what was the lifestyle of mahatma gandhi and nelson madela
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These are the points of comparison (both similarities and contrasts between the two):-
Gandhi was born in a well to do family but Mandela was born into a tribe.
The cultural milieu in which they were brought was different for both of them. Whereas Gandhi had not faced overt racism until the train incident in South Africa, Mandela was born and brought up in the Apartheid era.
Both were trained lawyers.
Mandela, being a member of a race which faced racism from birth, never had ill will or racist tendencies. On the other hand, there are several statements that Gandhi made in South Africa which indicated that he believed that Caucasians were superior to Indians were superior to Africans.
While both married and had big families, Mandela married several women (I think three) and he did have affairs while he was married.
Mandela never advocated celibacy while Gandhi started practicing it after having 9 children.
One of the biggest pushes towards nonviolence philosophy for Gandhi philosophically was his Vaishnavite & Jain upbringing. Practically, Gandhi witnessed the wars in South Africa while he was an ambulance driver attending to casualities and seeing the extreme discipline or organisation of the British forces, he had an epiphany as to how it was possible for a mere 4000 British officers to rule the whole of current day India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Gandhi never carried out a violent act. In complete contrast, Nelson Mandela was never religious, he was part of a terrorist group (as termed by a South African) in which he was bomb maker and he got caught and sent to prison for terrorist activities. His marriage to Winne Mandela was also based on militant ideas which she continued to advocate while Nelson Mandela was in prison. It was only after being jailed that Nelson Mandela meditated on his philosophy and turned towards a HUMANIST philosophy.
Mandela was never a religious person whereas Gandhi was always a religious person.
Mandela never behaved in a self righteous manner and did not dictate morals to others although in his younger days, he was brash, arrogant and impulsive.
If you were to look through their lives, I would say much credit goes to Gandhi before India became independent and much credit goes to Mandela after South Africa became independent.
Nelson Mandela never reacted to events he did not like by making threats such as going on fasts unlike Gandhi.
My conclusion is that Nelson Mandela had an evolved and practical means of implementing his philosophy. He did understand that despite all the righteous diktats made by various religions and philosophies, the man on the ground is an individual and they are different from one another.
You can get a very good idea of Nelson Mandela’s philosophy and how he acted differently from Gandhi when faced with challenges by reading about the TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMITTEE and the watching the movie “INVICTUS”. Nelson Mandela may not have gotten an official apology from the apartheid government but the COMMITTEE mentioned succeeded in making the oppressors voluntarily apologise to the oppressed at a personal level all over South Africa which brought down animosity among the different races to a significant level in a newborn country.
On the whole, no one can achieve complete perfection in all their spheres of life nor can they be completely perfect in even one sphere of life. Both contributed a lot to the thinking and philosophy of mankind. Both proved to be not just great teachers but also, successfully implemented their philosophies in reality. Nothing can be greater than that. There are many great men who had similar philosophies centuries ago but they failed then not because their philosophy was faulty by current standards but because the moral, religious, political and economic standards were different then. Also, the concept of nationhood was a different idea back then
Gandhi was born in a well to do family but Mandela was born into a tribe.
The cultural milieu in which they were brought was different for both of them. Whereas Gandhi had not faced overt racism until the train incident in South Africa, Mandela was born and brought up in the Apartheid era.
Both were trained lawyers.
Mandela, being a member of a race which faced racism from birth, never had ill will or racist tendencies. On the other hand, there are several statements that Gandhi made in South Africa which indicated that he believed that Caucasians were superior to Indians were superior to Africans.
While both married and had big families, Mandela married several women (I think three) and he did have affairs while he was married.
Mandela never advocated celibacy while Gandhi started practicing it after having 9 children.
One of the biggest pushes towards nonviolence philosophy for Gandhi philosophically was his Vaishnavite & Jain upbringing. Practically, Gandhi witnessed the wars in South Africa while he was an ambulance driver attending to casualities and seeing the extreme discipline or organisation of the British forces, he had an epiphany as to how it was possible for a mere 4000 British officers to rule the whole of current day India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Gandhi never carried out a violent act. In complete contrast, Nelson Mandela was never religious, he was part of a terrorist group (as termed by a South African) in which he was bomb maker and he got caught and sent to prison for terrorist activities. His marriage to Winne Mandela was also based on militant ideas which she continued to advocate while Nelson Mandela was in prison. It was only after being jailed that Nelson Mandela meditated on his philosophy and turned towards a HUMANIST philosophy.
Mandela was never a religious person whereas Gandhi was always a religious person.
Mandela never behaved in a self righteous manner and did not dictate morals to others although in his younger days, he was brash, arrogant and impulsive.
If you were to look through their lives, I would say much credit goes to Gandhi before India became independent and much credit goes to Mandela after South Africa became independent.
Nelson Mandela never reacted to events he did not like by making threats such as going on fasts unlike Gandhi.
My conclusion is that Nelson Mandela had an evolved and practical means of implementing his philosophy. He did understand that despite all the righteous diktats made by various religions and philosophies, the man on the ground is an individual and they are different from one another.
You can get a very good idea of Nelson Mandela’s philosophy and how he acted differently from Gandhi when faced with challenges by reading about the TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMITTEE and the watching the movie “INVICTUS”. Nelson Mandela may not have gotten an official apology from the apartheid government but the COMMITTEE mentioned succeeded in making the oppressors voluntarily apologise to the oppressed at a personal level all over South Africa which brought down animosity among the different races to a significant level in a newborn country.
On the whole, no one can achieve complete perfection in all their spheres of life nor can they be completely perfect in even one sphere of life. Both contributed a lot to the thinking and philosophy of mankind. Both proved to be not just great teachers but also, successfully implemented their philosophies in reality. Nothing can be greater than that. There are many great men who had similar philosophies centuries ago but they failed then not because their philosophy was faulty by current standards but because the moral, religious, political and economic standards were different then. Also, the concept of nationhood was a different idea back then
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