gandhi's humility

From the life of Gandhi I see a man who confronted the harshest environments with the quietest, strongest strength. The taste on my palette, from my hurried bite of history, tells me that Gandhi really didn't think much of himself. He did however think highly of the certain set of principles by which he lived. He rose early. He prayed. He washed. He fasted. A true example of discipline. What I find so remarkable about Gandhi though is that he was disciplined as though discipline was mandatory. He didn't see extra merit in the procedures and routines that he busied himself with- he merely saw them as being essential for appropriate living.

The by-product of his disciplined is amazing to analyze: Instead of Gandhi becoming smug about his ability to be disciplined, he seemed to display the utmost tolerance for people who made mistakes. When people failed morally he seemed quite understanding and compassionate. Never using himself as a point of comparison he appealed to the innate sense of right and wrong in humans in order to improve their own lives and the lives of those around them. (sounds a little like Jesus to me).

Without getting too much into the exact details, Mahatma Gandhi has been credited for two main things:
1. Stopping much bloodshed when the East-Asian countries were being formed. During a time of rife Muslim and Hindu discord and active aggression, Mahatma fasted and prayed for the violence to stop. On his third day of fasting, weak and quite prepared to lose his life for his ideals of peace and tolerance, the fighting stopped and people started to listen to the raspy voice of a man who knew how to give himself away for something he believed in.
2. Closer to home, Mahatma has been credited with accelerating the racial reformation in South Africa. He was a catalyst in ending the Apartheid regime simply by believing that man deep down wants to be good. That man wants to be noble. And Mahatma helped show us what exactly what being noble meant.

Despite his obvious strength and endurance (here is a link to an awesome post on the meaning of Christian endurance), Gandhi never seemed to consider himself as being superior! He saw himself with the soberest of judgment. History has esteemed him because he did not esteem himself.
It is unwise to be too sure of one's own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err. - Mahatma Gandhi
Err he may have, but weaken he didn't. Always aware that he was a fallible human, he still set out to achieve what many think impossible: a mark on history that can never be erased.

Gandhi ended his life with bullets in his chest. Being controversial has obvious dangers. Though this again tells me that Gandhi had principles for which he really would die. His life a reasonable expense for the off chance that mankind might be peaceful. To consider your life nothing- is that not the essence of humility?

I cannot help but see traces of Jesus in this man who never actually put his faith in Christ. Maybe the most obvious observation is this:

Jesus. His life a reasonable expense for the off chance that I may be saved