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It is said in the Bible: “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling symbol. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.” (Corinthians I, 13).
Here, ‘charity’ does not mean alms-giving. It has a wider connotation; it means fellow-feeling, that “we are one of another.”

Valid for all
The yugadharma, thus interpreted, is not confined only to India but is valid for the whole world. Today there are innumerable sects in Hinduism, Christianity, Buddhism and in Islam, though they bear the same name. They are all presumably in search of Truth. But they all agree to disagree with one another! Can we therefore find any dharma, discipline, in which the different religions and sects can unitedly believe? In my view, there is one dharma in which they can all unite. That is the dharma (religion) of humanism. It believes that all men and women are equal, that the service to humanity must consist primarily of service to the poor and the needy. I believe that few will differ from me in this analysis of considering humanism, the service of the poor and the needy, as the supreme duty to both individuals and groups. This for Gandhiji was the common ground on which all religions and sects could unite.
What did Gandhiji mean when he said that he wanted to be a saint? He did not talk of saintliness in the ordinary sense of the term, that he was to be the head of a temple or a monastery. He did not want to be a member of one or the other of the innumerable sects of Hinduism or any other religion.
Nor did he wish to be canonised after his death. He himself has given the definition. In one of his spiritual moods he said, “I want to see God face to face”. He sought self-realisation. There can be no other meaning attached to this phrase.

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