“[Success] cannot be measured by the accumulation of money,” wrote Conrad Hilton in his biography, Be My Guest, “Mahatma Gandhi, one of the most successful statesmen of our time, left upon his death as his entire worldly estate: two rice bowls, one spoon, two pairs of sandals, his copy of the Bhagavad-Gita, his spectacles and an old-fashioned turnip watch.”
In 1937, philosopher Napoleon Hill wrote: “Gandhi wields more potential power than any man living at this time, and this despite the fact that he… has no money, and he has no home, he does not own a suit of clothes, but… he has accomplished the astounding feat of INFLUENCING two hundred million minds to COALESCE AND MOVE IN UNISON, AS A SINGLE MIND.” Gandhi is best known today for his role in India’s struggle for independence. India gained freedom from British rule in 1947 after many years of civil disobedience and non-violent protest led by Gandhi and others.
However, Gandhi’s legacy of promoting non-violent protest have often overshadowed his equally important teachings of renouncing material attachments in order to live more meaningful lives. “Non-possessiveness, or Aparigraha, stands as one of the fundamental ethical principles of Gandhian philosophy,” stated a Philosophy Institute article, titled The Role of Non-possessiveness in Gandhian Ethics, “Gandhi’s belief in non-possessiveness isn’t just about letting go of things–it’s about shedding the need for control, dominance, and excessive ownership that leads to societal disharmony… At its core, non-possessiveness or Aparigraha is about the conscious effort to free oneself from the desire to accumulate more than what is necessary.”
“Wanting to identify himself with the poorest of the poor in the society, he gave up his European clothes when he returned to India in 1915 and adopted traditional Indian dress…” said an essay called Minimalist Gandhi in the View Through My Window blog: “The only luxury was a blanket to cover his bare chest during cold. According to historians, Gandhi owned no more than 10-20 things.”
Gandhi said: “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed.”
