Gandhi Reflection

In Hinduism, it is key to connect mind with body. To find, maintain and polish the relationship between thoughts and actions, between beliefs and deeds, between the mental and the physical. At one part in the movie, Gandhi says "A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks; he becomes". This saying, often overseen or underestimated by people, represents more than one might think at first. It is quite habitual for people to control themselves in terms of what they do, say and how they behave themselves. In hinduism, however, that is not all. According to Gandhi's words, the thoughts are what make up a person's character. Therefore it is not sufficient to control one's deeds and manners, instead, thoughts and ideas are what need to be controlled and censored in a person's mind. People who therefore have positive, constructional and joyous ideas and thoughts, will be balanced persons. At another point Gandhi speaks, "Action expresses priorities". Setting priorities is a mental procedure in which we learn to sort in order of importance our goals, objectives, and desires. Everyone makes priorities, consciously or not, and then acts accordingly. Here again, Gandhi proves how important the relationship between mind and body is, and that, in some sort, a correlation between the two is inevitable.

Gandhi is known to have said "An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind". 'An eye for an eye' was an expression that has been used since much longer before Gandhi's times, meaning that what one does to others, i exactly what will be done back to one. So, if one were to kill someone else, one would have to be killed. Many people used to think of this as fair but Gandhi certainly didn't. He used the metaphor of eyes to label the result of 'An eye for an eye' as 'blind'. Really, what he was conveying was that in the end, the results will turn out negative for everyone and peace will never rule. As the soldiers were blocking the road from the protestors they all just kept lining up to let the guards beat them down instead of fighting back. This was not only effective because the whole world was talking about it, but also because it made the soldiers themselves feel ashamed and helpless and caused reconsideration for Gandhi's idea of an independent India.