“Be the change you want to see in the world.”

Gandhi has provided this and dozens of other pithy quotes to the pantheon of 21^st Century spiritual knowledge- plenty of wisdom for almost anyone to take and make their own. But do you know anything about Gandhi beyond these quotes and the image of him as a spectacled, bald old man in a white cloth?

How about that he was married at the age of thirteen? Had you thought of Gandhi as a passionate lover?

He wrote: “I must say I was passionately fond of her. Even at school I used to think of her, and the thought of nightfall and our subsequent meeting was ever haunting me. Separation was unbearable. I used to keep her awake till late at night with my idle talk.”

Gandhi in love. 13 years old, remember. And that’s not all- Gandhi as a lawyer. Did you know he was a graduate of Law school in London and working in South Africa by his mid-twenties? He was all of this and more.

This book is a great way to get to know the life and accomplishments of Gandhi- and it has a wealth of great pictures, many of them spread over two pages. It tells the story of Gandhi’s life with the objective of both humanizing him and of dramatizing the story. There is no doubt that the author of the book reveres Gandhi- and why not? He is an amazing man who lived an amazing life.

I worked at a school in the mountains of Colorado and the students were from low income areas in cities around the country. One of the first things they got during their stay at the school was a copy of this book- and I never understood quite why until later, looking back on what it was like being there. I had assumed the book was given to inspire. Now, I think it was given to relate to. In a metaphorical way, all of us need to face the occupation of something external, overcome it and become more fully ourselves, live our truth and teach others by our own example. Gandhi did this- and he did it well. In a lifetime of teaching, the way he lived is the strongest lesson of all.

Oh, and he led a peaceful revolution that kicked the British Empire out of India.

Gandhi would be the first to admit that his wife, Kasturbai, taught him how to love. And, in turn, Gandhi taught the world the power of love and the victorious will of peaceful protest. And he ended his life with the battles and victories behind him and a solid understanding of who he was and how he and his life fit into the world:

“My life is an indivisible whole, and all my activities run into one another; and they all have their rise in my insatiable love of mankind.” --Gandhi

I highly recommend this book, not just because you’ll learn things about Gandhi you didn’t know, but because those things will give you a greater respect, understanding, and love for the man and what he did.

Photo Credit: Franco Folini (via Flickr under CCL)