced what he preached and reckoned no cost too great in his pursuit of truth. . . .

‘He was the greatest apostle of non-violence the present age has produced. No one in the West before him or since has written and spoken on non-violence so fully or insistently and with such penetration and insight….’

Here is the account of Gandhi on how Leo Tolstoy changed him:

‘True Ahimsa should mean a complete freedom from ill will and anger and hate and an overflowing love for all. For inculcating this true and higher type of Ahimsa amongst us, Tolstoy’s life with its ocean-like love should serve as a beacon light and a never-failing source of inspiration’. Peace Ideas No. 43

Note: ‘Ahimsa’ is a Sanksrit word meaning literally ‘the avoidance of violence’, an important value in religions originating in ancient India: Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism.