Mahatma Gandhi's life was his message...

Just finished watching Gandhi, the 1982 biographical film based on the life of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, who led the nonviolent resistance movement against British Colonial rule in India during the first half of the 20th century.

It’s a wonderful movie about the extraordinary man who aspired to be an ordinary man. Gandhi praised the simple life and set a personal example himself by his vegetarian life style, and practices of natural healing and hygiene. He dressed minimally in clothing made from homespun fabric, and chose the spinning wheel to be a symbol of this way of life. He beseeched the Indians to create a cottage industry by spinning and weaving their own cloth thereby taking on the struggle against the textile industry of England. He insisted on sharing in manual labor, walked instead of riding in automobiles, and at his death had only a very few possessions.

Gandhi pioneered satyagraha, the resistance to tyranny through mass civil disobedience, a philosophy firmly founded upon ahimsa, or total nonviolence. This concept helped India to gain independence, and inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world.

And if you didn't know, "Mahatma" is Sanskrit for "Great Soul." It is similar in usage to the modern Christian term saint.

Check out these famous quotes attributed to Gandhi throughout his remarkable life...

Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.

The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.

I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.

Be the change that you want to see in the world.

An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.

You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.

A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes.

Whenever I despair, I remember that the way of truth and love has always won. There may be tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they may seem invincible, but in the end, they always fail. Think of it...always.

Hate the sin, love the sinner.

I am a Muslim and a Hindu and a Christian and a Jew...and so are all of you.

Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.

The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.

Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.

Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it.

My life is my message.

- Mahatma Gandhi, October 2, 1869 - January 20, 1948 -