When we study the history of the world, we can see that many religious political leaders and social activists lived simple lives as minimalists. This quality attracted many disciples and followers around the world.
Mahatma Gandhi is considered as the Father of the Nation. He was an inspiring philosopher and a leader who led a simple life. Gandhi was actually born into an affluent family and had a very privileged upbringing. Gandhi accumulated little, ate the amount to needed to eat, dressed simply and lea a simple stress-free life.
He was a man who believed in being non -possessive and didn't even own a house. When Gandhi died, he had less than ten personal possessions including a watch, a pair of spectacles, a pair of sandals and his eating bowl.
Although some considered him to have died a pauper, he influenced the lives of many. Even today, his way of life continues to inspire many others around the world. However, at present it is believed to be difficult to minimize the living conditions to such an extent. One must learn to use, buy, or do things that they really ought to do rather than doing them just because the others do. Life becomes easy when one learns to ruse, recycle and give thing away. Self-sufficiency also is a good trait of a person who leads a simple life If one's room, clearing the garden or mending a shoe etc. it makes life easier. In addition, if one is in the habit of growing fruits and vegetables for one's own consumption, that person saves a lot of money for a worthy cause.
A person who leads a simple life is stress-free and has the opportunity to live a life that is inspired or inspiring :.
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was an Indian lawyer,anti-colonial nationalist and political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India's independence from British rule, and to later inspire movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. The honorific Mahātmā (Sanskrit: "great-souled", "venerable"), first applied to him in 1914 in South Africa, is now used throughout the world.
Born and raised in a Hindu family in coastal Gujarat, Gandhi trained in the law at the Inner Temple, London, and was called to the bar at age 22 in June 1891. After two uncertain years in India, where he was unable to start a successful law practice, he moved to South Africa in 1893 to represent an Indian merchant in a lawsuit. He went on to live in South Africa for 21 years. It was here that Gandhi raised a family and first employed nonviolent resistance in a campaign for civil rights. In 1915, aged 45, he returned to India and soon set about organising peasants, farmers, and urban labourers to protest against excessive land-tax and discrimination.
Assuming leadership of the Indian National Congress in 1921, Gandhi led nationwide campaigns for easing poverty, expanding women's rights, building religious and ethnic amity, ending untouchability, and, above all, achieving suvaraj or self-rule. Gandhi adopted the short dhoti woven with hand-spun yarn as a mark of identification with India's rural poor. He began to live in a self-sufficient residential community, to eat simple food, and undertake long fasts as a means of both introspection and political protest. Bringing anti-colonial nationalism to the common Indians, Gandhi led them in challenging the British-imposed salt tax with the 400 km (250 mi) Dandy Salt March in 1930 and in calling for the British to quit India in 1942. He was imprisoned many times and for many years in both South Africa and India.
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