Answer» - Gandhiji was an avid reader. He used to read books on philosophy, religion, sociology, etc.
- These books greatly influenced Gandhiji’s economic, social and political ideology.
- Gandhiji was greatly influenced by the American thinker Thoreau. Gandhiji adopted the idea of ‘Simple living and high thinking’ from Thoreau’s works.
- Gandhiji’s idea of ‘Sarvodaya’ was an inspiration from British writer John Ruskin’s book ‘Unto the last’. From this book, he derived the importance of labor work and ways to eradicate poverty from India.
- Gandhiji was also influenced by Leo Tolstoy’s works, ‘What shall we do then?’ and ‘The Kingdom of God is within you’.
- He was influenced by the theory of ‘bread labour’ given by Ruskin. Based on this Gandhiji gave the ‘Bread labour’ theory and the motto that people should work and earn their bread and those who do not work have no right to eat.
- Gandhiji’s belief of ‘labouring for one’s own bread’ also exists in one of the shlokas in the 3rd chapter of Hindu Scripture, the ‘Bhagwad Gita’. As per the Gita, ‘One who relishes the fruits without making offerings (without efforts and sharing fruits with others), is indulging in sinful action’.
- Gandhiji in his childhood watched the play ‘Satyawadi Raja Harish Chandra’. This play left an unerasable impression on him. The play taught him the importance of truth and made him a ‘Satyagrahi’.
- Gandhiji’s life was also influenced by scriptures like, the ‘Upnishads’, the ‘ ‘Ramayana’, and the ‘Mahabharata’.
- Saint poets like Kabir, Gurunanak and Narsinh Mehta and his spiritual leader (Guru) Shrimad Rajchandra also influenced Gandhiji’s thoughts.
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