Mahatma Gandhi visited my high school with yoga training at Ranchi. He graciously wrote the above lines in the Ranchi guest-book. The translation is: “This institution has deeply impressed my mind. I cherish high hopes that this school will encourage the further practical use of the spinning wheel.”
(Signed) MOHANDAS GANDHI
September 17, 1925
A national flag for India was designed in 1921 by Gandhi. The stripes are saffron, white and green; the charka (spinning wheel) in the center is dark blue. “The charka symbolizes energy,” he wrote, “and reminds us that during the past eras of prosperity in India’s history, hand spinning and other domestic crafts were prominent.”
[44-1:] His family name is Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. He never refers to himself as “Mahatma.”
[44-2:] The literal translation from Sanskrit is “holding to truth.” Satyagraha is the famous nonviolence movement led by Gandhi.
[44-3:] False and alas! malicious reports were recently circulated that Miss Slade has severed all her ties with Gandhi and forsaken her vows. Miss Slade, the Mahatma’s Satyagraha disciple for twenty years, issued a signed statement to the United Press, dated Dec. 29, 1945, in which she explained that a series of baseless rumors arose after she had departed, with Gandhi’s blessings, for a small site in northeastern India near the Himalayas, for the purpose of founding there her now-flourishing Kisan Ashram (center for medical and agricultural aid to peasant farmers). Mahatma Gandhi plans to visit the new ashram during 1946.