Thought of Mahatmbnoa Gandhi with beggar begger of English thought for Mahatma Gandhi Gandhi
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Gandhi got more and more involved in public work and could not devote much time or attention to his family or legal work. He realised that he if he wanted to serve the people, he must lead a life of voluntary poverty spurning luxury and comfort, discarding all wealth , all possession. A time came when possession seemed to him to be a crime and it became a matter of positive joy to him to give it up. One after another things slipped away from him. He laid no claim to his paternal property, allowed his insurance policy to lapse. He gave up his legal work fetching Rs. 4,000 per month. He made to him by his South African colleagues and also of the Phoenix Settlement valued at Rs. 65,000 for public causes. He himself denied a life of security and was equally hard on his wife, sons and relatives.
He last 40 years of his life he lived on voluntary donations from his friends and admirers. The expense incurred by Gandhi and his family at the Tolstoy Farm were borne by his German friend Kallenbach. The ashrams in India were run the help of sympathisers.
Pandit Malviya was called the prince of beggars, Gandhi was the king of beggars. In the history of begging for public cause, Gandhi created a world record. He discovered this capacity in him in south Africa, when he was in charge of collection on subscriptions from the members of the Natal Indian Congress. Late in the evening, he went to a wealthy donor and expected him to pay Rs. 80. All persuasion failed and he was offered Rs. 40. Gandhi was hungry, tired yet tenacious. He sat up the whole night and at daybreak received Rs. 80.
Top collect a few lakhs of rupees was a child's play to Gandhi who sent his appeal through microphones, cables and newspaper columns. He once whisked the hat of a journalist and used it as a begging bowl. The bewildered journalist was the first victim of Gandhi's begging bowl.a cowrie was once found in the collection. To Gandhi it was a symbol of the greatest sacrifice, more precious than gold. A murderer's last instruction, while going to the gallows, was to give all his money Rs. 100 to Gandhi for national work.
He asked the victims of Bihar earthquake and the refugees in camps to work for the food, shelter and clothing they got there, otherwise they might develop a mentality of willing dependence on public charity. It was wrong for anyone to live on public doles. To them his advice was: " Do honest good work. I want no beggars. Ask for work to do and do it faithfully. Work, work, do not beg."