It was the London Times that remarked: “No country other than India, could have produced a Gandhi.” That is why he belongs to us in a very special sense. There are several ways in which he has worked for the country and the world. He was a great nationalist leader. He was a liberator of the enslaved. He taught the doctrine of love that never fails. He was a moral genius who tried to chasten himself first before trying to exert any kind’of influence on other people. In all these ways he has helped us.It was over thirty years ago that I put to Gandhi three questions:(1) What is your religion?(2) How were you led to it?(3) What is its bearing on life?He gave the answer, the brief answer.I used to say, “I believe in God”, now I say, “I believe in truth”. “God is truth”, that is what I was saying and today I say, “Truth is God”. There are people who deny God. There are no people who deny Truth. It is something which even the atheists admit.Here he was not enunciating any new proposition. He was merely declaring some fundamental truths which have come down to us from the environment in which he lived, the environment which nourished him.He took up these two things : satyain vada dharmam cara. Speak the truth and do the right. He used to call them satya and ahimsa. These were the principles which he had. Truth is not something which we can casually get at. It requires considerable travail of human spirit to bring out harmony between the inward and the outward. Vammanasyoraikya-rupam satyam. Vak (word) and manas (thought) must have identity. If we are able to establish that identity, then it is that we have truth. Such a kind of truth will not allow us to indulge in distortion, in innuendoes, in exaggerations. It will not merely not allow us to speak lies but it will not allow us to indulge in any statements made with mental reservations. It is, therefore, something which we have to acquire at considerable cost. We cannot get it for the mere asking of it.Questions :1. What did the London Times remark?2. What kind of moral genius was Gandhi?3. Write the questions the author put to Gandhi.4. What did Gandhi say about truth?5. Which two principles are his guiding principles?6. How can we get at the quality of truthfulness?7. Write two ways Gandhi worked for the country and the world.8. Locate from the passage the words that mean the following-(i) overstatements(ii) basic.