Gandhi told the Indians, seek the Truth and all will be given unto you. The inconvenience of seeking the truth is, as we have said before, it upsets all social programmes. If you do not pay taxes, you go to jail. But if the taxes are unjust, the taxes on the salt for example, you refuse to pay taxes, and you go marching to the sea, we are marching in the name of God, not one or two but thousands of them, and the whole world comes to see this happen, for journalists come from London and New York and from elsewhere. Look, men refuse to pay taxes. They will go to the sea, perform the ritual of making salt from the God’s own ocean. After all life is yagna, sacrifice. What will the British do? Jail us again. Let them, and how many will they jail. And for how long? And if they beat us in the process, and kill us? Of course some of us will die. But we will be reborn. Birth implies death. And death birth. In the next life my virtue, my non-violence, my truth will give me a better birth. So what will the poor British do. How can they pursue me through death to another life?

To the Indian then, who believed in reincarnation death was not so final as it was to the British. Death is as natural to man, as the water that will go down to the sea, or the winter trees that will shoot out flame-coloured leaves in spring. And Gandhi the saint led the peasants. Some died. Many numbers of peasants were sent to prison, and after some time they were released. After some years Gandhi too was released.

Because of all this, the British now decided to give a little more power to the Indians. The Indians, proud of their culture, could now look after education and health and such sundry departments. The British would have the army, the treasury, and the diplomacy. This soothed a few Indian leaders who said, ‘Let us take what is given to us.’ Gandhi did not approve of them. He did not either say they were wrong. He withdrew from politics and experimented on celibacy, better health, better education plans, and rural economy. He founded another ashram, and he trained workers for the next fight when the fight would come. He would not create the situation for a fight. He would not, when the fight came, not take it. He was the saint who when God showed the way took it, and went on to the end. He was no opportunist but he was politician enough, thus he took every opportunity that came. Such an opportunity occurred when the British and the Germans went to war with each other, again.